The Moree Young Aggies is a group of young agricultural professionals in the Moree district focused on building their personal and professional networks through active engagement. Whilst not every member is young, or an aggie for that matter, they are all keen to welcome new arrivals to North West New South Wales and help them feel at home. One of the aims of the group is to get more young people to move to town and have started a scholarship to help cover the costs of a work experience stint for young professionals.

As 29-year-old chair Fiona Norrie explained to The Land Newspaper: “If we can get the word into the city universities… it may appeal to engineering students to get them into ag engineering. We’re basically showing people some of the opportunities that available here in Moree.” The Moree Young Aggies organise a range of regular events and initiatives, with the annual Gold Rush Ball fundraiser taking center stage on the group’s calendar. This year’s ball, will take place on September 22 with half the money raised going to the Ronald McDonald House in Tamworth and the other half to the group’s rural work placement scholarship.

Over the last decade, demand for agriculture professionals has consistently outstripped the supply of suitable candidates. This deficit is felt most prominently in rural towns such as Moree. According to the latest research from Charles Sturt University’s professor Jim Pratley, there are upwards of five jobs for each graduate in the current market. It is for this reason that grassroots initiatives such as the Moree Young Aggies workplace scholarship are so important and why Agworld is delighted to be a sponsor of the Gold Rush Ball this year.

Charles DuBourg, Agworld Account Manager Eastern States, summarizes: “A lack of skilled people in rural areas is really hurting agriculture. Schools, universities and other organisations are doing the best they can, but it’s local initiatives like these that have the potential to really make a difference to agricultural businesses in rural areas. Agworld for example offers technology-based farm management platform to growers, but in order for growers to be able to adopt our software solution, they need skilled people to make it happen. You can ask any grower or business working in the agricultural sector and they will tell you that a lack of skilled people is one of the biggest challenges they are facing.”

For more information about the Moree Young Aggies, see their Facebook page