When I was invited to attend The Livestock Collectives pilot workshop – “Livestock Leaders” in February 2020 in Perth, I initially thought ‘gee, this will be a good chance to catch up with some industry mates and hey, I might even be able to visit my sister in Joondalup’. As it was The Livestock Collective’s first workshop, it hadn’t been advertised as yet, and despite not knowing what the course would entail, I was looking forward to it (thanks to Meat and Livestock Australia, The Livestock Collective and Young Live Exporters Network for allowing me the opportunity to attend). 

We completed the course over two days, I flew back to Victoria and the world promptly shut up shop… COVID19 had come alongside (that’s maritime talk for a ship berthing in port). 

In the year that has followed, there hasn’t been any opportunities to utilise the skills that I learnt in the workshop. Sure, I could pitch a story to the media about the positive aspects of my industry or something I did that was pretty cool, but along with the majority of society in 2020, I wasn’t doing anything cool. I was working from home, outgrowing all the clothing I owned except for those that stretch and talking to no-one but my cats and dogs.

In the year prior to Covid, I had spent about 2.5 months in China for work. On Friday nights you could catch me boarding the 8 pm QANTAS flight from MEL to PEK, arriving around 6 am, just in time to catch a taxi from Beijing airport in the Saturday morning traffic. Sometimes, I would hang out in Beijing or Tianjin for a couple of days, weather and congestion in the destination port delaying the ship I had travelled over to meet or spending time with customers.

These adventures came to a sliding stop for me in the first year of Covid, which is right around the time that I learnt about advocacy and values-based sharing through The Livestock Collective’s pilot workshop.

Despite not having (or creating) any opportunities for advocacy for myself, I’ve had a year to reflect on what I learnt, what advocacy looks like for me and in this time, I have watched as The Livestock Collective & MLA have continued to host Livestock Leader workshops all over Australia. 

This brainchild of industry colleagues has been building momentum, and the army of Livestock Leader ag-vocate alumni now sits around 100 people. As Managing Director Dr. Holly Ludeman says:

“If we don’t tell our story now, then someone less qualified will”. 

This statement from Holly is spot on, and it’s only fair that the public see the people and their good intentions behind the scenes.

The live export industry is a highly regulated industry, operating with strict standards and guidelines, with incredibly intelligent and accomplished people participating in it at all stages of the supply chain. Despite what a very small percentage of the community thinks, we are an industry that operates for the greater good – stimulating the economy through income to Australian farmers, towns and businesses, providing food security for nearby nations and contributing to improved animal welfare worldwide – through initiatives such as ESCAS (Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System), animal welfare officers and in market aftercare support.

An opportunity to put some of the skills into practice that I learnt as a Livestock Leader presented last week. Amelia Nolan, from The Livestock Collective, asked me to be a part of the Bendigo workshop. As a previous course participant, I was asked to share my experiences and journey as a Livestock Leader and, what did advocacy mean to me? 

As mentioned earlier, I had done nothing of interest in my 2020 work-from-home year except struggle with my mental health. What value would I be able to impart on these new Livestock Leaders considering I had done nothing since becoming one?

Despite my apprehension, my talk was well received. Unbeknownst to me at the time (I blame the small Zoom audience window), there were quite a few people in the audience that I already knew. I received feedback on my talk from the course participants through an end of workshop survey. The survey showed that my talk resonated with the majority of the audience, and that the life experience I shared was found to be honest and relatable. A couple of people didn’t remember me talking and another said I ‘waffled a bit’, which I found to be both amusing and valuable feedback on my performance.

Buoyed by the experience and excited by the prospect of having over 100 people in Aus Ag that have learnt the same material as I (there is safety in numbers) and are on their own advocacy mission, I’m on the lookout to continue my own ag-vocacy. Little did I know it would arrive so quickly.

Last night I registered interest in studying an online creative writing course with Open Universities Australia. First thing this morning, I received a call from Deep, an Indian fellow from Melbourne following up my enquiry. We discussed the course and Deep asked if I worked? – “sure do Deep, full time in Agriculture” was my reply. 

As I predict most people who work in controversial fields do, I tend to gauge my audience before I include that I work in export. I didn’t plan to disclose this fact until Deep, perhaps reading between the lines, out of the blue asked me, “Do we import (sic) pigs and sheep to other countries?” 

Knowing that Deep meant ‘do we export’, I replied that yes, we do export sheep, cattle and other livestock species but generally not pigs. A half hour conversation on the export of animals ensued.

The phone call cut out after ten minutes and he called straight back, “sorry Alex, don’t know why the phone cut out, you were talking about electricity and refrigeration in Indonesia..?”. 

Deep told me about a friend of his in India, who uses leftovers and by-products from the vegetable market in his town to feed to his cattle. He then uses the cattle manure and with the help of worms, creates what Deep referred to as “black gold” – a fertiliser that he can then sell on. I spoke of how our exports of young cattle into the feeder market in Indonesia operate in a similar way – young cattle are also fed the by-products of agricultural industries, all of which value adds to the beef operation, reduces waste and creates jobs in the community for locals. 

This chance conversation with Deep, a tax paying consumer with a young family from Melbourne, was exactly the kind of conversation that I needed to push me into continuing on my advocacy journey.

Sharing what we do doesn’t have to be big, impressive or scary to be valuable. It doesn’t have to be front page news or be podcast material if that isn’t your style. 

As an introvert and a highly sensitive person (HSP) who has felt the burning flames of making a mistake publicly, active advocacy for me might just be in these low-key comfortable chats with interested parties. The dinner table conversations with non-agricultural family and friends, the LinkedIn article (such as this) where you can surmise your feelings and what you know to be true, or in the off topic chats with a university consultant on a Friday morning.

Sharing what you know (and being qualified to do so) about an industry that you love doesn’t have to be frightening or confronting. However it does take a bit of effort and a willingness to allow yourself to be vulnerable, but with the backing of industry groups and initiatives such as Livestock Leaders, the time is now (and next week, and next month and next year – no pressure!) to share what we know to be true. 

The future of agriculture, trade, export and many livelihoods depends on our willingness to show up and share our stories. Whether it is standing up in front of the kids at the local school, being interviewed by Oli on the Humans of Agriculture podcast, pitching a story to the media or simply having a chat with someone like Deep, there are many ways to share the great things we do in our personal area of Ag.