Bridging the Gap

Introducing the Young Farming Champions...

2012 has been the Australian Year of the Farmer with the aim of helping to educate the broader community about the importance of agriculture and enlighten them about the dedicated, hard-working people that provide that quality food for your table (and lots of other's as well) everyday.

Some of our city cousins have lost that connection with the rural communities and no longer understand where their food & fibre comes from, let alone what goes into growing it! The increasing curiosity about where their food comes from and the new platform of social media, I believe gives us a great opportunity for rural people to engage and tell our own story about what we do everyday to help put that food on your table.  

During my travels I have run across a program that has been started in several schools as a way of educating children about agriculture called Art4Agriculture. 

Part of the program for schools is the Archibull Prize - (yes ArchiBULL not Archibalds....!) in which students get to meet a young farmer, and then explore and showcase a particular food/fibre industry as the subject of an artwork.

Sounds like fun?! The other twist is the blank canvas each school is provided for their artwork is not actually canvas - but a life-size fibre glass cow!

A team of young farmers, aka "Young Farming Champions" travel to a few schools each and tell their story about what they do as a farmer. They have all put together some great videos to share with the classes during their visits so I hope to share some of these with you.

Thanks to Young Farming Champion Richie Quigley & Art4Ag for this one.

The 2012 The Land Sydney Showgirl Runner-up, Jess Monteith is also one of this year's Young Farming Champions!

You can read about Jess's story here, courtesy of Art4Ag.

The Art4Ag program is a great initiative and provides a little inspiration on just how easy it is for an everyday person to share their story about agriculture.

Art4Agriculture also have a great blog that you can follow: Art4Ag blog or go to their website www.art4agriculture.com.au

Backdrop Fit For A Show

What A Scene

Last weekend I was invited to open the 66^th Annual Show at a little town in Southern NSW called The Rock.

True to its name, The Rock is well renowned for its signature landmark ‘The Rock’; a rocky hill that overlooks the town. The showgrounds (and golf course) are nestled almost at the foot of the Rock and provide I think the most beautiful backdrop to any country show in NSW.

Although The Rock is only a small town, it was great to see the number of families that had all come out for the day to experience something at the Show. I also believe I saw the largest number of entries I have ever seen in the “best decorated arrowroot” section, so I think this is a highly regarded title to hold in the town!

I had the pleasure of judging the junior showgirl and show boy competitions with 2011 The Rock Showgirl & 2012 State Finalist, Emma Angel. I didn’t realise just how many kids were on the showgrounds as they just kept appearing and were all very excited to get up on stage – one young boy was so keen he even joined us during the presentations of The Rock Showgirl at the Show Opening!

Congratulations to the entrants of this year’s showgirl, both young ladies were very passionate about the town they call home and the importance of having sustainable rural communities. Such great ambassadors for their town - it is great to see some young people getting involved and keen to give something back to their community. 

Making headlines in The Daily Advertiser (Local Wagga Wagga rag).
2012 The Rock Showgirl Riley Cherrey, 2012 Runner-up Ashton Yates, The Rock Show President Mr Jim Payne, 2011 The Rock Showgirl & 2012 State Finalist Emma Angel & 2012 The Land Sydney Royal Showgirl Jasmine Nixon.

One of the things I enjoy the most about helping with the junior showgirl/show boy competitions is the creative responses you hear when young kids are asked about their favourite part of the Show, or what they have enjoyed most about their day at the Show. The rides and animal nursery always normally get a few votes, or whether they got a prize in the pavilion with their entry or with their game-bird in the poultry section. 

One response from a young lad I think really epitomized what the Show movement is about – he was at the Show with his family to spend the day with his grandmother and see if she won any prizes with her knitting. Sometimes I think we can get a little caught up in all the bright lights, ribbons and prizes but not only are our shows about excellence and entertainment, but they provide an opportunity for the community to all come together and celebrate what it is that we do best. Whether that is baking cakes, growing vegetables, floral arrangements, having an eye for a good horse, or breeding stud stock the Show provides something for everyone with an opportunity for us to all come together to showcase and celebrate what we do.

Congratulations to The Rock Show Committee on another successful Show and thank you for your wonderful hospitality. Also special mention must go to Megan Coyle - it was great to see a past showgirl (& state finalist!) continuing to be so heavily involved in some many parts of their local show - very inspiring for future showgirls!

It has been a little while between posts!

With the spring show season well underway, I have been covering a lot miles around the NSW countryside attending various different country show events. I’m always excited to attend another show as they are all so unique.

Fields of green & gold! Taken along the road on the way home from the annual Canowindra Show.

It is also very hard to beat the absolutely picturesque countryside this time of year. With the crops and pastures all growing and green, and the canola all bright and golden, the miles between each show have been a pleasure to travel with such a great view out the window!

I have several exciting posts coming your way on the some of the shows I have been to so – watch this space!!!

In between the country shows I have also been busy helping out on the organizing committee of the 2013 National Angus Youth Roundup.

Angus Youth is the junior activities division of Angus Australia (which is the organisation responsible for the registrations, recording and marketing of purebred Angus cattle). It aims to help develop beef industry leaders for the future and runs a program of various events and scholarships aimed at getting more young people into agriculture and the beef industry.

The National Angus Youth Roundup is one of these events. It is run annually by a group of volunteers and provides young people aged 8-25 the opportunity to have a go at showing cattle as well as learning all about the beef industry. Over the 4 day program, kids get to participate in different educational sessions, team games, junior judging, handling competitions and showing their animal. The event moves to a different location each year and the great part is that you don’t have to have your own animal to attend. The Roundup is strongly supported by Angus seedstock breeders who bring along extra cattle, -“ballot animals” – for those kids that don’t have their own to borrow for the weekend. I was one of these kids that borrowed a ballot animal at my first Roundup in 2003 and next year I am hoping to repay the favour and take along some of my own animals for another kid to get that opportunity.

Making friends with the Red Angus heifer at my first Angus Youth Roundup - thank you Moorefields Red Angus (photo from www.moorefields.com.au ) 

As part of the organizing committee we work on organizing the grounds, catering, educational program, judges, games and sponsorship – you never quite appreciate all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes organizing these junior events until you get on board!

The next National Angus Youth Roundup is being planned for Dubbo NSW on 17^th-20^th January 2013.

Entries are now open so jump on the Angus Youth website and download an entry form! (Just a tip: To be able to get a ballot animal you MUST get your entry in on time!)

If you have any questions about the Roundup, just drop me a line or contact Angus Youth (youth@angusaustralia.com.au)

Stay tuned - more posts about my latest show adventures on the way!