Jess Ryan: Working in agriculture is very rewarding for me because I know I get to play a part in sustaining and growing society.

I was grown into the agriculture industry, always loved it. And as I got older it was something that I always new that I wanted to do. Through high school I worked towards everything ag, and then when I left school, got into farming, learned a heap of new things.

Tom McPherson: My title is Accounts Officer and I currently work at a, uh, Ag Tech startup. I made a connection with someone in the industry and they told me about an opportunity that had opened up, that they were kind of looking for someone to fill, and I was lucky enough to get it.

Adrian Englefield: I loved driving tractors and everything to do with machinery, but that very quickly developed into an interest in plant sciences and botany, but also a passion for extension and the ability to take pieces of information that can support farmers and can support their production systems or even improve their production systems.

Jess Ryan: For my electives in Year 11 and 12 I ended up choosing ag. I did biology, ended up doing multimedia as well, which helped with my computer skills to do now.

Emma Pearson: My school didn’t offer primary industries, so while I was doing my Year 12, I also went to TAFE one day a week and studied my Cert 2 and Cert 3 in agriculture.

Tom McPherson: I study a Bachelor of Science – Agriculture at the University of Sydney. There’s a really good mix of kind of field work, practical work, but also theory.

Joe Kingston: So I left school at Year 10 and then I went studying agriculture at, uh, TAFE NSW. I started off with Certificate 4 and then went onto a Diploma of Agriculture. From there I got to learn all the latest farming techniques.

Dr. Lara Griffin: So most of my students will never, ever work on a farm, outside of doing a little bit of, you know, career work experience type of thing. I am expecting that their jobs could be in agribusiness and management and working with science and technology development, looking at new at new industries, consulting.

I think that the idea that agriculture is digging in the dirt is so far removed from reality now that we have so much automation, we have so many new technologies, particularly in our developed countries. What we need is people who are creating and challenging and want to look at how to do things differently.

Tom McPherson: I think the really great thing about ag is that you can control what you want to get out of it. That the myth of agriculture only being farming is definitely something that comes up a lot. I think I’m a good example of, you know, busting that myth. If you were to put me on a farm I wouldn’t have a clue, I wouldn’t know how to manage that farm, but, it’s about recognising that there are so many other avenues and opportunities in the industry for people that are looking to enter it.

Joe Kingston: Every day is a fun day really, um, that’s the only way I can sum it up, but basically moments that I really enjoy is the end of the day when the sun’s going down. You get to look over your property and your hard work.

Adrian Englefield: From somebody that’s been involved in the agricultural and horticultural sector for nearly 20 years now, my big bit of advice for students out there is that things can change, both for yourself and within the industry. So always be prepared to be flexible, and keep an eye out for those new technologies and new opportunities within any industry.

Tom McPherson: Probably the main piece of advice I would give would be really try to understand what it is, you know, you might be doing in a particular role. You know, some things sound really fancy but when you start them you might find out that you don’t actually enjoy them at all, um, or the other way round, it might sound boring and you really love it. Um, so I think do your research and really figure out what the options are.

Emma Pearson: I really suggest like going to either a TAFE, I also attended TOCAL College. It was absolutely amazing. Gives you hands on experiences in so many different fields of agriculture, that would be the best place to go and really find where your passion is in agriculture.

Jess Ryan: There is just so many gateways within the agricultural industry. It doesn’t matter where you started, it always leads you to somewhere else. It doesn’t matter if you start as tractor operator or a cattle handler or something like that, someone will always see your knowledge and your ability in the agricultural industry and always give you a shot, if you are willing to listen and show that you want to do it, and it will take you places, you’ve just got to be willing to push for it.