Tag / Emma Turner

by Action4Agriculture

Young Farming Champions Muster July 2018 Week 3

This week’s Young Farming Champions stories from around the country

In the Field

Cotton Young Farming Champion Alexander Stephens takes out this year’s award for the most fields visited having covered over 6000km from Dalby, QLD, to Hay, NSW, and up to Kununurra, WA, to pick the world’s strongest and whitest cotton.

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What a way to see Australia, driving very big toys! We can’t wait to hear more about cotton picking on the Ord River, Alexander.

Wool Young Farming Champion Emma Turner spent last week home on the station collecting data for her honours thesis looking at the differences between 6 monthly and 12 monthly shearing. It involved lots of colour:

Emma T lots of colour.JPG

Out of the Field

Youth Voices Leadership Team Chair Jo Newton will be hosting our social media pages this week. Head on over to our Picture You in Agriculture Facebook page to follow along and enjoy Jo’s insights from the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium and  Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo 

YFC Anika Molesworth jetted off to Argentina this morning. By invitation from the Argentine Agriculture Minister, Anika will be visiting farms, running workshops with young farmers and presenting on global agricultural challenges and opportunities.

This program coincides with the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, and part of her brief is to collaborate with young South American farmers to prepare a report for the Ministers on the vision of strong and resilient farming sectors, enabling young farmers, and promoting future industry leaders. Anika will be working with Australian Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud and visiting farmer groups to discuss collaborative relationships between countries and tackling the industry’s big challenges.

YFC Sam Coggins has just returned from Myanmar where he reviewed three Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) projects looking at pulses, soil mapping and nitrogen fertiliser efficiency. The three projects aim to improve food security and farmer livelihoods. Read more about what ACIAR is doing in Myanmar here

Sam Coggins in Rice Field

Prime Cuts

We are very excited to announce the Rice industry has joined the Art4Agriculture team and our very first Rice Young Farming Champion is Erika Heffer. Welcome Erika and thank you the Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia. We’re really looking forward to working together. Read the story here

Erika-Heffer3 (002) YFC

Following us on Facebook here and Twitter here

#YouthVoices18 #ArchieAction #YouthinAg

_2017 Supporting partners Capture

 

 

by Action4Agriculture

Art4Agriculture at the MerinoLink Conference

The 2018 MerinoLink Conference  and Field Day will be held in Goulburn this week on 20th and 21st June and Art4Agriculture will be flying the flag for young people in agriculture.

The purpose of the MerinoLink Annual Conference is to provide an opportunity for sheep producers and service providers to network, learn about research outcomes and management programs and also to have a positive influence on the future direction of the sheep industry in Australia. 

A highlight of the conference will be the Hour of Power, sponsored by T.A.Field Estates, which will give an opportunity to nine young professionals to speak about their work and passions within the wool industry. During this session Art4Agriculture will be represented by Young Farming Champions Dione Howard and Emma Turner.

Dione will elaborate on concepts she delivered last year at the Australian Farm Institute’s Roundtable Conference where she encouraged industry to invest in and support young professionals. See her inspirational speech here.

Dione AFI RoundTable (2)

Dione, who will be appealing to both new and experienced members at MerinoLink, says these are her take-home messages:

There are many opportunities that exist for young people to get involved in the wool industry.

Programs such as Art4Agriculture’s Young Farming Champions exist so that our industry can invest in us as young people in wool. 

I urge members of our industry to get behind young people with an interest in wool and support them to step up and take on available opportunities.

 Emma, who is set to graduate from the University of New England in October, will use her time at the Hour of Power to present her honours project to industry.

Emma Turner (39)

My honours project, on the implementation of shorter shearing intervals at Ivanhoe comparing six and twelve month shearings, is highly relevant to the industry and I am hoping the Hour of Power will give my research exposure and provide networking opportunities as I job hunt for the future.

 Rounding out Art4Agriculture’s involvement in MerinoLink will be National Program Director Lynne Strong who will be the speaker at the conference dinner. Lynne will use her life journey from a pharmacist to a farmer to illustrate how the wool industry will benefit from the investment in youth and how working together makes innovation fast and easy.

_2017 Landcare Conference Lynne Strong 16_9 _Page_01

It is wonderful to see the 2018 MerinoLimk Conference following our vision to help young people stand up and be confident to share their own stories

#LoveWool #WearWool #WOOLisCOOL #YouthVoices18 #YouthinAg

_2017 Supporting partners Capture

 

by Action4Agriculture

Meet Emma Turner who knows every day three times a day you need a farmer

Our guest blog today comes from young wool farmer Emma Turner

‘for many farmers their career is a calling,
simultaneously more than a business and more than a lifestyle’  R L Wilkinson

My name is Emma Turner, I am 18 years old and this is my story………..

Emma Turner

 

I grew up on Stanbridge station, our 100,000 acre Merino sheep station, 100km south of the tiny town of Ivanhoe, in western NSW.

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I feel strongly connected and passionate towards agriculture underpinned by my family connection.

I am a sixth generation wool grower – the fifth in the Ivanhoe area – with my family roots to farming going as far back as 1844 when my English relatives moved to Adelaide and took up farming as a profession.

Agriculture has always been part of my life, with many life lessons being learnt from it.

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Mustering a mob of ewes and lambs at shearing time, enjoying the fresh grass after drought years.

Wool growing has taught me patience and being involved with our family business, Abbotsford Pastoral Co, has helped me learn many practical farm and life skills and lessons.

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Enjoying the mud on the four wheeler after 100mm of rain

It has also inspired my love for the industry and my passion to make a difference in agriculture – all while having fun and enjoying rural life.

I completed my primary years at Clare Public School where I was the only person in my class and the only girl at my school for three years. We never had any more than six students! Going to such a small and remote school taught me to make friends with everyone as sometimes you can’t afford to be choosey! It also taught me to participate in everything and be a team player on sports days and swimming carnivals, as most of the schools we competed against had at least 20 students!

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Our school photos had the best background

Having two younger brothers I was never bored or alone and over the years we invented our own forms of entertainment, from riding dad’s sale wethers around the yards and seeing who could stay on the longest before getting yelled at, to practising tricks on our motorbikes. We learnt from a young age how to ‘doctor’ ourselves, covering our cuts in Band-Aids before mum came at us with the dreaded iodine bottle!

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My brother and I enjoying a ride on our home made ‘speed boat’

Loving animals is really a given when it comes to agriculture, with my best mate being my dog, as well as a pet lamb to look after. Animals have always played a role in my life, and after watching the suffering they can experience in a drought, they have inspired me to study a Bachelor of Agricultural Science after my gap year. My dream is to study genetics and the role it could play in breeding a hardier, more drought resistant Merino.

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Enjoying rides in the ute with my best mate,

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and taking my poddy lamb for a walk after the rain

People farm for many different reasons, some for pleasure, some for return on capital, some for social approval, some for financial security, some because of the challenge and some because they can see no other alternative. I believe it is important for the agriculture sector to build relationships with the community to expand knowledge and understanding of the modern day farmer and what motivates him or her. It is important the wider community is able to understand the sacrifices and hardships that Australian farmers make everyday. Farming in Australia is a job and a lifestyle and so much more. It’s also lifestyle that can throw the biggest and hardest challenges, with more often than not no short term solutions. There is no quick fix for a flood or a drought. Farmers need support and targeted and relevant research and development so they can be resilient through these tough times.

My favourite quotation about agricultural is simple,

Every day three times a day you need a farmer

I believe this simple fact is overlooked in today’s modern society. I believe the long term future of the Australian agriculture sector relies on farmers and the community working together. Fresh ideas and innovative solutions are needed to start building these partnerships and I am doing what I have always done and that is putting my hand up to be on the team

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