Everyone has a passion for something. For some it is sports, for others it might be pop culture, and for just two percent of the US population it is agriculture. Interestingly, that two percent is pretty equivalent to the percentage of population that has a passion for agriculture in Australia as well. This small percentage of people work long days and nights to provide food for the 98% around them. They face many uncontrollable challenges like droughts, floods, and other natural causes that destroy crops each year, but they do not give up. They continue to face circumstances that are out of their control and learn from their experiences.
Dakota Spink, marketing and writing intern at GreenStone Farm Credit Services, got to witness that familiar passion folks in Australia hold for agriculture firsthand. In January Spink had the opportunity to travel to Australia with fellow FFA state officers.
Spink and her fellow FFA state officers in front of the Sydney Opera House.
Spink joined FFA as a freshman in high school after she enrolled in an agricultural class. Since then, she experienced various roles through the FFA, including serving as a state officer for Michigan. As part of her great accomplishments in FFA she was offered this opportunity to learn about Australian agriculture and leadership with fellow current and retired state officers.
During their ten-day journey through Australia, Spink and her fellow FFA members learned lot about how Australian farmers and American farmers have a lot of similarities and differences.
One difference is Australian farmers participate in mixed grazing, which is where they mix different livestock like beef and lamb to graze pastures to get the most out of their land. Spink informs us, “Australian farmers are not able to grow a lot of corn or soybeans to make livestock feed like we do. They instead pasture all their livestock. Since their land has a lot of hills and valleys, they often mix beef and lambs together. The lambs love grazing on the higher hills and the beef love being on more of the flat land.”
Mixed grazing with beef and lamb.
Another one of their differences is that Australia lacks a fresh water supply - less than two percent of Australia’s land is a body of water, whereas seven percent of the United States is made up of some form of water, and even much more readily available around the great lakes.
Due to the lack of water supply in Australia, farmers have to buy their water supply. “A farmer was talking about if he wanted to go buy more water right now it would be $4,000 for a giga liter, which will not be enough to water all of his crops.” Spink says.
Rice farm in Australia.
Despite the differences between Australian and American agricultural practices, one of the biggest similarities Spink recognized that all farmers have is their passion. In Australia they face harsh weather conditions like droughts and fires just like we do in America. These harsh conditions can set farmers back even further, but their passion for agriculture still stands. They continue to rebuild and strategize new ways to grow their operations.
“They find different ways to fill those gaps. You can just see that quitting farming wasn't the option for any of them. They love what they do, and they love finding cool ways to do it,” Spink says with a smile.
Spink plans to use her experience on this trip to advocate for agriculture education. In Australia there is only one college in the whole country that offers agricultural education.
“I think that really stuck out to me on a personal level because I love the agriculture education that I got going through middle and high school, and now being at college. I can see the gap between farm to fork and its very stark difference between students that know how food gets to the grocery store and students that haven't had the opportunity to learn about that,” Spink explains.
Spink touring a John Deere Dealership that is in the works!
With a once in a lifetime trip, Spink was grateful for GreenStone's support to be able to gain this new perspective on agriculture.
“It was really special for me to be able to experience this trip and be able to experience it with people who have the same passions as I do. I'm just really grateful for this opportunity,” Spink vocalizes.
One of GreenStone's CoreFour Values is Getting Involved and we're proud to support the communities we serve through a variety of avenues, including programs like this and many worthwhile organizations. Learn more about our community outreach and engagement efforts on our Outreach webpage.
