More voting power for NSW Young Farmers, six new branches announced

The topic of renewal in the organisation featured heavily during day one of the annual conference at Circular Quay. A slide shown on the big screen on the opening day of the NSW Farmers annual conference in Sydney outlined plans to increase the proportion of members aged under 50. 

And, while it was not unanimous, the overwhelming sentiment in the room to invest faith in the under 35s and vote to give two young farmer representatives a vote on executive council. 

“We need to foster our young farmers. Because without our young people, we won’t exist in 10 years time,” Goat committee chairwoman Katie Davies said.

“We've got to realise that this is quite a watershed motion,” said Mudgee delegate David Clarke.

Six new young farmer branches were also announced on the opening day of the conference in Sydney. 

This would dissolve the five current young farmer social branches, and see Pastoral and Agricultural branches created for:

Young Farmer Council chairman Tim Carroll said the move would allow youth members to participate more fluidly with the senior organisation and, in particular, attend the annual conference as voting branch delegates. 

During his address at Circular Quay, he also touched on what was a big year for the youth branch, including the $6 million state government funding it secured to power its Young Farmer Business Project for the next four years. 

“We’ve focused on retaining members and giving them value for what they're doing, while also incorporating young farmers members into the general organisation,” Mr Carroll said. 

“If you look here today – there's lot more young farmers in the room.”

“What we're finding is a lot of young people are brought up around things like new technology - but it’s hard to communicate that to older members of the assocation

“We're not saying we aren't on the same page. And it’s not an idea to pull away from the association, but to integrate a better breeding ground for the years to come.”

NSW Farmers president Derek Schoen said the new young farmer branches would lead to more young farmers taking an interest in the state’s agricultural industry.

“Our young farmers are the future of farming in NSW,” Mr Schoen said.