IT was a love of horses that ultimately drove Emma Graham to a promising career in the agriculture industry.
Growing up in Boddington and having a horse passion lured Emma to the equine course at WA College of Agriculture, Narrogin, and then on to a Bachelor of Agribusiness at Muresk Institute.
Horses might have been the inspiration for her studies but exposure to a bigger world of agriculture saw Emma's horizons expand.
"The ag course at Muresk had such a general focus and I was keen to learn as much as I could while I was there," Emma said.
"In the end the exposure I was given to agriculture at uni led me down the path I'm on today."
Proving that you don't have to be born and raised on a farm to have a thriving career in agriculture, Emma is now making waves and impressing industry professionals in the role of executive officer at the Association for Sheep Husbandry, Excellence, Evaluation and Production (ASHEEP), a step up from joining the group as a part-time project manager.
ASHEEP is an organisation that was formed in the Esperance region more than 10 years ago and works with researchers and farmers to address sheep industry issues in the area.
Working closely with the 12 committee members at ASHEEP, Emma is hands-on with research projects, pasture trials and field days aimed at highlighting best practice and ongoing improvement for farmers in the local area.
The organisation's committee members are local farmers who continually focus on the issues that are important to local producers.
"The farmers who make up the committee at ASHEEP are great," Emma said.
"They come up with ideas and I try to make it all happen."
Emma's busy role also involves organising events and writing funding applications for research.
"We're definitely concerned about future funding for the sorts of projects that we run," she said.
"For example the findings from our pasture trials could be beneficial to people in a number of areas beyond our own - any sort of research that could improve practices is really important.
"So it is great to have research bodies like DAFWA (Department of Agriculture and Food WA), CSIRO and universities get involved, and all we can do is hope that funding continues to be made available.
"The risk of losing funding could mean loss of knowledge and we don't want that to happen.
"We want to keep learning, keep improving and continue passing that information on to our local producers."
Emma said ASHEEP enjoyed solid support from Perth-based researchers.
"I think they recognise the best way to get their information and research out in the farming community is to come out and talk to producers in person," she said.
"So when we have field days it means we can facilitate the information-sharing process which hopefully means farmers walk away with new ideas about how to continually improve their operations."
Over the past few years the focus of ASHEEP field days has been on introducing pasture species developed by Murdoch University and DAFWA that are new to the region.
"Producers that attend likely already know about some of the pastures we talk about but don't use them in their own operations," Emma said.
"We're just pointing out some pasture management ideas to show that they can fit into a cropping rotation easily, and demonstrating their benefits including weed control and disease management."
As a young person, Emma's involvement in ASHEEP is addressing another of the industry issues close to the heart of the organisation.
"We're worried about the declining numbers of sheep in our area, but in particular, we're concerned about the low number of young people involved in the livestock industry," she said.
"Alongside supporting people who have stuck it out with sheep rather than going to a full cropping operation, one of our principal goals is to drive interest for the industry in young people.
"We feel that this is one of the ways we will be able to address the issue of sheep population decline in the Esperance region."
Emma said there were a lot of opportunities for young people to get involved in the industry.
"With the size of the enterprises in this area, many have multiple properties and expansive acreage, I think there is a lot of potential for young people to take management roles," she said.
"And there are an increasing number of females enrolling in courses like the one I did at Muresk.
"I think those young women have a lot to offer to a farming enterprise and the industry more broadly."
Emma said taking that first step to get involved in agriculture could be daunting but was worth it.
"I have found that if you ask questions, people are really happy to tell you what they're doing and help you out," she said.
"My advice to young people out there considering getting involved would be to just do it.
"I've had nothing but positive feedback - agriculture is such a wonderful industry to be a part of."
