Month / November 2020

by Action4Agriculture

Young Farming Champions November 2020 Muster

Headline Act

The Young Farming Champions program gives our young people the skills and confidence to tell their stories, many of which you will read about in this Muster. However one YFC kicking presentations well out of the ballpark is Anika Molesworth. On October 28 Anika spoke at her second TEDx event. Commenting on a previous TED talk by indigenous legal scholar Kelsey Leonard, Anika presented the argument that as climate change and environmental degradation worsen we need to radically re-think the ways humans interact with nature.

Anika gave examples of where rights have been given to the environment such as Lake Erie in the US, the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India and all the rivers in Bangladesh. “By granting legal rights to our environment, and rethinking the way we interact and respect our world, are we able to save what we cannot afford to lose?” Anika asked.

Congratulations Anika – you continue to be an inspiration for the YFC family.

In The Field

Into the field now and all of us who work with Mother Nature know she can be a hard and fickle business partner. Just as some of the best crops in central NSW where readying for harvest in October, Mother Nature sent hail in not one but two havoc-wreaking storms. Speaking in the Parkes Champion Post YFC agronomist Emma Ayliffe described the devastation: “What wasn’t affected at first was wiped out in the second event last weekend in most unusual circumstances.” said Emma. “For these people they have gone through a roller coaster of emotion since the event – from saying things like ‘Well, we’ve got more room in the silos for the rest of the crop’, to ‘F@#! it was going to be such a good harvest!’.” Emma’s own property was affected by the hail.

Meanwhile harvest continues under grey skies for our Cowra cropper Marlee Langfield – check out her amazing photo

Even though they both dance with Mother Nature Marlee and Emma are resilient future ready farmers, and this month we celebrated them, and others, in the launch of a new PYiA initiative – Future Ready Farmers. YFC Dan Fox also featured alongside friends of the YFC Karin Stark and Angus Whyte. This series will highlight to students undertaking Kreative Koalas and The Archibull Prize real-life examples of farmers in modern Australian agriculture.

Out of the Field

Out of the field our YFC are continuing their leadership journeys by embarking on a range of diverse programs. Tim Eyes has joined the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation Trail program and Chloe Dutschke is working with YFC friend Rebel Black in her Emerging Women Leaders program. We look forward to them all sharing snippets of their new-found wisdom with us soon.

Cultivate Growing Young Leaders program participants Jess Fearnley and Emily May participated in a session of Paddock Pen Pals as part of the 2020 Kreative Koalas program. As you can see from Emily’s Facebook post it was a highlight for her

Other YFCs are honing their presentation skills as they share their own stories – both career and life related. Emma Ayliffe sat down with PYiA journalist Mandy McKeesick to discuss Emma’s new communication app Yacker, Anika chatted with Natalie Isaacs, founder of 1 Million Women, in an Instagram live event, Peta Bradley was the guest of a UNE podcast, while Kirsty McCormack (live from Canada where she works as technical sales manager for Quantum Genetix) spoke at the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference.

Young Farming Champion Sharna Holman is sharing her careers in agriculture pathways wise advice in this series of forums with PIEFA

Jo Newton discussed her cancer diagnosis with Women’s Agenda and Dione Howard once again interviewed Austral Fisheries CEO David Carter – this time on the importance of occupational safety.

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Our YFCs find themselves in diverse arenas and may be the interviewee or the interviewer. How do they prepare, how do they control their nerves and what lessons have they learnt that we in turn can all learn from? Well, we asked them. Read their responses here.

Words Have Power Concept text on background

Prime Cuts

Congratulations again to Anika who has been appointed Deputy Chair of Farmers for Climate Action.

“To work alongside 5,000 farmers – some of the most hard-working and inspiring people I’ve ever met – is a true privilege,” Anika says. “These farmers do not accept environmental degradation as inevitable. They do not accept worsening climate conditions and increasing fragility in their rural communities. They know we can do better. So they are stepping up, standing face to face with the big challenges, and saying ‘I’ll be part of the solution’.”

The  YVLT Innovation Hub Committee is super excited to announced their first iHub project Leadership is Language has its own web page here

Lifetime Achievements

It’s “happy non-wedding” day to YFC Melissa Henry and fiancée Simon Maher. They printed their wedding invites in early March but as COVID19 struck and borders were closed the invitations were never sent. Here’s looking forward to a real wedding next November with an even bigger celebration (and bigger cake!).

YFC Dwayne Schubert did manage to pull off a minor miracle with the support of the legal amount of family and friends and trusty zoom for extended family across the ditch married his long term partner Libby Cooper on the farm in Tassie

How is this for a fabulous wedding memory

by Action4Agriculture

ALISON PENFOLD and CATHERINE MARRIOTT explore Anticipatory leadership

In this episode of Leadership is Language ALISON PENFOLD and CATHERINE MARRIOTT explore Anticipatory leadership – what is it and how can we use it to take responsibility and protect agriculture and what do Dad and Dave have to do with it all?

Catherine Marriott sits down with Alison Penfold to find out.

Key Messages

  • Leadership takes curiosity, bravery and courage
  • Be proactive rather than reactive
  • Call out your own risks and change the narrative
  • Influence isn’t just going to be what you say, but it’s how you behave. That’s part of telling the story.

 Pull Quote

“…. over time, what I’ve come to see and [what] I think is really critical, particularly in agriculture, is anticipatory leadership. It’s really about being able to use strategic foresight to identify issues and opportunities, risks and opportunities and get ahead of the curve…….we need to get on the front foot and collectively work together to get ahead, so that we’re in control of managing the risk.”

 

About Alison

Alison Penfold is a director of Future Eye. She has a forensic understanding of, and first-hand experience in, community engagement, risk and issues management, policy development, advocacy and political and bureaucratic processes. Her 20 years’ experience includes: Chief of Staff to a Federal Cabinet Minister, policy and political adviser to a range of State and Federal Ministers, CEO of a national agriculture sector industry body, Government Relations Manager for a major retailer and a range of senior policy, campaign and strategic advisory roles. Alison is a change agent promoting the need for business and industry to call out, act on and get ahead of social license risks.

Connect with Alison:    LinkedIn and Twitter 

About Catherine

Over the last 15 years, Catherine has worked in management, strategic and leadership roles in the agricultural, research and regional development sectors in Australia and internationally. During this time, she has become a proven business leader, communicator and entrepreneur, focused mostly on leadership development, advocacy and delivering innovative solutions for the industries in which she works. Catherine has always worked in rural and regional Australia and is inspired by the potential of our regions. She is passionate about the people side of agriculture, learning from and sharing with others. Mentoring is a role she plays with enthusiasm as she learns just as much from her mentees as she shares. She uses her Rural Science degree to understand the technical aspects of agriculture, while her experience in business helps her connect with people and maximise opportunities for others. Catherine has worked as a consultant, an entrepreneur, developed a start-up member-based organisation for the northern beef industry and plays a role on a number of private and public boards both in Australia and internationally. She is UNE’s 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award winner, a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was the 2012 WA Rural Women of the Year.

Connect with Catherine   LinkedIn and   Twitter 

Want to know more?

Watch Alison on Landline talking about the red meat sector and social licence here

Watch all the social licence segments from Landline on 14th November here

 

 

 

by Action4Agriculture

The Archies and Kreative Koalas make television debut

The House of Wellness program on Channel 7 recently featured some extra special guests – students from St Catherine’s College at Singleton and their  Archies and Kreative Koalas!

The House of Wellness explores “the world of health and wellbeing, addressing your health concerns in an entertaining and informative format. From raising your kids, to staying fit, ageing gracefully, and keeping beautiful inside and out, as well as the A to Z of every vitamin under the sun, The House of Wellness is designed with one thing in mind – to help you ‘Live Well’.”

In his introduction to the November 2 episode, Luke Darcy linked wellness to the environment.

“2020 has made us re-think pretty much everything about the way we live from what we consume, our relationships with each other and the environment and the impact we have on the planet,”

Luke’s astute reflection is a mantra long held by the Archies and Kreative Koalas.

After a brief chat about The Archibald Prize Luke, and co-host Jo Stanley, segued expertly to The Archibull Prize and featured Lynne Strong talking about her vision for climate positive agriculture before segueing again to Lynne’s driving passion – Picture You in Agriculture.

Then it was into the classroom to showcase the Archies and Kreative Koalas in action, including asking the students how these programs have changed their perception of agriculture and the environment.

“I didn’t grow up on a farm but this has definitely made it a lot more fun,” said  Archies participant Phoebe .

“Its pretty exciting” declared Jessica

“For the forehead we are planning to put an earth with a lot of trees and bushes around the outside. So that’s saying that our planet grows a lot of plants and those plants are vital,” said Jacob.

The segment concluded with a plug for careers in agriculture.

“We have some of the best ag science and agronomy courses in the world right here and by 2030 it is estimated there will be around 48,000 new jobs in the rural sector, which is fantastic. It’s a great field to steer our kids towards,” Luke said.

“And it is girls who are leading the charge

They make up more than 56% of students studying agriculture and related courses.” Jo continued.

PYiA is committed to engaging students, young agriculturalists and future consumers in conversations about their vision for the future of food and farming and their role in it. Thanks to The House of Wellness that vision has reached yet another audience.

Watch the Archies and Kreative Koalas on The House of Wellness

Mega shout out to the students and teachers at St Catherine’s and the team at the House of Wellness who all did a superstar job of showing how exciting agriculture can be

 

 

 

by Action4Agriculture

What if you don’t come home? David Carter talks with Dione Howard about how we can all learn from worker, health and safety mistakes

In this episode of Leadership is Language Dione Howard continues her conversation with Austral Fisheries CEO David Carter as he reflects on a tragedy that reformed safety procedures for his company and provided valuable lessons for both the fishing and agricultural industries.

Key Messages

  • It is possible to create a legacy from an impossible moment
  • Near-miss incidents are gifts that can prevent a tragedy
  • Incidents become part of your story – it is up to you how to shape that story

Pull Quote

“Our advice was to lawyer up and go and find the best legal defence you can and defend it to the hilt but that didn’t sit too well with me. We could have gone to court, pleaded guilty, paid the fine and moved on, and Ryan’s legacy would be his name on a dust-collecting file in the bottom of a drawer somewhere, or we could look to make right from wrong.”

 About David

David Carter has worked his entire career at Austral Fisheries and its predecessors. Graduating from Melbourne University in 1978 with a degree in Marine Science, David saw an opportunity to enter the fishing industry and began working as a deckhand on a prawn trawler off the coast of Darwin. This was the beginning of what has been a 40-year career in the fishing industry.

In 2016, David led Austral in taking the next step along its sustainability journey, with Austral Fisheries becoming the first seafood company in the world to achieve carbon neutral certification under the Australian Government Carbon Neutral Program.

David was inducted into the National Seafood Industry Hall of Fame in 2012 in recognition of his significant contribution to the Australian seafood industry, and in 2020 David received the Marine Stewardship Council’s Lifetime Achievement award.

Connect with David:   LinkedIn and Twitter

About Dione

Dione is a District Veterinarian with Riverina Local Land Services based in Wagga Wagga, NSW. She has been an active member of the Youth Voices Leadership Team since its inception in 2018; holding the position of Mentor Leader and Innovation Leader.  In 2020 she took the step in her leadership journey on the Executive of YVLT as Vice Chair.

Dione’s seat on the YVLT Executive and the Picture You in Agriculture Board is enhanced by her completion of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Company Directors Course, which she undertook in conjunction with her role as Wool Producer’s Youth Ambassador in 2019.

Connect with Dione:   LinkedIn  and   Twitter 

 

 

 

 

 

by Action4Agriculture

Picture You in Agriculture is celebrating National Agriculture Day by thanking Next Gen Consumers

National Ag Day, on November 20, is usually a frantic time for the team at PYiA as we gear up for the Archies award ceremony but with COVID  postponing our celebrations we have found another way to showcase Australian agriculture – we are celebrating and thanking Next Gen through a series of online webinars!

On Friday, November 20, Picture You in Agriculture (PYiA) will host three online webinars to engage students and teachers with Young Farming Champions (YFC) under the tutelage of two of Australia’s leading facilitators

The first webinar will be hosted by Josh Farr. In 2017, Josh founded his first company, Campus Consultancy, which has gone on to become a market leader in the training space for students. His team has taken more than 14,000 student leaders through their workshops on leadership, entrepreneurship & emotional intelligence.

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In Friday’s webinar Josh will run two workshops for school students ( in NSW and QLD) and our YFC to hone their 21st century employability and resume writing skills, with emphasis on the four Cs: communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. This workshop will put the cream of the crop in our schools and agriculture’s future – on the path to being work ready and ensuring they stand out from the crowd.

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The second workshop will be hosted by international facilitation guru Les Robinson who will sit down with teachers and YFC to design a sustainability action project through the lens of agriculture. This “Train the Trainer” workshop will provide teachers with techniques and a well laid step by step facilitation model that will help them  empower their students to design and deliver their own sustainability action projects in their schools and in the community.

This collaboration between teachers, students and our YFC  will give young people community action skills and ownership of the solutions with the capacity to inspire their communities to practice good social and environmental habits. Participants will be provided with tips and tricks on how to keep students engaged and enthusiastic about the project.

In addition to our students, teachers and YFC the webinars will also be an opportunity to celebrate and thank another cohort of future agricultural leaders – our Corteva scholarship finalists. The winners of the scholarship will join our Cultivate Growing Young Leaders program, which will enable them to take their stories to another generation of consumers.

National Ag Day, teachers and students and emerging leaders in agriculture – the perfect collaboration for a bright agricultural future.

#NationalAgDay #DesignaBrightFuture #ArchieAction #KreativeKoalasKids

by Action4Agriculture

Partnerships for Gender Equity

At Picture You in Agriculture we are big believers in

“Alone you are smart. Together we are brilliant”

so when Elizabeth Hernandez, Head of External Affairs and Sustainability, Asia Pacific for Corteva reached out and invited us to be a partner with  GrowHer we said YES, YES, YES

And what a perfect example GrowHer is of people and organisations coming together to take Collective Action for Collective Impact

Officially launched on  October 14, we are super proud to have some of our YFC and Corteva emerging leaders profiled with this exciting global initiative.

GrowHer is an online platform designed to inspire, inform and include women in agriculture in the Asia Pacific region.

Growing the Next Stories – This global webseries brings together, in five episodes, testimonials from women from seven countries, including Brazil, the United States, France, Poland, Italy, Kenya, and Indonesia. In each chapter they tell about their relationship to rural production, the difficulties and challenges they face.

It is the brainchild of four agripreneurs and ecosystem players, whose respective organisations have formed the GrowHer steering committee. These influential women are Erin Sweeney from Grow Asia, Elizabeth Hernandez, from Corteva Agriscience Asia Pacific, Jade Dyson, from WOMAG, and Cherrie D. Atilano, CEO of AGREA in the Philippines.

GrowHer’s online launch featured all four women who spoke about their desire to empower women in agriculture. “The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) estimates that if women had the same access to ag inputs, to mechanization, water, finance, land ownership, all of those things that men in agriculture have, they would produce 20-30% more food, and that’s enough to be able to take 150 million out of poverty,” Elizabeth said.

Three other women agripreneurs were also invited to speak at the launch. They were Phyu Hninn Nyein, head of operations for Proximity Designs in Myanmar, Yvonne Foong, founder of Chektec from Singapore, and our very own Lynne Strong.

See Lynne’s GrowHer profile here, read about PYiA’s Corteva emerging leaders here and find out more about females kicking big goals in agriculture on the GrowHer website.

In conjunction with the launch Lynne and three Young Farming Champions – Dione Howard, Emma Ayliffe and Anika Molesworth – sat down for a chat with Elizabeth Hernandez at a WOMAG virtual coffee morning. WOMAG is an organization currently based out of Singapore that connects and develops women across the entire agri-ecosystem with the goal of creating a future pool of leaders.

At PYiA we believe in the enormous power of these partnerships .

“We are thrilled they have identified the Young Farming Champions as a model they’d like to roll out in Asia and we are proud to join this coalition of strong voices. We know that alone we are smart but together we are brilliant, and we look forward to this concept of working together, and amplifying each other’s voices, becoming common practice around the world,” Lynne said.


#CollectiveImpact #CollectiveAction #GenderEquity #SDG5