The need for the next generation to represent the agricultural industry is becoming more apparent. A huge push is through AgForce – Queensland’s farming organisation.
From experience I can say many young people are hesitant to put their hat in the ring as they feel that they don’t have enough experience.
After being in that position and wanting to find an avenue to start to see what happens ‘beyond the farm gate’ I found that AgForce had youth director positions available on each commodity board. These are currently open for nominations.
Being passionate about the beef industry I threw my hat in the ring for the cattle board youth director position. I was fortunate enough to have been selected for the role back in 2015.
Many people wonder what the positions offer. After having gone through the two-year term I found that it was a great way to learn what AgForce is about.
Further to this I saw the need for a strong voice to push policy work when dealing with government. From a personal growth perspective this was a great way to grow a network and meet like-minded people that are passionate about the industry.
During my time on the board as the youth director I was able to gain knowledge of the issues that the cattle board were working on. Many of these issues are ongoing for some time.
To sit on the board and learn the issues as a youth director was very overwhelming at first. To catch up on the background of these issues took a little bit of time, however once caught up and the process was learnt it was certainly easier to contribute moving forward and helped me with my goal of contributing to industry from a young age.
Currently I am starting my second term as an AgForce cattle board director. I am very thankful to have gone through the youth director program, as I was able to learn of many issues that our industry faces and also the process that is required to allow change.
If you are wanting to be more involved in industry then I would strongly recommend you throw your hat in to the ring. More details are available on the Agforce website.
– Sam Becker, central Queensland cattle producer.
