Harmony in Unity: Embracing ‘Better Together’ for a Resilient and Sustainable World

In our closely connected world, the idea of “better together” encourages us to break down barriers and focus on the well-being of everyone instead of just ourselves.

When we work together, combining our different skills and ideas, we can tackle big problems in a complete way, encouraging new ideas and making us stronger.

Choosing a shared vision over just thinking about what we want individually lets us join forces, making a bigger impact on global challenges like climate change.

Teamwork doesn’t just make each person’s efforts stronger; it also builds a feeling of togetherness, trust, and respect.

When people with diverse perspectives collaborate, it sparks creativity and helps us adapt for a future that’s both resilient and sustainable. Remember, the idea of being “better together” is a powerful reminder that when we work as a team, we can navigate the complexities of our modern world more effectively. 🌍💙

If anyone can bring us all together – its Cate McQuillan

This is Cate McQuillen’s call to action at last nights AAEE Awards

I first met Cate at Belltrees Public School Regen Ag Workshop last weekend and reconnected last night

If anyone can breakdown silo thinking and convince us to move beyond self interest and we are #bettertogether its Cate

Footnote: Cate is Mememe productions cofounder. They won an International Emmy Award in Cannes for their Dirtgirlworld animation. Check out their website here https://www.mememe.com.au/

#CreatingaBetterWorldTogether #BetterTogether #CollaborationMatters #CollectiveAction #GlobalUnity #SiloBreaking #InnovationHub #ResilientFuture #ClimateCollaboration #UnityInDiversity #SharedVision #GlobalImpact #CommunityFirst #CollectiveWellBeing #Adaptability #SustainableSolutions #HarmonyInAction

When do you give up and acknowledge you are whistling in the wind?

Sadly after 20 years of drawing attention to team members at Dairy Australia  that the organisation who  claims they  best represent agricultural careers is telling the world that all cattle are the same and are akin to  horses, I am walking away from this marketing car crash.

isis

Well meaning it maybe, but the first rule should always be “if you are going to do it, do it well, or don’t do it at all”

Is  it any  surprise I feel I am whistling in the wind?

Its one thing to infer dairy farmers milk beef cattle*. It is  another to have people think cows are horses

No hashtags here I am gobsmacked

FYI * for non dairy farmers all the pix in the first image are of beef cattle not dairy cattle. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

It’s time to stop working in silos and partner with others trying their best to get outcomes for agriculture

Industry needs to acknowledge they are a big part of the problem. They should have these resources readily available for any organisation who wants to showcase careers in their industry.

This was reinforced by a recent grant project I was involved in where we had  the opportunity to add agricultural careers to the Become App offering.

We had focus groups with each industry involved to identify those careers and identified 130.

We used ChatGPT to write the descriptions ( it did a very impressive job of it too ) and it was a nightmare trying to get industry to supply pix ( sans Austral who were very quick off the mark)

Speaking of Austral how impressive is this 

 

 

 

 

Don’t leave it too late to follow your dreams

My recent decluttering on my house unearthed a number of things I had forgotten about.

One thing that caused great reflection, was a series of house plans, one for the 1st acre block we purchased in Jamberoo for the princely sum of $16,000 when I first got married. An acre block that would be worth millions now. Other plans were for houses I never got to build either.

Regrets I have had a few.

The dream – that could have been

We sold that acre block to fund our first foray into farming. I wasn’t happy but that’s what women who are bought up in the patriarchal world of farming did in those days.

I did buy houses, for other people to live in. I even bought a house for my sister. The others became investment properties that we later sold to fund farming expansions and even the purchase of two farms that both got sold to fund the expansion of our milk business so it would support our son to join the business.

I found this picture of the Lotus my brother built. My father ( fully supported by our mother) insisted that me and my sister help fund the purchase of the car kit. Its seemed a perfectly logical request to him – after all that’s what farm women do.

We don’t inherit farms, we fund the dreams of men apparently.

It took me a long time to change that mindset and I am so glad I have ( it was a big shock to my family)

In 2012 an opportunity arose to decide what dream I could fund for me and I took it.

Now its time for new directions and I am very excited.

Are you making the same mistakes as me – are you funding others people dreams.  If so, this post is a request from me to not leave it too late to follow your dreams

 

Social change is driven by technology not people

Most social changes don’t involve people changing. People’s hopes, wants and motivations stay pretty much the same. Instead, what drives change is the way technologies, systems and practices gradually evolve to become easier, quicker, smaller, hipper, more powerful and more useful. Martin Cohen

Today,  July 15 is the United Nations World Youth Skills Day – a day to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

The 2023 theme is “Skilling teachers, trainers and youth for a transformative future.”

Does this sound familiar?

For over 15 years Action4Agriculture has been equipping young people with the skills to thrive in the 21st century and we have long been known for developing the four Cs of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. Building on our cornerstone programs of Young Farming Champions, The Archibull Prize and Kreative Koalas we were thrilled to add two new programs to the stable in 2023 in Young Environmental Champions and Action4Youth to further explore these skills.

The Young Environmental Champions invited students to research the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and choose a global problem from which to derive a local solution for their school and community.

“Over 10 weeks, these young minds dedicated themselves to creating a social impact project that will bring about positive change in their communities and contribute towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” Action4Agriculture director Lynne Strong says. “Our young people are reshaping, rewiring and reimaging the future; a future where they will be the leaders.”

Action4Youth is a purpose-driven program to support young people from all backgrounds and experiences to thrive in a career in agriculture by:

  • Increased employer engagement in work-based learning pathways.
  • Improved learning and skills development experienced by young people.
  • Increased entry-level jobs offered to young people.

“It is widely recognised that the education and training systems we have in Australia aren’t fit for purpose and Action4Agriculture we are working with a dedicated group of people to address that. We were committed to ensuring the right people were at the table as part of our Action4Youth program and we were very excited to be able to identify those people from the Illawarra and South Coast of NSW and share that information with others so they can follow in our footsteps and replicate and scale our work and value add to their outcomes,” Lynne says.

All participants in Action4Agriculture programs have access to workshops facilitated by Josh Farr from Campus Consultancy covering 21st century topics including building teams, design thinking, developing stake-holder relationships, communication and agile project management.

“The benefits of participating in an Action4Agriculture initiative is the authenticity of learning and the development of real world skills. It enables young people to engage in real world systems, to understand constraints and structures on real world problems and to engage with experts in the field.

From each stage of the program students are encouraged to extend themselves and develop their skills. This is supported by their belief in their solutions and their passion to make a difference.” Secondary School Principal

 

According to the United Nations “technological advancements and shifting labour market dynamics increasingly call for agile and adaptable skill sets. It is crucial that we empower young people to navigate these changes effectively. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is well placed to meet these demands by reducing access barriers to the world of work, ensuring that skills gained are relevant, recognized and certified, promoting green skills and practices, and offering skills development opportunities for youth who are not in education, employment and training.

“On World Youth Skills Day, let us unite in recognizing the potential of young people as catalysts for change and commit to providing them with the skills and opportunities they need to build a prosperous and sustainable world for all. Together, we can shape a brighter future where no young person is left behind.”

This is an ethos enshrined in Action4Agriculture and we are proud to promote World Youth Skills Day and our role within the movement.

Image source

#action4Agriculture

#careerswithpurpose

#creatingabetterworldtogether

Building the confidence to create the possibilities of tomorrow

To build the confidence to create the possibilities of tomorrow I am inspired by this quote

We aspire to make a difference, yet at the same time fear we cannot . Confidence is that magical quality that allows us to transcend the quiet self – doubts that tug at us . It shows us the emotional way forward by allowing us to believe in ourselves and trust the process .

We need a road map that can shift our perspective and free our imaginations, allowing us to suspend belief in the limits of today so we can see and create the possibilities of tomorrow.  Blue Ocean Shift (p. 6). Pan Macmillan UK. Kindle Edition. Mauborgne, Renee; Kim, W. Chan.

The last ten years have been a time of significant change for me. Firstly exiting the family dairy business after I realised I had a vision for the business my business partners didn’t share.

The exit process taught me realising my vision for the business had consumed me. It had become my identity.

So I then put everything I had into the charity I had founded and it too became my identity ( you can see a pattern forming here). Last year it became very clear to me I was suffering from founder syndrome and it was time to hand over the reins. A defining moment was the feedback from the judges of the Banksia Awards – “there doesn’t seem to be a clear plan to replicate and scale”. Scaling what we do was the last thing on my mind – all I wanted to do was to add value to what others are doing.

I had a long chat to my contact at St Vincent De Paul – one of our funding partners. He said the work your charity does must continue and Vinnes can  provide support for you to package up all your programs and find others with the capacity to replicate them and scale them. I found this idea very exciting. There is no shortage of others out there doing great work.

So far we have been very successful with Kreative Koalas and the Young Environmental Champions programs finding the perfect new home. We are are having exciting conversations about The Archibull Prize’s capacity to have an AGSTEM role as part of a major university program and the Young Farming Champions will be workshopping what the next stage looks like for their program – could it be a youth led, youth driven initiative?

St Vincent De Paul have even engaged some-one to mentor me through the process and I very grateful for that. Defining what the future looks like at my age means spending a lot of time reflecting on the mistakes of the past and asking myself , am I too old to change.

What does proving you are never to old to change look like?

To start with I am going to focus on positive language

The breakdown of my family business taught me:

💪Whatever journey you are on get the foundation right.

💪Everybody needs to part of a shared vision – it must be a co-design process

💪Surround yourself with people who:

share your vision

have skillsets that complement yours

I am reading a book recommended by my mentor. I love this extract from the preface of  “Blue Ocean Shift by Mauborgne, Renee; Kim, W. Chan”

In the poem “ O Me ! O Life ! ” Walt Whitman , the American poet and essayist , reflects on the trials and tribulations that define the human experience . “ What good amid these , O me ! O life ? ” he asks . His answer — that all of us , individually and collectively , may contribute a verse to the powerful play that is life — has never left us . Life has its challenges and tribulations , no doubt . But it is not beyond our ability to shape . By our very existence , we all are able to contribute a verse and , in doing so , influence life’s course , and maybe even its beauty , if only by an inch . What will your verse be ? What will ours ? We have never stopped asking ourselves this question . What do we want to stand for ? What narrative arc do we want to focus our efforts on in the hopes of adding a small verse to the powerful play that is life that can help our world to advance ?

We need a road map that can shift our perspective and free our imaginations , allowing us to suspend belief in the limits of today so we can see and create the possibilities of tomorrow . And for that we need to inspire confidence in ourselves and in our people because , although we all are replete with creative energy and resilience , at our core , most of us are also incredibly tender and vulnerable . Without the confidence to act , few will venture down a new path , no matter how clear the road map .

We aspire to make a difference, yet at the same time fear we cannot . Confidence is that magical quality that allows us to transcend the quiet self – doubts that tug at us . It shows us the emotional way forward by allowing us to believe in ourselves and trust the process .

As Nelson Mandela once noted , “ It always seems impossible until it’s done”

 

 

 

 

The role of secondary school is to support young people to transition to work and thrive – why are ATARS still front of mind

 

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It is widely acknowledged

  1. the secondary school system’s role is to support young people to successfully transition to work and/or tertiary education and thrive

YET

2. the focus remains on ATARS 

So its fair to say we do not have a fit for purpose secondary school system in Australia 

I recently asked a senior career’s advisor what would success look like for teachers and students for a successful transition to work pathway

This is what they said:

  1. What does success look like for students
  • Students can identify, articulate and apply their skills, strengths and learning styles
  • Students are curious and ambitious to find out more (LMI , Career Exploration e.g. Become Education ) 
  • Students are aware of and talk more about a range of careers beyond the 15  most common occupational expectations (OECD – Dream Jobs)
  • All students have a ‘live’ career plan and goals
  • Students see the benefit in career exploration through work based learning – to confirm career interest or redirect to new career interests/pathways
  • Students are confident in undertaking and engaging with workplace opportunities
  • Students are empowered and become managers of their own career journey
  • All students have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work and skills that are valued in the workplace (Gatsby Benchmarks)
  • Every student should have had at least one experience of a workplace additional to part time jobs they may have (Gatsby Benchmarks)

2. What does success look like for school staff

  • School staff have the administrative support to coordinate work experience opportunities (SPR process is administratively heavy)
  • School staff have the leadership support to implement career exploration and industry exploration initiatives
  • Industry partnerships with local schools developed and connect with classroom learning (Make learning real, link to curriculum)

Why do you think we don’t have a fit for purpose education system when the solutions have already been identified ?

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Growing up the last thing on my wish list was to be a farmer

Growing up the last thing on my wish list was to be a farmer

Yet ten years after putting my hat in the ring to help design the image we want our farmers to be I was the National Landcare Primary Producer of the Year. Two years after that I was the inaugural Bob Hawke Landcare winner.  

What is the image you want your farmers to be?

In my case if it was to showcase other women I have failed

Every winner of this award in the last ten years has NOT been a woman

What could I have done differently?

When you find yourself in a patriarchal  system where you have no idea where to start.

Don’t give up.

The secret lies in asking the right questions and being part of the co-design next step team.

What questions should we be asking?

How do we promote a more equitable and representative academic landscape, AND enrich our own understanding and perspectives. 

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I recently found myself in an unpleasant situation after suggesting that we ( the agriculture sector)  find ways to ensure that agricultural academic research be more freely available so it can be more widely read and acted upon.  In my case the pushback to this idea was very fierce.

It was wonderful to chat to PhD student and Young Farming Champion  Francesca Earp today. She is a very smart young woman who is hungry for equality . Our discussion led to a lightbulb moment for me helping me identify the root cause of the big challenge we are facing with our Action4Youth Program (too much happening in too short a time ). It was also great to chat to Franny about the challenges of open access to academic research and its power structures. She drew my attention to recent blog article she had published in the LSE ( London School of Economics and Political Sciences ) Impact Blog

Some poignant points she makes resonated with me

The current state of academic publishing reinforces dominant power structures and perpetuates systemic inequalities. It is crucial that we critically examine and address these issues in order to create a more inclusive and diverse academic landscape that accurately reflects the perspectives and experiences of all communities.

As scholars, we have a responsibility to seek out and engage with diverse perspectives and experiences, regardless of our academic discipline. While it is important to work towards a more inclusive and diverse academic landscape, we cannot simply wait for these changes to be made. We must take proactive steps to challenge the status quo and actively seek out the works of non-Western academics. This not only promotes a more equitable and representative academic landscape, but also enriches our own understanding and perspectives. Francesca Earp March 8th 2023

Western voices dominate research in Asian feminist academia – Why?

How awesome is this graphic by Tammy Vora found here   

Apathy has led to a broken food system – information and education are the missing links

In this passionate TEDx talk Dr Anika Molesworth implores us to rethink the food system

Farmers for Climate Action are showing us how with their recently released Farming Forever Report. Their research shows ensuring our farmers have the education and information they need is pivotal for them to sustainably provide us with a reliable supply of nutritious food for our families

Some background for us to think about

Farming in Australia is risky business. Farming has 3 x the risk profile of the food sector it services in Australia and our agriculture output is the most volatile of any major exporting nation  

Source 

Not surprising when we live and farm on the hottest, driest continent inhabited continent 

In their report Farmers for Climate Action:

  • has called for more on-ground staff and programs delivering farmers education on climate and carbon.
  • puts forward a plan for a national climate and agriculture policy, based on a major survey of more than 600 farmers and round table discussions with leading farm stakeholders.
  • surveys found the vast majority of farmers want to reduce emissions and many want to sell carbon credits, but don’t know how to do so.

More interesting facts and stats from the report:

  • Carbon farming can produce huge benefits but just 10% of farmers are participating and 70% say they don’t understand it
  • 93% of farmers willing to shift to low emissions production but just 30% have been in a relevant practical demonstration or “extension” program with other farmers
  • 38% of farmers said they do not sell carbon because they do not know how
  • Landcare and Natural Resource Management (NRM )bodies are the sources farmers trust the most
  • Farmers want access to trusted experts via NRM Regions or Landcare
  • Farmers understand the need to be sustainable to maintain access to vital overseas markets

To me it would seem from the stats below about the access to the  Future Drought Fund that the government needs to be constantly reminded 9 out of 10 farmers learn from other farmers

Want to see how innovative our young farmers are? Read this story about Tegan Nock, who co-founded farming start-up Loam Bio in 2019,  developing a microbial fungus that when applied to soil might not only improve its health but greatly enhance its ability to store carbon

A heartbreaking reminder of how our school system is NOT fit for purpose

My post today features a school essay written by Lachlan Moss when he was in Year 11 at High School. Lachie is now one of Australia’s up and coming musical theatre stars

  I have known Lachie all his life. He was a star from the day he was born. He featured in many of my early natural resource management promos.

Jaimie Frost and Lachie Moss.  Photo Linda Faiers

Lachie essay is a  heartbreaking reminder of how our school system is NOT fit for purpose

There are 7.6 billion people living on this planet and no two share the same story. In our lives we are all able to take a different journey, see different sights and think in different ways. This level of variety and individuality is something that humanity is gifted with. It creates our society. It lets us grow, create, learn, share and inspire.

This means there are 7.6 billion stories that can be shared. 7.6 billion different pasts being walked upon. This is society. This is natural. This is what enables us to create a brighter future. So why is it with all this variety could be celebrated, we are all pushed along a path, the same path, a path where we are taught that instead of having 7.6 billion different ways to respond, there is one answer, which is either A, B, C or D.

We are constantly being told to  “Think outside the box.”

If this is so important, then why is it we spend most of, if not all, of our childhood being told to fill out only the inside of one of four boxes.

It starts in kindergarten as we color in when we are told to stay inside the line. This concept of finding the answer is the main goal of the public school system. And this used to be okay. We used to live in a world with a simple paradigm, a simple concept.

Go to school, work hard, do well, go to university, get a job and gain some level of success and security.

This simplified linear path is no longer the case and no longer believed by students. The problem that this brings with it is motivation is lost in the eyes of the student. The education system was never designed to inspire the longing for education. It was created to inspire success and now that we live in the environment where this success is harder to achieve, we have a lack of motivated learners. This has to change. A job is no longer defined by a degree, so why learn? Schools should be an environment that celebrate all types of learning and that encourage students to learn in their way.

Not only this, but a teacher should be recognized as one of the most influential roles in this environment. They have the ability to sculpt the minds of these children into our future doctors, lawyers, and presidents. They have the ability to inspire students, making them ask, “Why?” instead of forcing such questions upon them. A teacher should be able to facilitate for all learning styles, as it is these styles of learning that will increase the boundaries of how we perceive the world.

A good teacher will reach the minds of students, but a great teacher can touch a heart.

A great teacher is able to find the genius in everyone. “Everyone is a genius, but if we judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life feeling it’s stupid.” This is a quote from Albert Einstein, a genius in his own right and he is correct. We live in a world that is turning into a fishbowl and we are beginning to drown in questions that we can’t answer. This is because we are teaching the fish, the people capable of seeing the problems in a different light, to fit into our idea of what is normal.

Why? Walk down the path when there’s a river that can take these fish to greatness? Variety and different ways of thinking are our most useful tool. We have the power as a race to look at things from different perspectives. Why are we cutting off the fins of our creative thinkers and forcing them to walk along a path where they’re struggling to breathe. They are losing their maximum learning capacity and more importantly, losing their creativity.

Don’t take my word for it. There was a book released in 1992 called Break Point and Beyond, and inside this book is a test you can take that determines whether or not you are classified as a divergent thinking genius. Of the 1,600 students, children aged between three and five who were tested, 98% showed they could think in divergent or creative ways by the time they were aged eight to ten, 32% could think this way. When the same test was applied to thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds, only 10% could think this way. And when the test was used with 200,000, twenty-five-year-olds, only 2% were classified as divergent thinking geniuses.

We’ve created a system that kills creativity. Ask a sixth grader to draw a bird. They will draw a lower case m, do it in kindergarten and you’ll get 300 drawings that may look completely different, full of that sought after color and creativity.

Imagine a world where instead of being pushed through a bottleneck, we push the boundaries of human knowledge. Instead of feeling stupid, we feel we have the power to change the world through inspiration and the variety we bring. Instead of climbing up a mountain, we swim down a stream.

School is a factory, a world where we’re all forced to sit in lines, put our hands up to speak, listen to a ringing bells and get a small 20 to 40 minute breaks. We don’t learn because we want to learn. We learn because we have to. We specialize education into different sectors of faculties. We still pump out graduates in batches, which we call year groups, and we grade our students with letters and numbers.

This obsession with statistics, grades and quantifying one’s knowledge is so obscure. Where else do we do this? Do we quantify love? Do we quantify sorrow? What number of letter represents your first kiss? How about your first heartbreak? What aspect of humanity is honestly, quantifiable? Sure, he may be bad at writing an essay on World War Two, but he may be able to tell a story that conveys an understanding of the hardships and despair that could put any essay to shame. We give letters and grades of quality to things like produce to the quality of meat, not the contents of one’s mind. We lock these creative thinkers in a box, where in the worst case, creativity is constricted until they are removed from the colors of creativity and met with the shades of grey.

Instead of having a set of keys to unlock their true potential, they have one key that opens the box and throws them into a world where they are taught to believe they are stupid, where they are the piece that doesn’t fit and have to change themselves to do so. If given the opportunity, schools can become an environment where all the avenues of education can be explored, when we can step off the forced path and find our own way, allowing new pathways to be followed. This is the only way we can move towards the future because here is a statistic that matters.

There are 1.9 billion children in the world and that is 27% of the world population, but they are 100% of the future.

Lachie is not alone in asking the question if our education system is fit for purpose

Why change the ATAR? The way we recognise learning contributes to the problem

How we recognise learning at the end of secondary schooling is important because it determines post school pathways to further learning and work and has a flow on effect into what we teach (curriculum) and what and how we assess young people at school.

The ATAR is the dominant representation of success in schooling. It was designed in an era where only 11% of the population attended higher education, and then most were from higher socio-economic groups.

Today, only 26% of university entrants actually use an ATAR to pursue further learning. It is not utilised in any other post school pathway.

In spite of this narrow utilisation, the ATAR has a disproportionate impact on secondary schooling curriculum and assessment.  Our school system is geared to ATAR outcomes even if these are not sufficient indicators of a young person’s potential for recruiters and employers. Source