Jessica Cheers

2024 | Agriculture - Livestock Management

In honour of Frank Mansell

Working on a cattle farm that focuses on sustainable practices and recently completing a course in sustainable grazing practices has created a curiosity in me to explore how sustainable agriculture is being applied in other countries.

I have seen first-hand how rotational grazing and other sustainable practices can benefit a farm, and this has made me question how financial environments and opportunities affect different countries in their farming practices and how global pressures impact farmers in less advantaged parts of the world. How do farmers manage the land and environment sustainably under the high pressure of food production?

Jessica’s scholarship relates to these UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs):

I would also like to explore countries that have shown advanced use of agricultural technologies. This scholarship would make it possible for me to travel and research different farming strategies and techniques that are used around the world. I hope to gain more understanding and knowledge from this experience to help me improve agriculture in my region and current workplace. I believe this scholarship will not only help fund my exploration of a world of sustainable farming but open doors to knowledge I will gain and the impact I can have on the sustainable agriculture community.

A Global Footprints Scholarship is your opportunity to do more of what you love. What have you done at work that you are proud of or passionate about?

Being a young woman, growing up in a coastal area with an interest and passion for farming that none of my peers shared had its challenges. Although I grew up on a cattle farm where my passion began, it was small scale to what I want to experience.

After studying for two years at Tocal Agriculture College and working on a couple of smaller farms I am now working full-time on a beef cattle property in the New England area. Every morning that I wake up and head out on the farm I am proud. I am proud of having the responsibility to make decisions independently. I am proud of having overcome the challenges to get here. I am proud that I am achieving my goals and doing what makes me happy, but most of all I am proud to be a woman in a farming enterprise, working with other females who I look up to in what was once a very male dominated industry.

Together we are working to become more sustainable for a better future in agriculture.

A Global Footprints Scholarship is for you if you are passionate about creating a sustainable future. Describe something you have done at work or are working on, that helps the environment. Why is it important to you?

Being a key team member on a property that follows sustainable and regenerative practices I’ve been part of multiple projects that helped create a more sustainable future.

One of the more important practices my workplace implements is high impact grazing. We do this to improve our pasture growth and cattle heath and increase carbon and biodiversity in our soils.

Earlier in the year I was fortunate enough to attend a RCS regenerative grazing course through work. I learnt so much about the benefits high impact grazing can have on your livestock and pasture production.

After completing the course and discussing the benefits with my father, we decided to implement this practice on my family’s beef cattle farm in Northern NSW. We are beginning to see differences in how the stocking rate and carrying capacity has risen and with the extended rest period our grasses have improved.

This is a long-term initiative and I look forward to following through on this project and seeing the results. In my current workplace we are encouraged to recycle and reuse any materials we can from pickets, NLIS tags, wire or gates, to even making our own fence stays and strainer from old parts of cattle yards and pipe. These are beneficial when we are splitting up a paddock to make it smaller for our grazing herd.

As a BBM Scholar you can choose to go anywhere in the world.  Where will you travel with your Scholarship and why?

I would like to travel to two countries with very different agriculture practices.

Firstly, I would like to explore sustainable farming in a developing country. It is incredible to see how innovative farmers can be when they have to work with few resources, showing great endurance and persistence to meet a high demand for food. For example, many African countries are challenged by the impacts of climate change, soil degradation and population growth so adopting sustainable agriculture practices is becoming crucial to help keep up with demands in the future. I would like to work towards zero hunger in these countries.

I am also interested in recent projects starting up in developing countries where young women are being educated in sustainable farming. These programs are teaching women how to cultivate organic crops, gaining soil and water knowledge and how to recycle waste sustainably. Being a young female farmer in agriculture, I have a high interest in this kind of project. Farming has traditionally been a male dominated industry and it hasn’t always been easy being a woman in farming but to see support like this in other countries now is incredible.

Implementing sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries also faces lots of challenges due to access to finance, lack of education and access to resources. I have looked at a few organisations that are running programs to help with these issues like Project Nooma, Grounded, Sustainable Harvest and the African Sustainable Agriculture Projects. One of my future goals would be to volunteer and get involved with a sustainable farming organisation in a developing country.

Secondly, I have also always had great interest in countries like the United States and Canada that are more advanced in their agricultural technology and leading the sustainable farming sector. Although, I haven’t had much experience in high tech farming, the small part I have seen has made me curious about how it works and the impacts it is making on farming in our world. I have a high interest in artificial insemination, improving genetics and how it creates more financially sustainable agricultural business, over different scales.

“Sustainability and Environment are at the centre of Jessica’s passionate application. […] Volunteering for a period, learning and working with sustainable farming organisation in developing countries in Africa would be an experience with great learning potential.”

– Global Footprints Assessor Panel