THERE are not many country people who say they enjoy living in the big smoke.
While Michaela Hendry said her heart was still in the country and she hopes that one day she's back on the land, for the time being living in Perth gives her the opportunity to pursue her passion for agriculture and helping to bridge the rural and city divide.
She believes the divide stems from the general public not fully understanding the industry and that for too long the industry has waited for people to approach them.
Instead, she thinks people in agriculture need to be engaging with non-ag people more directly in an open, honest, transparent and non-condescending way.
Being based in Perth enables Ms Hendry to do this - engage with people outside the industry to help spread her positive, educational message about agriculture.
"There is a massive disconnect between agriculture and the general public," Ms Hendry said.
"If people eat, they should know about the industry.
"That's one of the parts I like about living in the city - I can talk to people here who don't know, but want to know about agriculture.
"The industry preaches a lot to the choir but we need to be open to have those conversations with the general public where no question is a dumb question."
Like many young people passionate about agriculture, Ms Hendry's love for the industry was sown in childhood, living on a Pingaring cropping and sheep property.
When she was 12-years-old, Ms Hendry moved to Denmark with her family and a few years later she decided to attend the local specialist agriculture school, which intensified her passion for agriculture.
Now aged 21 and having recently completed her agribusiness degree, Ms Hendry has wasted no time making a name for herself in the industry.
While still studying she worked for the Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan's office as a communication officer.
This position gave Ms Hendry a behind-the-scenes look into the industry that most people don't get during their whole career, with her duties including liaising between the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and the minister and conducting external correspondence with farmers, activists and anyone who had a query with the minister's portfolios.
"I have always been on the receiving end of policies and politics cops a bad wrap, but if you want to be on the forefront of change, politics is where you need to be and I wouldn't mind exploring that a bit further," Ms Hendry said.
"I had always been interested in politics before starting the job at the minister's office but that interest really increased the longer I worked there (one year).
"Policies affect everyone and it was really interesting to be at the forefront of some of that - it's like having your finger on the pulse."
About two weeks ago Ms Hendry started a new role - less political this time but still working in government.
As a project support officer with DPIRD in the Agribusiness, Food and Trade division, she is excited to gain yet another insight into the industry.
Ms Hendry's social nature and desire to connect more people together within and outside the industry led her to join the AgConnectWA committee in September.
"I love the idea of being an ambassador for our industry and educating people and being involved with AgConnectWA has really enabled me to do that," she said.
"Ag is a community and I feel it's really important to nurture that, which is another reason I love being on the committee."
While Ms Hendry is driven to make a difference in agriculture, she doesn't take herself too seriously and doesn't have a clear plan of what is ahead.
"I would like to give myself about two years to travel Australia and internationally to see different parts of agriculture," she said.
"I want to see how people do things differently to WA.
"I'd love to work on a station, learn about horticulture in the Ord River Valley - anything and everything.
"Maybe even go to Canada because they do things so differently to us and I have family in the United Kingdom who farm sheep so it would be great to see them."
One skill Ms Hendry has harnessed is making the most out of opportunities.
While studying she went to New South Wales to participate in the GrainGrowers Top of the Crop competition.
"It was so much fun and we got to network with other ag students from Australia and even some from other countries, such as America," Ms Hendry said.
In 2018 she was a WA Rural Ambassador finalist and used the platform to speak out about mental health in regional areas, aiming to continue breaking down the stigma.
Recently she was one of several young ag professionals to learn from AgCommunicators managing director Deanna Lush on how to create trust in the industry with external audiences.
"It was incredible to learn from someone who has a specialisation of how to communicate the agriculture story," she said.
"Now I feel like I have the skills to help address people's concerns of the industry."
Also recently held were the Grain Research Updates, which Ms Hendry was able to get a look into while assisting the Grain Industry Association of WA.
"It was just so wonderful being surrounded by so many highly intelligent people and being at the forefront of what is happening in the industry - hearing some of the latest research was so inspiring," Ms Hendry said.
Some young people see the challenges of the future as daunting, but Ms Hendry has more a glass-half-full approach, believing that where there is challenge there is opportunity.
"There's all these unique global issues that we as an industry need to work towards and they'll require global collaboration, but there are so many opportunities there," she said.
Ms Hendry noted that some of the major issues facing agriculture now, such as live export, animal activists and the glyphosate debate, stemmed from people's lack of understanding the industry.
"People don't know how to look for what they don't know," she said.
"Agriculture provides so many sustainable forms of commodities, such as wool and leather over synthetics, but we need to show people what is a true representation of the industry.
"Without food and fibre we as humans are non-existent - we all need to eat and we need to clothe people.
"There's a quote that I love that goes: 'once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer', which I think says it perfectly."
