New farmer advocacy group aims to communicate the success of ag

A new farmer advocacy group is aiming to harness the power of social media to build an authentic, grassroots movement to bring the issues of regional people to the front of the conversation.

A new farmer advocacy group is hoping it can be the mouthpiece for people in regional communities, bridge the country-city divide and show the human side of agriculture.

The Future of Agricultural Leadership launched just over a month ago by Queensland farmer Jack Neilson and New South Wales’ Kaitie Nash, and currently exists as an Instagram account that has already garnered close to 5000 followers.

Mr Neilson, who farms at Boulia in western Queensland, initially had the idea for FOALS back in 2018, after observing a fragmented approach to addressing agricultural concerns and the lack of a streamlined process for gaining appropriate attention in the right areas.

Jack Neilson from Boulia goes for a hit around the Boulia Golf Club. Picture: Adam Taylor

Already with established social media followings individually, Mr Neilson and Ms Nash teamed up to start FOALS this year, as they were already comfortable in front of the camera, and could give voice to issues others may not be comfortable doing.

“If something is happening to you or in your region, but you might not be confident enough to talk about it, that’s where we can fill the gap,” Mr Neilson said.

He said he felt existing advocacy groups often failed to communicate their successes, and felt FOALS could be the mouthpiece for the work that they’re doing.

“We’ve got other groups, and they’re hearts are probably in the right place, but they cannot deliver a message, especially on social media,” he said.

“They have the resources to do the research, develop counter policies and go through the whitepaper etc.

“(But) even if they do have a win, zero people know about it. And that’s what we want to change.”

Kaitie Nash, or The First Time Farmer as she's known on Instagram.

While the organisational structure of FOALS is still developing, Mr Neilson and Ms Nash want to harness the power and reach of social media, and envision a collaborative platform, rather than themselves being the two “talking heads”.

“We’ve had people from a range of backgrounds express their interest. From 18 year-olds who have a background in ag and are so passionate about wanting to help, to really skilled people,” Ms Nash said.

“We’re talking about some pretty complex things, but we want to just make it relatable. Our point of difference is that we are just ourselves, and we are just trying to help to do something good.”

With Mr Neilson based in western Queensland, and Ms Nash at Coonabarabran in NSW, it was a fitting example of how people located far away from each other could work together through social media.

“There’s a lot of bad with it, but a lot of good that can come away from it too,” Mr Neilson said.