At Picture You in Agriculture we believe empowered young people have the capacity to solve tomorrow’s problems today. The Innovation Hub is a Young Farming Champions alumni community of practice for individuals and groups to build an innovation mindset, explore new ideas, collaborate, experiment and accelerate learning applied to a real-world project that nurtures a bright future for agriculture.
Our Young Farming Champions are real people working in real jobs in real-world situations. Sometimes they may have big ideas for projects to benefit the entire agricultural sector. Sometimes they may be struggling with life changes. Sometimes they may have light-bulb moments of inspiration. Sometimes they will hesitantly mention a brilliant design that has been bubbling away in their sub-conscious. Sometimes they may have challenges. The Innovation Hub provides a forum for Young Farming Champions to express their ideas and challenges to a committee of their peers.
The Innovation Hub committee will then assess the merits of each, and its relevance to PYiA core business, and either take the idea further with simple methods of support for projects and passions, or connect the YFC to others in our extensive network who may provide the support they require.
In the inaugural test-case for the Innovation Hub Anika Molesworth tells us why working with the Young Farming Champions community is so important to her.
“Connecting and collaborating with young people in rural Australia (and those in urban places who are working in ag too) fills me with so much energy – I love working with people who are passionate about making a positive difference and don’t mind getting their hands dirty on farms! Apart from being a highly motivating group, they also challenge me to learn more about the wider farming sector and see new perspectives. What I am learning from my Young Farming Champions peers I then take into schools, where I have the great honour to teach students about sustainable farming and climate change. We cannot solve the big challenges in agriculture through disjointed and isolated effort – and the Innovation Hub creates a space where we can truly come together, stretch ourselves and support one another.”
With the inaugural Innovation Hub initiative, we are able to support Anika’s desire to connect and collaborate with her favourite audience – larger numbers of school children – in a structured way. This has been achieved by promoting her on The Archibull Prize website and directing interested people to her ‘last-Friday-of–the-month’ meeting schedule. By providing scaffolding around how people can connect with her, Anika takes her story and knowledge from rural paddocks to classrooms around Australia.
See Anika’s full initiative from the Innovation Hub here.
PYiA looks forward to sharing more stories from the Innovation Hub in coming months; stay tuned to hear how Young Farming Champions are supporting Young Farming Champions.