FARMERS have discovered a movement of unexpected crusaders for their industry right in the heart of urban Australia.
About 7500 young people from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are beating the drum for agriculture and the role of mainstream agricultural industries.
They include urban-dwelling designers, chefs, engineers, policy writers, and permaculturalists who want to teach their peers what it is to be a conscious consumer - to really understand and value food.
Youth Food Movement's co-founder Alexandra Iljadica (pictured right with Joanna Baker) told the Rabobank-sponsored F20 Summit its members also wanted to awaken farmers to their cause.
"There's a growing consumer base who care as much about agriculture as much as you do," she said.
"They represent a market which will drive the change everybody in this room is trying to create."
Those changes included better communication about animal welfare issues, the story behind a producer's brand, the severity of the ageing farmer issue, and the "harmlessness of weird and wonky fruit".
But to achieve that change, there also must be greater dialogue from the producer-end of the equation, she said.
"We want today's youth to ask where their food comes from and how it's grown," Ms Iljadica said.
"There are answers agriculture needs to vocalise, including the dark corners of the supply chain and topics like bobby calves."
In her experience, if young people had transparency in the information they sought, they valued agriculture in a way they had never done before.
To help spread the word the movement staged "meet the maker" evenings, where members chatted to producers at a city pub.
They left knowing and valuing Australian agriculture as something more than colourful packets on supermarket shelves.
