A YOUNG Taylorville farmer says she hopes to take over her family’s long-standing farm one day – but as the recent recipient of two agricultural study scholarships, she plans to pursue her passions in ag science while challenging gender stereotypes in the field beforehand.
Fifth-generation Taylorville farmer Demi Taylor was awarded two scholarships – $10,000 via the Agrifutures Horizon Scholarship, and $15,000 from the Rabobank Tertiary Pathways Scholarship – for use in her Agricultural Science and Communications degree at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.
She said she was “ecstatic” to receive the 2021 scholarship awards, as she always had a passion for farming and agriculture.
“I started studying Veterinary Science in 2018 and knew I had made the wrong decision within my first semester,” Demi said.
“I always had a passion for farming and agriculture and decided to transfer to Agricultural Science mid-2018.
“I grew up on our mixed-enterprise family farm (sheep and cereal cropping) in Taylorville, and I’m a fifth-generation farmer.
“Taylorville was actually named after my great-great-grandfather as he was the first person to work the land and make a home there.
“I have worked on my family farm for as long as I can remember and it’s my favourite place in the whole world.”
With the scholarships broadening her opportunities and research possibilities, Demi said she plans to pursue a career as an agricultural extension officer.
“It was in my second year that I noticed the agricultural industry was seriously lacking in regard to communications,” she said.
“I was using a research article for an assessment task, and I had to keep re-reading it because I was struggling to interpret the scientific terminology, and it got me thinking, ‘How is anyone supposed to understand this?’.
“Decades of research and the large sums of funding involved ultimately means nothing if producers aren’t able to interpret the research and take away the main points.
“Extension officers are facilitators and communicators, assisting producers in their decision-making processes and ensuring that appropriate knowledge is implemented to obtain the best results in terms of development and sustainable production.”
With a solid background of agriculture skills and knowledge, Demi also enrolled in a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) to broaden and enhance her understanding of language and its barriers within the agricultural industry, and hopefully help give farmers more succinct and up-to-date information.
However, at 22, Demi is well aware that she may be fighting an uphill battle as she pursues her passions – one of the oldest battles women have stared down across many fields.
“I’ve had my own experiences with sexism in the workplace and I was fully aware of it before commencing my studies, but this only heightens my desire to challenge these stereotypes further,” she said.
“My mum told me that just after I was born – the youngest child of three girls – someone addressed her in the street and said that my dad must be ‘disappointed’ for another girl, insinuating that there would be no one to take over the family farm.
“I always found that so disappointing. It’s not that women in agriculture have been absent, it’s just that they’ve gone unrecognised.
“Until 1994, women in Australia weren’t even allowed to list their legal status as ‘farmer’, and it’s sad to think that was only four years before I was born.
“Within my career and opportunities from my scholarships, I’m really hoping to challenge these stereotypes and promote the idea that young girls and women don’t have to be placed in the shadows; that they can be practical workers like consultants, agronomists, livestock vets, farmers, scientists and shearers.”
While Demi said she loves her time in Wagga Wagga and is excited to find where her studies, research and career will take her, she said she longs for her farm every day.
“It’s the kind of homesickness you don’t get used to, so no doubt I’ll be home soon enough,” she said.
“Right now though, I am most looking forward to my group research project, where I will work with Rabobank to research a topic of my choice, potentially focusing on re-purposing land in drought-prone areas,” she said.
“I am beyond grateful to have GRDC as my industry sponsor for this scholarship and what I love about the organisation is their dedication to the field of extension and their contribution to a sustainable future within ag.
“I laugh when I think of my ‘pop’ looking down on me and wondering how a young girl is going to run a farm, an absurd concept back then.
“My only wish is that he were still here to see that his little nine-year-old granddaughter followed through on her promise that she’d pursue a career in agriculture and keep the farm in the family, despite something as trivial as gender.”