PASSION for farming is a trait that Mari Takla admires in the farmers she works with, but it is also an attribute that this young lawyer has in spades.
"I really admire farmers and their tenacity,'' she said.
"They keep pushing through whether it's a bad season, crop failure, flat markets - year-in and year-out they keep taking the risk."
At the age of eight, her family migrated to Australia from Sudan.
The family spoke Arabic and Armenian at home, while Ms Takla and her sister tackled the local language at school.
After finishing her law degree at Murdoch University, Ms Takla undertook various clerkships in family, employment and criminal law and a stint in government, before taking up a position with Phil Brunner in 2012.
Ms Takla continued working with Mr Brunner as he set up Bailiwick Legal, a legal firm which specialises in commercial law, industrial relations and agribusiness.
In her role, Ms Takla also works closely with WAFarmers and its members on a wide array of issues from succession planning to mining leases.
"Phil's experience in issues affecting rural landholders exposed me to the industry and that's where my passion for agriculture began," she said.
Ms Takla's experience in rural issues is extensive.
She works closely with clients in succession planning, mining leases, employment contracts and migration.
She has been teaching business law at Muresk Institute for the past three years and is an active and enthusiastic AgConnectWA member.
She said AgConnectWA was beneficial for young people in agriculture as it raised awareness of the issues and challenges facing young people and advocated to address them.
"It brings young people together not only through events but through the use of various social media platforms," she said.
"It gives young people endless opportunities to share ideas and build networks of like-minded people who support, encourage and build each other up.''
Ms Takla was last week elected secretary at the AgConnectWA annual general meeting, which was held in conjunction with the Innovation Generation conference in Perth.
"I believe that it is critical that young people in the agricultural industry, regardless of whether they are directly or indirectly involved, become involved in and play an active role in helping to make changes that are needed to see growth, stability and longevity in the future of agriculture," Ms Takla said.
"I'd like to see AgConnectWA grow and continue to bring people together to bridge the divide between rural and city WA for their mutual benefits.
"It is more important than ever that young people come together to share and promote ideas and innovation to constructively contribute to the industry.
"I think the best way to drive change is to get involved and contribute using my knowledge and skills to see growth and advancement."
Ms Takla sees succession planning as a key issue affecting farmers and their families.
"The continuation of farming is critical in Australian agriculture and as farmers get older and look at retiring, we are finding more and more that their children don't want to return to the farm," she said.
"It could be because they have settled into other careers or that they saw their parents struggle on the farm for so long that they don't want to do it.
"For the parents, selling the farm is also a huge emotional decision as they feel like they are giving up."
Ms Takla said the key to succession planning was to begin the process early.
"Have the conversation in an open and comfortable environment where everyone can be honest and open about what they want," she said.
"Following this, it is a good idea to get legal and financial advice to develop a plan so everyone knows what their roles and expectations are."
She said her succession planning work showed that keeping young people in agriculture was a recurring problem, with isolation in regional areas and farming's reputation for long hours and hard work strong factors in young people drifting towards city careers.
"I guess what a lot of it comes down to is that you either love it and want to be a part of it, or you don't,'' she said.
"It's a job where you really have to have passion."
