There is a catch cry of many farmers who say, ‘there’s no future in farming!’
What a load of ‘man-made fertiliser’ - (Rach’s new term for ‘Bull shit’ as bull shit is actually great stuff for the soil!)
Of course there is a future in food production! We all eat! Der!
There is, however, a bleak future in farming the way we have farmed - see my Inspirational Agriculture section on this site to find out what myself and others are doing in our own farming systems and how to get positive about farming in both attitude and profits!
There is no better place to find your ‘calling’ as a human than in working with soil and growing beautiful healthy food for our society, while keeping the planet healthy.
So if you are a young person or a young-at-heart person looking for an area to ‘work’, I would enthusiastically urge you to take a look at agriculture as a ‘career’ choice.
There is so much scope to be innovative, regenerative, clever and entreprenerial in what I envisage will become a new age of farming.
Many people ask me ‘how do I get started?'
Tune into your passion in whatever area it is that appeals to you about farming, google it, then jump in the river of life and go with the flow, knowing you have made the right choice.
To make a start, look at the advertisements in OUTback magazine for the courses and companies that foster young people into careers. Join an organisation like Tasmania’s Rural Youth, and become involved in an event like Agfest. Enrol in a course like Low Stress Stock handling, KLR marketing or Pasture Cropping. Above all, question all you learn and hear.
And I would say, don’t focus on the dollars of what you may or may not earn. Focus on the difference you can make in a positive way to our farming systems. Whether it’s handling animals better, improving soils or farmer profits through clever banking or accounting or discovering a new way to power car engines that we haven’t even dreamed of yet!
The world is yours to create. Go forth and grow!
