PERFECT pathways to international agriculture
We’ve had lots of events with our NextGen program. The most recent one was possibly our biggest yet. The 2020 Agricultural Careers Expo. was an online event on 23 June hosted by RuralBiz Training with over 1,000 agriculture and primary industries teachers, careers advisors and high school students. Other speakers were from some of Australia’s most successful agricultural companies.
It was great to have them all hear from a former Crawford Fund awardee, RAID Network member and ACIAR’s former graduate, Sam Coggins on the impact of international agriculture and the diverse range of career pathways to agriculture for development in his presentation “Five reasons why I love agriculture”.
And you can watch Sam’s presentation (from 1hr14s) below.
Sam’s five reasons were:
- Meaning: make real and practical contributions to things you care about
- Variety: work in a laboratory, rooftop community garden, a board room, a paddock, a forest, a seaweed farm or all of the above.
- Opportunity: the demand for young people in agriculture is much greater than the supply.
- Inclusivity: people of Australian agriculture welcome you no matter who you are or where you are from.
- Travel: work locally, internationally, or both.
“Our world has some awful problems – climate change, hunger, poverty, inequality, environmental degradation. We as young people often feel like there is not much we can do about these problems. However, agriculture gives us a practical tool to create real solutions for these real problems,” said Sam to a keen audience.
Sam also explained the diverse pathways to a career in international agriculture, including Policy, Education, Research, Farming and finance, Entrepreneurship, Communication and Technology – absolutely Perfect!
Stay tuned for our next set of events – we’ll be announcing a series of NextGen online events around the country coming up during National Science Week – 17-22 August 2020.