Future Young Leaders make their mark at evokeAG. 2020 - evokeAG.

Use of cookies

The evokeAG. website uses cookies to enhance your experience and optimise site functionality.

Please refer to our Cookie Policy for more information on which cookies we use and how we collect and use your personal information through cookies

Skip to Content Skip to Navigation

Future Young Leaders make their mark at evokeAG. 2020

Eight emerging leaders in agriculture have left evokeAG. delegates with their views on how we need to shift our agricultural industry.

Proudly supported by the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations, each of the evokeAG. Future Young Leaders finalists presented their ideas on how we need to shape, and shake-up, our industry.

Leesa Chen said it was a nerve-wracking experience to present in front of more than 1,300 delegates but it was important for her to highlight the views of her generation.

“In face of shifting global markets, young people in food and agriculture today have a global mindset and we don’t want to be waiting ten or so years until we are engaging in cross-border dialogue,” said Ms Chen.

The 25-year-old has launched the China Australia Food Circle, which today, is still a small grassroots network connecting young people between Australia and China’s food and agriculture sector.

“Over time I hope evokeAG. delegates will see the initiative grow into something bigger. If we can sow the seeds today and reap the benefits of increased cross-border collaboration in the years to come, then that would be meaningful,” said Ms Chen.

Tim Lester, Executive Officer for the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) says the partnership was important in meeting their overarching goals and objectives.

“The Rural RDCs are focused on ensuring future prosperity for our industries through innovation. This means we must be open to different thinking and perspectives, bringing forward new ideas and suggesting new ways of doing things. It’s an ongoing process.

“We also have a major focus on investing in people, in the skills and knowledge needed to be successful whether you are a producer or a researcher. The Future Young Leaders program ties both of these threads together, helping to build capacity for the sector and bringing new ideas to the fore on what a successful future means and how we can get there,” said Mr Lester.

Another evokeAG. 2020 Future Young Leader, Genevieve Griffin-George, Founder of PICMI, said the event was an opportunity to highlight how technology opens up new opportunities in our industry.

“We can see huge changes across the industry just by looking at problems through a different lens. PICMI showed that these changes don’t only happen with robots, lasers and other big tech – by using smart technology to ease the burden of hiring staff we can save so much time across the industry and unlock more potential for innovation,” said Ms Griffin-George.

The need for sustainable agriculture was driven home by all Future Young Leaders.

“The key message I wanted to get across in my presentation was that farmers and graziers are the most important part of agriculture and we need to include them in every conversation we have. At the end of the day, the decisions that will influence the landscape we all depend on rest with the landholders so we need to make sure they are the centrepiece of any conversations around how to manage our natural capital in a regenerative manner. In saying this, I also wanted to encourage producers to look further into the future and wider across out industry,” said George Stacey.

Stay up to date with our evokeAG. 2021 event news by subscribing to our news updates.

Contribute to our food, farm and future conversations by using our #evokeAG hashtag and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

See you at evokeAG. 2021. Tuesday, 16 February – Wednesday, 17 February 2021. Perth, Western Australia

Read more news
Read more news

Read

Calling all ag educators: five reasons why you should add evokeAG. to your professional development plan

Award-winning high school teacher Scott Graham, from Barker College in Sydney, is a leader in the field of agricultural education. In eight years, he’s helped more than triple enrollments of agriculture students at the College, is examining how to improve agriculture teaching at high school for his PhD and has picked up a Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. Here’s why he thinks that attending AgriFutures evokeAG. is some of the “best professional learning that a teacher can do” and some tips for making the most of it.

Tech
1 Sep 2023
4 min read

Listen

Humans of Agriculture: 2023 Future Young Leader Malkah Lara-Muckenschnabl

When Future Young Leader Malkah Lara-Muckenschnabl stepped off the stage at AgriFutures evokeAG. after presenting her vision to revolutionise recruitment in agriculture, her phone lit up with messages of congratulations and potential networks to bring that vision to life. In this Humans of Agriculture podcast with Oli Le Lievre, Malkah talks about her childhood on farms in South America, her innovative idea to break down the barriers between agricultural employers and employees, and how applying for the Future Young Leaders program was a risk worth taking.

Future
31 Aug 2023

Measurement and markets: empowering producers to make the most of natural capital

Farming in today’s economic climate is a battle between productivity and sustainability but what if there was a way for these two objectives to be achieved in tandem? Is it possible to grow economic prosperity at the same time as we diminish our carbon footprint? Could we revitalise Australia’s landscapes by the way we farm them? As it turns out, the answer lies in the hands of our farmers.

Farm
31 Jul 2023
5 min read

Highlights from evokeAG. 2023

In this evokeAG. 2023 podcast series you can hear from global change makers and thought leaders who examine how innovation and tech intersect to improve our agrifood sector. These conversations tackle some of the big challenges for our food, farmers and natural resources, exploring tech-savy solutions and opportunities to drive change.

Tech
6 Jun 2023

The fringe benefits of agtech

The application of agtech is often positioned to improve operational efficiency, profitability and sustainability. But could this narrow definition be limiting the adoption of agtech on farm and in the supply chain?

Farm
3 May 2023
4 min read