WHEATBELT farm machinery dealer John Nicoletti wants to contribute to the future of the industry he loves with the purchase of 4000 books highlighting the scope of Australian primary producers and donating them to schools across Australia.
Before the recent sale of his 200,000 hectare broadacre enterprise, Mr Nicoletti was WA's biggest grain farmer - a long way from his start leasing agricultural land in his youth.
"I grew up in a marginal area in the Wheatbelt and I've probably seen more droughts than good years but I still managed to put together a big chunk of land," Mr Nicoletti said.
"I want to encourage our young people in agriculture - if we can give 10 or 50 or 100 people the inspiration to get out there and have a real crack - this is what it's about."
The books being donated were written by Alice Mabin, a New Zealander with the land in her blood, who said she fell in love with Australian farming after moving here in her teenage years.
"I saw the passion and perseverance that Australian growers put into their animals and produce, but I also saw the disconnect between this industry and the people who are fed and clothed because of it," Ms Mabin said.
"The first day I met John, he said, 'You remind me of me when I was your age, you just don't meet people with drive like that every day'."
After producing two best-selling books looking at other aspects of the industry, Ms Mabin turned to the farmers themselves, creating the book series: The Grower: The Roots of Australia and The Heartbeat of Australia by travelling thousands of kilometres to more than 500 properties across the country.
"I knew I needed to somehow bridge that divide between those who are involved and those who aren't, the country and the city and get recognition for our farmers," she said.
And one of those farmers was Mr Nicoletti, who was inspired by the success stories depicted by Ms Mabin that showed what opportunities still existed in Australian agriculture.
She said she came up with the initiative as a way to counter some of the negativity that had plagued rural communities in recent times.
"We have had the terrible drought over east and the unprecedented rise of activism against farming and I just wanted to do something positive for agriculture," Ms Mabin said.
"I had often thought that it would be nice to get my books into the education system and I guess the timing was right to do it now."
Ms Mabin took to social media last week to promote the idea and admits she was blown away by the response.
"The response was probably bigger than I imagined - within 48 hours I had 1000 orders," she said.
"I have opened a can of worms and getting 2000 sets of the books out is going to be a challenging exercise and a logistical nightmare, but when I look at what is going on in agriculture at the moment I guess this is my donation to an industry I love."
Ms Mabin said she has already had offers of support, including one from the Collins Bookshop in Orange, New South Wales.
"I have had a good relationship with the owners for many years and they got in touch with me and wanted to pay the freight for the books to go to 20 schools in their area, so that is fantastic," she said.
The obvious question is, why not donate the books to city schools to raise agriculture's profile in metropolitan areas.
Ms Mabin said it was something that she and Mr Nicoletti had discussed.
"With the opportunities for agricultural studies in schools diminishing, we came to the conclusion that it's likely that it is not in the city school curriculum," she said.
"As much as we would like to see the books in city schools to help them understand agriculture, we were worried they would just sit on a shelf and collect dust.
'Though they are welcome to order if they wish.
"We both thought people from the bush and those rural communities that are struggling will get a lot more out of it.
"The kids at these schools are off the land and they can get an idea of the many aspects of agriculture that are out there and they can relate to it more.
"Every time you turn the page there is a whole world of education there and it showcases all aspects of agriculture and the opportunities that exist within it.
"Both John and I arrived at the fact that we want to keep those kids that grow up in the country, in the country after they finish school and that would be a great benefit to these communities."
For Mr Nicoletti the gesture represents a massive investment, but he said it was a chance to give something back to agriculture.
"There are just not enough young people going into agriculture and I am just hoping that by what I am doing, it will inspire a lot of young people to say 'We can do this in agriculture, let's have a crack'," he said.
"My theory is we have to give every single person an opportunity, there are a lot of people out there who in some format want to be in ag who never get the opportunity but if they read a book and get some inspiration and have a go it would be a good thing.
"Alice's books are ideal for this, they show you can do all sorts of different things in agriculture and they showcase the breadth of this industry really well.
"Agriculture is now a mechanical and computerised world and there is a great future to be had with where technology is heading.
"That is fantastic to see but we need to get people fired up and as an industry we need to reinvest in young people and ensure they know that farming isn't all bad.
"We need to paint a bigger and better picture of agriculture and push the positives.
"We have lost too much youth out of the industry and it is wrong.
"There are opportunities out there for young people or anyone that wants to have a crack and be successful in agriculture if they want to and we need to be positive about it.
"Staying positive and having a good outlook on life is what this book is about and it is what I live by.
"I have never ever got nervous with what I have done, the banks may have got nervous but I never was.
"You can see in The Grower, just how big this country is, how lean and clean and green it is, and people want to live in Melbourne
"Just have a look at these books.
"There's a little bit more than just the bright lights of the city and if kids can read these books and see all these positive stories, that's what this is all about."
Any school in Australia is eligible for the free book series and will only be required to pay postage.
If you'd like to get the book series for your school, email your address and details to alice@almabin.com
