Meet Toby Locke: the new Future Farmers Network executive officer

But it was over the back fence in suburban Sydney that the 27-year-old found his way back into agriculture.

Mr Locke’s recent years have seen him jump from pearl farming in Western Australia to university at Bathurst, hospitality on Hamilton Island, and travel in Europe – but he says he’s finally found his calling as the new executive officer of the Future Farmers Network. 

It was, however, in perhaps the least rural setting in Australia that he seized his chance to join the burgeoning network. 

“One day I looked over the fence at my place in Sydney and I saw someone wearing a CPC shirt,” he said.

“I  wondered why someone in Newtown would have one of those.”

Turns out his neighbour was Auctions Plus chief executive Anna Speer. 

“I said hi and we got talking – I told her that my passion was agriculture. She said she was on the board of something that I should put my hand up for. So I did.”

Future Farmers Network has been around since 2002 and provides more than 20,000 18 to 35-year-olds with access to news, social and industry events, scholarships, awards and information from across the agricultural sector.

Earlier this year, the network appointed Georgia Campbell as bookkeeper and administration officer, with Mr Locke and chairman Dan Korff molding the organisation around members’ needs. 

Mr Locke said his goal was to link the network with similarly-minded services to provide better mental health, better access to investment capital, and better financial education for young aggies.  

“You’ve got people like Cultivate Farms helping young people achieve their dream of getting back on the land… and we’re working with people like Farm Link, and the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health to integrate their services into our community,” Mr Locke said. 

“Ag services work best when they’re working with each other - you’ve got to be adaptable and create partnerships as long as it is good for those in our network.”

TOBY Locke’s take on youth and the farm sector would be at home in the Prime Minister’s agility playbook. 

“There’s never been a better time to be a young person in agricutlure. People are seeing the light,” he said.

“People are starting to realise that we don’t have to do things the way we’ve always done it .

“There are online platforms out there to expand what we know about agriculture and how we implement that knowledge. And there are a lot of keen young aggies out there tapping into it.”

Mr Locke said the internet offered opportunities to shrink the divide between city and country. 

“The internet is empowering consumers more and more with food choices,” he said. 

“If we show them the processes, what goes in to getting the food to their plate, they’re more likely to thank a farmer for their next meal.

“One of the ideas that we’re looking at doing is producing videos for social media that teach city kids where their food and fibre comes from, give them a bit of a window into the rural life.”