Alice O’Rourke grew up in the suburbs but she has always dreamed of having a farmer’s life.
The Camden South resident is one step closer to achieving that dream after receiving an $8000 award from BBM Youth Support to travel and learn about agriculture overseas.
Miss O’Rourke said she planned to travel to the United Kingdom to learn all that she can about dairy farming.
“Farming is more of a lifestyle than a job,” she said.
“Either you like it or you don’t – and I fell in love with farming animals.”
The 22-year-old studied at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School and Magdalene Catholic High School before graduating from Tocal Agricultural College.
Miss O’Rourke is now studying a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management at Charles Sturt University. “My late grandfather actually worked in the dairy industry and as a kid we would always talk about dairy farms so I guess it is in the blood,” she said.
“It’s a hard industry to choose when you leave school but agriculture is the driving force of Australia.
“It is definitely worth all the hard work, there are so many opportunities in the field.”
Miss O’Rourke said without the grant money she would not be able to make the trip.
“They do things a lot differently over there so it will be good to see how it is done and look at new technology in the industry,” she said.
