Last night #Agtalks hosted a discussion titled “Food is trendy, so why doesn’t anyone want to grow it?”. It got me thinking about my journey into agriculture and why there is still a big divide between the realities of farming and public perception.

Both of my parents grew up on farms in Victoria. Long held, family farms – one in dairy and the other a mixed sheep & grains farm. They were the younger children in their respective families, with older siblings taking over the running of the farm and so they both moved to the city in search of other opportunities. Consequently I grew up on a large semi-suburban block in the Adelaide Hills; a far cry from any kind of farming lifestyle. I have many happy memories of family holidays visiting my uncles and cousins on the farm, but it never even entered my mind that I could possibly have a career related to farming. It just seemed like a completely inaccessible world. Unless you were born into a farm, how could you possibly become a farmer?

It was only when I was feeling lost at school in Year 12, with no real idea of what I wanted to do with my life, that a very smart career adviser suggested that I might consider Agricultural Science as a career option. My initial reaction was one of incredulation. I never even knew that there was such a course you could study! But once I started looking into it and could see the diverse range of opportunities available I was instantly taken with the idea. This was the career for me! A mixture of indoors and outdoors, helping farmers to grow food and fibre more efficiently, fascinating and complex science and the chance to help feed the world!

In the 20 something years since that moment, my experiences in agriculture have led me on an amazing journey that I could never have fully predicted and that have far surpassed my initial hopes. I have conducted research trials in Victoria working on postharvest packing lines, I have been in and out of countless soil pits anywhere from Margaret River to Mannum, I have travelled the globe from Sri Lanka to Spain helping irrigators manage their water more efficiently, I have learned about many different aspects of business and most importantly, I have met and worked with an amazing diversity of people and cultures.

My love affair with agriculture was further cemented fairly early during that journey when I met and married an apple grower. I have truly become a part of the rural community and I feel eternally grateful to be involved in such as special industry as agriculture. I also feel truly blessed to be able to raise my children in an area where they can grow up with a sense of freedom and awareness in their environment.  I wonder where I would have ended up if it wasn’t for that very wise career adviser. Clearly even in the 1980’s there was a huge disconnect between farming and the broader community and if someone hadn’t steered my in the right direction, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wonder how many bright and clever school children there are today who would thrive in the agricultural environment but are as equally unaware of the opportunities as I was. I wonder how many career advisers today are also unaware of the possibilities and are not encouraging children to consider agriculture as a career.

So with agriculture providing so many fantastic opportunities, why are enrollments in university courses for agricultural science and agribusiness at an all time low? I am sure there is no simple answer to this question, but I am firm believer that this disconnect is largely due to the way our industry portrays ourselves.

Let’s think about the kinds of headlines that we see all the time …. “farmers struggling with drought” ….. “high Aussie dollar hurting exports” …….. “lack of opportunities for youth in rural areas”  ……. “bank foreclosing on another farm”  ………… “farmers struggling to survive with high costs and low returns” .

Can we really blame people for not wanting to get involved in agriculture when they are constantly bombarded with this negativity? Sure, there are challenges which should not be underestimated, and those headlines are generally true, but they only paint one side of the picture.

What about the headlines that talk about all the great stuff?

………”Aussie farmers leading the world in efficiency of food production”

………”Australian researchers develop new, drought tolerant wheat varieties”

………”Australian farmers amongst highest adopters of new technology in the country”

………”Australian farmers working hard to preserve our natural environment”

….. and the long list goes on …..

We should be singing these messages from the roof tops and beating our chests with pride. We ARE a great industry and our nation and the world’s population rely on us to meet their needs for food and fibre. If we sing it loud enough and for long enough in unison, maybe, just maybe we might start getting heard.

Just imagine what could happen if this became a reality? Our next generation of clever innovators will want to work in our industry, where there are some of the greatest needs for continued technological advancement. Our consumers will want to support us and purchase our fantastic Australian product, because they are hearing positive messages about it and they believe those messages. Demand for our product will increase, providing more opportunity for investment and growth. Politicians will listen to us because the general public wants them to.

It may seem like an idealistic dream, but surely it is worth a shot! I am going to sing as loudly as I can. Who is going to join me?

… and finally to leave you with a quote from Brenda Schoepp – “My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a FARMER”