Mentoring Focus for Future Farmers

February 2, 2021

Our NextGen  program is pleased to have collaborated again with the Future Farmers Network after our webinar last year on Making a Global Difference. We had a panel of Nextgen talking about agriculture work in developing countries, its benefits to our neighbours, to Australian ag, and to them professionally and personally. 

This time, we arranged for our mentor and Crawford Fund medal awardee Dr Robyn Alders to talk about her work in agriculture for development and her thoughts about agriculture in Australia. Her chat  with Oli Le Lievre as part of Future Farmers Network Mentor of the Month series ranged across both developing country and Australian agriculture and included discussion about Robyn’s work with ACIAR’s  thermotolerant Newcastle Disease vaccine, her mentoring over many years and  the important role of the humble village chickens to livelihoods and nutrition.

While we are all waiting for a time when we can get back in the field in developing countries, we hope that Robyn’s story will prickle some interest in the audience of young Australian farmers in agriculture for development. Some of our opportunities for involvement include:

• Our student awards are now open to enable feet on the ground experience for university students
• Our conference scholarships provide support to attend our 2021 conference, be mentored through the 3 days of special activities – they will be opening around April for our August 2021 event
• The Crawford Fund’s volunteer opps through the Government’s Australian Volunteer Program offer an opportunity for mentoring.  

And the Fund’s high school teaching materials will hopefully pique the interest of even younger demographic in years 9-12. Our initial series of materials cover:

• Climate Change & Food and Nutrition Security;
• Climate Smart Technologies;
• COVID-19 & Food and Nutrition Security; and
• Australia – A Powerhouse of Agricultural Research.

For some more information on Robyn, watch our video below around her work on Newcastle Disease in Africa.

And, again, the podcast as FFN’s Mentor of the Month is below.

A big thank you to Future Farmers Network for another opportunity to collaborate and raise awareness of the opportunities in and impact of agriculture for development.