YOUNG BEEF PRODUCERS FORUM

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Tech geek, ag advocate
T
TOM Whitty (pictured) grew up in the city, studied journalism at Monash University and until relatively recently didnt know the slightest thing about Australian agriculture. However, he is at the forefront of an online revolution that is empowering farmers to tell their own story and spread a positive message about agriculture. In July last year, Mr Whitty who was then a communications officer at CropLife Australia joined forces with Sam Livingstone and Danica Leys to set up an Australian version of the popular Twitter discussion forum in the United States, AgChat. AgChatOz has now grown to boast more than 1700 followers on Twitter. Mr Whitty was one of the keynote speakers at the Young Beef Producers Forum in Roma last week and also participated in a popular social media panel with Meat and Livestock Australia online editor Matthew Dwyer and Future Farmers Network chairwoman Georgie Aley. He caught up with Queensland Country Life at the event. For me the most awesome thing is some farmers are just getting into Twitter so they can be involved, Mr Whitty said. He was a co-founder of the RuralMH fortnightly Twitter discussion. Initially theyre going on Twitter and joining into AgChatOz but then theyre anything. We didnt have a platform to get people talking. Im someone from the city and I knew nothing about agriculture, but through starting AgChatOz I now know so much more about farming. Mr Whitty said the weekly discussion forum, which runs from 8pm-10pm each Tuesday and focuses on a series of questions on a specific topic, allowed people from all different walks of life to interact. We welcome everyones opinion and we hope that someone from say Sydney or Melbourne might actually influence a farmer, and it might go the other way, he said. There is a focus on the farmer. We want them to have their view, but we also want them to engage. Mr Whitty said his involvement with AgChatOz had given him a far greater appreciation of the agricultural sector in Australia. Farmers are meteorologists, theyre also financiers, theyre accountants, theyre a mum or a dad or a partner its a 24-hour job, he said. Picture: SARAH COULTON.
To participate in the AgChatOz discussion, simply create a Twitter account and log on between 8pm-10pm Tuesdays, adding the #agchatoz hashtag to tweets.You can also follow the @AgChatOZ account, or founders @Tweetingtwhitt, @danicaleys and @Sam_Grains. This journalist is on Twitter: @julian_luke.

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Beef career a sure thing

actually going OK, I can use this other than just on a weekly basis; I can use it everyday. Mr Whitty said his involvement with Australian agriculture came about from a desire to do something different. I wanted to look at what farmers, or what the agricultural sector, was doing on Twitter. And they werent doing much, he said. There was a lot in the US with the AgChat Foundation, which is what AgChatOz is based on, but we didnt have

EN Pearts enthusiasm is infectious. The 19-year-old (pictured) grew up on Bundaleer, a cattle property in the heart of the Arcadia Valley some of Queenslands finest grazing country. Straight after finishing her final chemistry exam, to complete the first year of a four-year Bachelor of Rural Science at the University of New England, Jen jumped straight in the car to be in Roma in time for the start of the 2011 Young Beef Producers Forum. While she is not yet sure in what exact capacity, Jen knows her future lies in the beef industry. The beef industry is my life and I cant imagine that I would want to do anything else, she said. Its my past, my future, my everything. Jens family has just successfully completed a succession plan, and while she would love to return to Bundaleer at some point in the future, that is not the only thing tying her to agriculture.

The industry just has so much potential. As a young person I can come in and do pretty much anything and make a difference, she said. Producing food for an expanding population thats what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. We have just finished succession and it went really well. We have the most wonderful family. My grandparents are living on the place as well, which is wonderful. My grandfather is the biggest source of knowledge and to have him there to mentor us as were growing is really good. Jen finished boarding school at Concordia College in Toowoomba in 2009, and took last year as a gap year to return to Bundaleer before starting university in Armidale this year. Picture: SARAH COULTON.

City-country divide is growing: Kellaway

AMES Kellaway (pictured) reckons the city-country divide is growing and sees this as the greatest barrier to educating an urban market about agriculture. The Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL) managing director was one of the keynote speakers at the Young Beef Producers Forum in Roma. After his presentation, Mr Kellaway said the agricultural sector has a really tough gig moving forward. At the end of the day its an urban voting population and I tell you what, the city-country divide, as I see it, is getting wider. Its not getting narrower, he said. So we have a really tough job ahead of us in terms of trying to educate the marketplace. Mr Kellaway said the egg and beef industries appeared behind the game in

using online and social media to their full extent. We care about feeding our growing population, we care about the welfare of our animals, we care about our environment and we care about providing a choice these are critical issues that the beef industry would also have, he said. So if youre trying to communicate that, it aint easy in this world of social and online media. I would suggest the beef industry (and) the egg industry dont have the smarts in this space. They really dont. I think we need to get more on board. Mr Kellaway told delegates of his experience as managing director of AECL, working in brand management, business development and product marketing with a range of other government agencies and agricultural organisations. He detailed the resurgence of the egg category during his time with the AECL and told delegates of the companys

current marketing and promotional strategy. Mr Kellaway said a great success story for the egg industry had been the growth of free range eggs, which had experienced a huge increase in the past decade. He was quick to put that increase into perspective, though, saying it was from a low base and had a relatively small influence in total growth of the egg category. In terms of free range itself, I tell you what, this is a good product to work with, he said. You take the pack away and the eggs look pretty similar. They taste the same, they look the same, same mouth feel, same smell, same functionality. Whats the difference? Well, what weve been able to tap into is what the consumer is prepared to pay for, which is emotion. They really care ... about how those chooks produce.

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24 November 2011 QUEENSLAND COUNTRY LIFE 9