This week’s top stories from Young Farming Champions around the country (and globe!)
In The Field
Cuteness alert! Central Coast farmer, entrepreneur and YFC Tim Eyes and his partner Hannah have had triplets! Triplet goats that is… and they are absolute kid perfection:
Tim says, “Our triplets are from one of our two boer goats. I wanted to get goats after my trip to South Africa.
“They live in the paddock at The Food Farm with our free range chooks and our maremma guardian dog. One kid is female the other two are male. I’m looking forward to some of the highest consumed red meat in the world.”
As part of his role as a YFC, this year Tim’s involvement with the Art4Agriculture Archibull Prize program saw him build an incredible relationship with students at The Lakes College on the Central Coast, who are part of Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets program. Recently Tim was the lucky winning bidder of a mural painted by The Lakes College students, in conjunction with Losty and Mercy College, which raised money for Aussie Farmers. Congratulations Tim!
The Lakes College students are kicking huge goals with the 2018 Archibull Prize and this week they are even taking their Archie on a tour across drought stricken New South Wales to further raise money and spirits for Aussie Farmers. This is an inspiring group of students worth watching! Read more about it below in our Archie Action section.
Out of the Field
YFC Steph Fowler and YFC Lucy Collingridge have jetted off to Alberta, Canada, for the Rural Agricultural Societies of the Commonwealth (RASC) Conference.
The Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth (RASC) is a confederation of over fifty leading national and regional Agricultural Show Societies, Agricultural Associations and Research Bodies working in twenty Commonwealth countries.
Steph and Lucy both received scholarships from the Agricultural Societies Council of NSW to travel to and attend the event, which is designed to give delegates a taste of the agriculture industry in the host country while providing a forum for discussing mutual successes and challenges in agriculture around the world.
Lucy also tagged along on the pre-conference tour which showcased local attractions, farms and food production facilities. “It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to network with people from around the world who face the same problems and successes we do here in Australia with our country shows,” Lucy says.
Read more about the conference program and itinerary here
The Cowra Guardian covered a story on Steph’s trip here
Safe and happy travels Lucy and Steph (pictured below)!
Grains YFC and 2018 Narrowmine Showgirl Keiley O’Brien is featured in this week’s Behind the Sash series, sharing her story, love for rural Australia and “demonstrating that the perfect showgirl is who you are and not a sterotype.” Listen to Keiley’s great interview here.
Prime Cuts
It was an exciting day at the University New England Graduation Ceremony last week with YFC and YVLT Chair Dr Jo Newton receiving the Young Distinguished Alumni Award. You can watch Jo’s address, where she encourages everyone to “pay it forward” at this link. Well done Jo – what a year this amazing young woman has had.
Western New South Wales based YFC, Farmer and Researcher Anika Molesworth has been announced as a headline speaker at the Rotary District 9520 (which covers the corners of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales) Conference in April 2019.
Lifetime Highlights
It’s been a huge few weeks at the University of New England in Armidale, NSW, for some of our YFC who have finished studies…
Congrats to Grains YFC Keiley O’Brien (Bachelor of Agriculture and Bachelor of Business), Cotton YFC Casey Onus (Masters of Business Administration), and YFC Jasmine Whitten and YFC Emma Turner have both submitted their theses.
Mega Congratulations to Cotton Young Farming Champion James Kanaley who married the love of his life Jessica Skilbeck yesterday in the Riverina
Archie Action
With The Archibull Prize 2018 National Awards and Exhibition Day fast approaching, it’s all action on the Archie front!
This year’s Archie artwork finalists from schools across New South Wales and Queensland have been announced and their life-size cow artworks will start making their way to Sydney for the National Awards in just a few weeks time. Read all about it here to see which school’s Archies will be displayed at the Awards and at the 2019 Sydney Royal Easter Show. Well done to all the students, teachers, school communities and Young Farming Champions involved!
Two inspiring young woman have been announced as the guest speakers for this year’s Archies. CEO of Foodbank Australia and self confessed “huge fan of the Archies” Brianna Casey, and councillor for the City of Sydney and former Deputy Lord Mayor, Jess Miller are both incredible advocates for agriculture and change. It is with great excitement that we look forward to sharing the day of our national awards ceremony with them.
And in the meantime, make sure to get your votes in for your favourite Archie in the People’s Choice Award – voting closes November 12th!
As many finalists head to Sydney, a very special Archie from The Lakes College is taking a looong detour with its creators – heading west to Mudgee, Coonamble, Brewarrina and Bourke – and raising money for drought affected farmers and communities.
Sixty-three students from Father Chris Riley’s Youth of the Streets program will be fixing fences, feeding cattle, running games for rual kids and hanging out donated groceries vouchers. Their amazing Archie – which students have turned into a giant money box – is going along for the rie. And when you drop a coin into the metal bucket inside, it chimes like raindrops on a tin roof.
“From the head to the hide, let’s bridge the divide”
Teacher Amy Gill says their Archie is all about courage, generosity, learning from past mistakes, looking forward and creating change, while the drought relief convey is a tool for education and a celebration of what farmers do, a symbol of support and recognition. Read more about the ethos of The Lakes College Archie here.
Read more about the convoy in this Sunday Telegraph story.
Well done to all the students and teachers involved and our wonderful YFC Tim Eyes!
#ArchieAction #YouthinAg #YouthVoices18