PHEEMIE Herold wants to inspire young people who might not come from farming backgrounds to pursue a career in agriculture.
The 23 year-old founded ConsiderAg, an initiative that educates high school students about modern-day agriculture, and the opportunities within it.
“ConsiderAg was started as an initiative to get young people, particularly secondary school students, understanding that there’s more to Australian agriculture than just being a farmer, and that it affects each and every one of us every day, from what we eat, to what we wear,” Ms Herold said.
“I wanted them to know that there are opportunities within the industry that are about more than just being on the farm, for example you could work from a desk in the city but still be in the industry.”
She said she visited schools regularly and did presentations on these opportunities.
“Students loved it because a lot of the schools that I spoke to had some sort of agriculture in their school, so they were schools that were already easy to talk to,” she said.
“They just didn’t realise that agriculture is such a big industry.”
She said her passion to educate came from being told herself that there were no jobs in the industry.
“When I was at school, I was told that I would never achieve anything in agriculture, so there was no point in studying it,” she said.
“And I don’t want any other student to be told that.”
Ms Herold is currently studying a Bachelor of Agriculture at the University of Melbourne, and is on track to be graduated by July this year.
She said while her parents come from farming backgrounds, she’s never lived on the land herself.
“I was born in Wagga, but my family has just completed its 27th move, I’ve been to eight schools,” she said.
“My dad works in agriculture, but he’s constantly moving for work, so we’ve lived in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Canada, and the United States.
“It’s exposed me to so much in agriculture, which is what taught me that there are so many parts of the industry.”
She current works at Australian Livestock Artificial Breeders, who are located in Modella.
“These guys have the whole set up here, they collect a stallion, and artificially inseminate the mare, who lives on site,” she said.
“They also do embryo transfers, where they take embryos out of one mare and put them in another, who carries the foal right through.”
She said once she’s completed her university course this year, she will begin looking for more permanent work in the industry.
“I’ll probably look for a position in the dairy industry, because I’ve always been interested in cattle, but I don’t know exactly what,” she said.
“I also want to get ConsiderAg back up and running because that’s sort of stopped completely, I want to get back into schools doing more workshops and running more camps.”
She said whatever she decides to do, she wants to combine her love of teaching with her love of the land.
“I love working with students, but I love being outside as well, I’m just trying to figure out how I can get the best of both worlds,” she said.