Headline Act
One of the founding aims of Action4Agriculture is to take agriculture to students who would not normally be exposed to it. This vision has been driven by our Young Farming Champions (YFC), our teachers and our partners – a collaboration of leaders with a common vision.
This collaboration was highlighted during October and November.
Corteva’s Elizabeth Hernandez showcased Dr Anika Molesworth and Francesca Earp on the global stage in conjunction with COP26 in Glasgow through WOMAG and GrowHer activities.
Anika also represented youth in agriculture speaking on the panel at the Young Leaders in Climate forum. Presented by British High Commissioner to Australia HE Vicki Treadell and Italian Ambassador to Australia Francesca Tardioli, this was an opportunity for youth to inspire world-saving climate ambition. Panellists discussed the power of lived activism, the importance of youth and gender in the climate movement, and the future of diverse climate leadership.
Another YFC hitting the international stage was Tegan Nock, founding partner of carbon start-up Loam Bio, which this month attracted investment from Silicon Valley and Canadian billionaires to the tune of $40 million.
Also doing amazing work are our wonderful teachers such as Scott Graham who teaches agriculture at Sydney’s Barker College. On November 3 Scott won the prestigious 2021 Prime Minister’s Science Prize for Secondary Schools.
The leadership journey starts with small steps, none more important than the work our YFC do on a daily basis in the field.
In The Field
One of the most important aspects of being a YFC is the ability to communicate what we do in agriculture on an everyday basis and this month our YFC in the field have been doing just that.
Showing us how to do it is Cowra graingrower Marlee Langfield with her seasonal crop report for AEGIC. You can watch it here. Marlee and partner Andrew Gallagher were also featured in the Manildra Group’s industry magazine The Cultivator, in fields of gold.
Also proudly spruiking their careers in agriculture were Emma Ayliffe and Sharna Holman who featured in Cotton R&D’ Spotlight magazine, and Dylan Male whose work with Indigenous farming practices was highlighted in the Bendigo Times.
With cotton and grains covered, it was wool’s turn to shine when district wool manager Emma Turner co-coordinated a training program for industry on the lifetime management of ewes. The program will continue over another five field days in the following twelve months.
Out of the Field
Of course, promotion of agriculture does not finish with the day job and our YFC are active in spreading their good news stories further afield.
In conjunction with her book promotion Anika Molesworth has been seen in multiple media outlets this month. She created a Q&A column for The Australian, spoke with audiences in Copenhagen and Amsterdam (at 2am in the morning) in celebration of the release of the film A Positive Alternative (catch the four part series here)
and was a panelist at the Corteva Global Food Security & Sustainability Summit. There’s no slowing this girl down.
Anika also spoke to Tim Collings on his Better World Leaders podcast
This is a conversation that in some ways I was not expecting, but in other ways I sense I have long been waiting for. I was spell-bound throughout the dialogue with Anika Molesworth, as she shows through her experience, knowledge and actions how we can all influence change, be courageous and do things differently to address climate change and preserve our food systems now and for the future.
Emma Ayliffe is using her title of Young Australian Farmer of the Year to promote agriculture and this month was featured on the UNE website, Sam Wan, the outgoing WoolProducer’s Youth Ambassador, welcomed the 2022 cohort and Dione Howard continued her Rural Achiever duties.
“I was super excited to participate in a local show event on the weekend of 23/24 October. Although the show was delayed due to recent restrictions, I had an awesome time at Ganmain interviewing their nominee for Showgirl, the state competition being known as Sydney Royal Ag Shows NSW Young Woman of the Year from 2022. It was great to represent the Rural Achievers from this year and celebrate young people doing exciting things in their community.”
Taking her agricultural message to the realm of education this month was Jo Newton who facilitated the final Engaging with Industry session for the Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) webinar series; with over 90 people attending online. One of her key takeaways was:
“Not much beats getting actual experience. Volunteering and internships while studying are a great way to build your networks and skills”.
Jo will be joined by YFC Danila Marini and Emily May in November to connect with school students as part of the COE Virtual Ag Conference in conjunction with National Ag Day.
Prime Cuts
As we mentioned in Headline Act all the work the YFC do in promotion of agriculture leads to leadership opportunities and this month we are thrilled to announce Meg Rice has been selected for the AgriFutures AICD Foundations of Directorship course, while YFC Rebecca George and Jasmine Green and AWI Cultivate – Growing Young Leaders Scholarship finalist Jamie Pepper have been selected as Angus Australia 2021 GenAngus Future Leaders Program recipients. Congratulations
And speaking of the Australian Wool Innovation Cultivate Growing Young Leaders scholarship finalists you can catch their stories here
Alana Black continues to thrive in her new role in Scotland and has been selected as a trustee for the Royal Highland Education Trust which delivers world-leading learning opportunities for Scotland’s young people about, in and through the Scottish agricultural environment and the countryside, and, in particular, bringing young people out on farm.
Lifetime Achievements
Congratulations to Becca again this month for graduating with a Bachelor of Agriculture/ Bachelor of Business majoring in International Business. Well done.
And Dan Fox is doing his bit to ensure the future of agriculture by breeding his own team. Congratulations to Dan and Rachel on the birth of Hugh Anthony Fox on September 30.
#YouthinAg #YoungFarmingChampions #Muster #YouthVoices