We want to reconnect urban and rural Australia so we all understand the importance of agriculture in our daily life.
To do this, we are creating opportunities for urban Australians to learn about, and experience, rural life. We have a range of activities underway or planned, and below is a sample of what we have been doing.
Our great bush spirit
Following on from our successful partnership with The Australian Women's Weekly to celebrate our ‘Inspiring women of the land', we teamed up again to find a modern-day Banjo Paterson! Our Great Bush Poetry contest called for all poets - experienced and budding - to enter poems that reflect the bush spirit that's entrenched in our industry and in our culture.
Winners of the Open and School Student categories were selected from over 400 entries received from around Australia. The winning poems were featured in the The Australian Women's Weekly.
Winning entries for the Open category are:
Winning entries for the School Student category are:
- A Visit from the Queen by Reagan-Kate Joice, 17, Rockhampton Grammar School, Rockhampton Qld
- The Mozzie Massacre of Manjimup by Ronan O'Neill, 12, Millen Primary School, East Victoria Park, WA
- Dirt Everywhere by Rachel O'Halloran, 15, and Arnaka Laffan, 15, Tennant Creek High School, Tennant Creek, NT
Our achievers
Our partnership with the Australian Women’s Weekly sought to find ‘Inspiring women of the land'. Five women were selected from over 70 nominations, all of whom are making a significant contribution to rural industries, community and the environment.
Australia's inspiring women of the land are:
- Alice Greenup (PDF, 463KB) – Beef producer, Qld
- Cheryl Rix ((PDF, 421KB) – table grapes and asparagus grower, NSW
- Leith Boully (PDF, 359KB) – Beef producer, Qld
- Maree Stockman (PDF, 377KB) – farmer and goat breeder, NSW
- Michelle Nugan (PDF, 456KB) – fruit grower/juice manufacturer and winemaker, NSW
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For anyone who lives off the land, taking care of the environment is the most important part of their day’s work – without a healthy environment their livelihood is at risk. Agriculture is the only sector to have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions, which are down by 6% compared with Stationary Energy – up 36%, Transport – up 30% and Industrial – up 16%. Find out more on livestock and the environment or download our brochure Red meat in the Australian environment (PDF, 687KB), or for kids Cattle and the Environment brochure (PDF, 506KB) .
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Sydney
For the second we partnered with the Royal Agricultural Society at the Sydney Royal Easter Show to create a pavilion – The Food Farm – devoted to the source of our food.
The Food Farm had sheep and cattle, industry information, interactive games, meat cuts and carcase displays, pie making demonstration and a full program of on-stage entertainment such as ‘How to cook the perfect steak’, sausage-making; cooking demonstrations and much more.
This is an ongoing commitment to develop the pavilion and educate visitors on the source of their food, how it's produced and innovative, easy way to include red meat in their meal choices.
Brisbane
Over the last four years MLA has joined with AgForce at the Ekka in Brisbane to create The MEATing Centre, a hub for entertainment, information and a place to meet. The MEATing Centre features the ‘Our stake in the ground’ exhibition showcasing Australia’s cattle producers, along with interactive games, on stage entertainment, and a range of support materials.
Melbourne
This year we worked with the RASV to bring The Beef Experience to the Melbourne Show. Visitors to the Livestock pavilion we able to see demonstration breeds and livestock presentations and indudustry information. To enteratin the kids there were interactive games, a passport stamping station and staff on hand to answer questions. Meanwhile, in the Vicotira Bar & Grill, a celebrity cook-off and meat cuts display attracted dinner and media interest.
Adelaide and Melbourne
Cattle producers are also represented at the Adelaide show with the 'Our stake in the ground' exhibition carrying images and messages reflecting the Cattlemen's Creed (PDF, 314KB) and interactive games reinforcing the integrity of the beef industry.
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Cattle producers are often thought of as the iconic Driz-a-bone, Akubra-wearing Aussie, and the fact that they are also astute business people whose industry injects over $6 billion into our economy is sometimes overlooked.
To show secondary school students this other side, beef industry case studies have been included in the 2006 (PDF, 711KB), 2007 (PDF, 952KB)and 2008 (PDF, 915KB) Australian Financial Review Business Case Studies.
The 2006 case study focuses on how the industry achieves global differentiation using science and technology, in 2007 the focus is on managing water, soil and pastures for a sustainable industry and in 2008 the case study is on climate change.
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Farm Day
Farm Day is when a farm family hosts a city family for a day of real hands-on experiences and a greater understanding of the day-to-day life of the farming family.
In 2007, MLA supported the inaugural national Farm Day held on 26 and 27 May 2007. Founded by Victorian farmer, Deb Bain, Farm Day was a great success with both city and country participants happy to recommend Farm Day to family and friends. that was proved in 2008 when Farm Day nearly doubled the number of families that participated.
As Farm Day grows it will be an integral vehicle in reconnecting rural and urban Australia.
Farm Day 2008 is held on the last weekend of May each year. For more information on Farm Day, or the take part, go to www.farmday.com.au
Landcare Week 2006
In 2006, MLA teamed up with Landcare to launch Landcare Week (4-10 September). To celebrate, we took 120 Sydneysiders ‘behind the farm gate’ to spend a day on a cattle property in NSW’s southern highlands.
The day was a lot of fun and giving all taking part a lasting memory of how beef producers care for their cattle and for their land. There was significant media coverage including a segment on ABC’s Landline .
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