Young gun making her mark in agriculture

Tiffany grew up on her family’s fifth-generation prime lamb broad-acre farm in Konnongorring.

She is one of five children and loved the childhood that came with growing up in the central Wheatbelt but never really saw a career in agriculture for herself until halfway through high school.

The turning point was in Year 10 when she did work experience as an agronomist with local stock agent.

From there, her love for farming and particularly livestock grew and she became eager to bring a unique set of skills to the industry, especially her family farm.

Despite growing up on a farm, Tiffany said she never developed much knowledge of the farming industry until she studied at the WA College of Agriculture, Cunderdin.

“When I went to ag college, I thought I had missed out – I was always envious of the boys who already had the knowledge from their fathers and just wished I had those skills that they had,” Tiffany said.

“Being so new to it, I had a really open mind and I was willing to learn about anything and everything and my views and opinions are a lot different to my Dad’s but I think that’s fantastic.”

After high school Tiffany began to pursue her passions in the agriculture industry and wrote her first children’s book while also working as a sampler for the Co-operative Bulk Handling Group.

After completing a communications diploma at the Institute of Technology in Northbridge, Tiffany set off on a two-and-a-half-year adventure around Australia.

Eventually, she settled in central west Queensland, on a property near the town of Yaraka where, while working in various roles on surrounding station, she organised the town’s biggest community event, the Mulga Rats and Gidgee Brats Bachelors and Spinsters (BnS) Ball.

Through her book Five Thousand More To Go, Tiffany wanted to educate and engage children about agriculture consumerism and farm life.

“It was about educating children about the agricultural industry but also about providing a resource for kids on the land who are looking for something to read and to keep them engaged and help develop their love of reading, because it is one of the most important skills anyone can have,” she said.

Tiffany’s children’s book was published when she was 17-years-old and sold out within one week, prompting a re-publish one year later.

During her time in Yaraka, Tiffany found she had the skill and passion for organising community events.

The small western Queensland town, with a population of about 11 residents, had 350 people attend the BnS Ball, an event that used to be very popular with locals.

As chairwoman of the event Tiffany and her team managed to revive in less than one year the ball which had ceased for about 20 years.

The event brought a lot of people back to Yaraka to re-live their BnS days from decades ago and Tiffany said the community came together to raise money for charity and have a good time.

“I have always been passionate about mental health in regional Australia and I’ve always looked for a way to raise money to support the services that are already there but short on funding,” Tiffany said.

“There was no shortage of fun and it united the community as well as the broader region because there’s not much out there like that and we got everyone together.”

There’s a lot of talk about trying to get young people back into regional areas and Tiffany said that people need to be proactive in making changes to attract young people to live and work in rural areas.

“You need to ask yourself ‘do you like your town?’ and a lot of people say this ‘could change or we could have that,’ but if you’re a young person and you don’t like the town you live in, then why would anyone else live there?” she said.

“Make sure you break a few rules because it’s about evolving and we want things in these towns now that weren’t wanted 20 years ago.”

Tiffany disagrees when people say the future of farming is bleak, believes more young people are showing an interest in agriculture and they don’t have to have a farming background to make a career in the industry.

“The future of agriculture is in safe hands and I think the future of regional Australia has exciting potential, but it’s just up to us to make it happen,” she said.

From her travels around Australia, Tiffany learnt a lot about herself and it also helped her decide on her future and what she wants for her family’s farm.

She has developed a strong interest in the uses of technology for farming and hopes to pursue a career in that field on her family’s property down the track.

“Utilising technology at hand, especially when it comes to the broadacre world, is something that I am interested in and hope to pursue for our property in the future and I also think it’s important that farmers have a relationship with the consumer,” she said.

“To make that happen on our property is probably my number one plan for the future.”

Tiffany’s focus on consumer awareness was one of the ideas behind her children’s book but she plans to make consumers aware on a larger scale.

“I want to focus on expanding our prime lamb production whilst utilising the salinity affected land on our property and creating a market for our product that eliminates the middle man,” she said.

“The consumer wants to know where their food is coming from and I think it’s time we became the voice of our own product.”

But for now, Tiffany wants to continue writing as she believes there is a gap in the market for children’s books that are about agriculture.

She also plans to share some of her travel memoirs in print and is looking forward to learning more from the experienced staff at the Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days, while contributing to the fantastic community event.