My evokeAG. experience - Sam Johnston, 2020 Future Young Leader - 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

My evokeAG. experience - Sam Johnston, 2020 Future Young Leader

Forbes local and Future Young Leader Sam Johnston gives a wrap-up of his experience of the 2020 evokeAG. event, that took place in February.

Sam, Co-founder of Thank a Farmer For Your Next Meal, has one aim – to showcase where Australian food and fibre comes from, who makes it and how it’s made. His social media movement promotes Australia’s agricultural industry and its primary producers to the country’s metropolitan-based population and endeavours to raise awareness.

“evokeAG. was certainly an action-packed event with plenty to see and do for all the delegates. It was incredible and was the first time, in a long time, that I have truly been pushed well beyond my comfort zone, and for me this was a very valuable thing.

Without knowing, it is easy to just coast along in life and stick to what you know and feel comfortable with, but let me tell you, speaking in front of a crowd of upwards of 1,200 people is certainly not something I felt overly comfortable with. Luckily on the day, I was able to stifle the nerves and focus, and as a result I thoroughly enjoyed every second of being on the Plenary stage, telling my story. It was a great opportunity for me to explain how the Thank A Farmer For Your Next Meal brand and social media movement was born, as well as highlight how important closing the producer-consumer gap is for the future of our industry.

The Future Young Leaders program was unreal in the way that it challenged us, not only as individuals, but also as a cohort to think outside the box and leverage off one another to achieve superior outcomes. It’s safe to say that with the calibre of young, passionate ag-thusiasts coming through the ranks, the future of Australian agriculture is in good hands.

evokeAG. is certainly great at bringing together a range of people from different backgrounds that all share a common passion (obviously being agriculture) and getting them to think collaboratively in order to come up with solutions to complex challenges faced by the sector. As the saying goes “a champion team will always beat a team of champions”.

My highlights were:

  1. Meeting both the 2019 and my fellow 2020 Future Young Leaders – they are some impressive individuals
  2. Listening to Hungry Jack’s CEO Jack Cowin speak about changing consumer preferences
  3. The ongoing connections, advice, and guidance I have had, with and from, a bucketload of people who I met over the two days in Melbourne.

Finally, I would like to strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to become an evokeAG. Future Young Leader in the future to apply. It’s a great program that will not only develop your skills professionally, but also on a personal level. I must say a big thank you and shout out to AgriFutures Australia and the evokeAG. team and the Future Young Leader program sponsor the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations for putting on such a fantastic show, it truly was a ripper few days.”

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