BCG's 2020 Vision
The 2020 Vision group is designed to bring together young people working in the agricultural industry who share similar interests and concerns about their future. It aims to encourage and motivate participants to stay passionate about agriculture and work together to build their local communities.
BCG formed the 2020 Vision group in 1998 and are always on the look-out for new members. So if you are under the age of 35, passionate about the future of agriculture in Victoria and want to play an active role in ensuring there is an agricultural industry and community to work with in the future, 2020 Vision is for you!
2009 events
Industry tour to Ballarat and Melbourne (22 - 24 July)
This year we had the support from GRDC to run a joint industry tour with BCG's 2020 Vision group and Southern Farming Systems’ young farmer group. The tour included visits to:
- piggery and oilseed operation in Windermere
- Wrightson Seeds Research Site
- GoldAcres manufacturing plant
- Dulcinea Vineyard
- Parliament House
- Bureau of Meteorology Forecasting Centre
- Port of Melbourne
- VFF Annual Grains Industry Dinner
- Eureka Sky Deck
- Barrett Burston Malt House
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| The young farmer group at the Port of Melbourne | Participants at the GoldAcres manufacturing plant, Ballarat. |
Read more about the tour and participants key learnings.
Join the BCG Facebook group to keep up with the latest news on 2020 Vision, alternatively contact Janine McIntyre on (03) 5492 2787 or email.
2008 events
Industry tour to Adelaide (24 - 29 August)
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| The group taking a tour of the Waite Institute in Adelaide. |
A group of eight young rural leaders flew from Birchip to Adelaide to visit the Waite Institute and the Plant Functional Genomics Centre before finishing the day with a tour of Cooper's Brewery. The group then travelled to Port Lincoln where they went on a fishing trip and visited the LEADA group before flying to Kimba to visit the Buckleboo Farm Improvement Group (BFIG). They also toured the Minnipa Ag Research Station before flying back to Birchip.
To find out more information about the trip read the media release or read the final report. Once back in Victoria, each member of the group recorded the key take home messages from each day into a diary called BCG's 2020 Vision Industry Tour to South Australia.
The industry tour was proudly supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
Comical Debate (28 March)
As part of the 2020 initiative, BCG organised a comedy debate “That farming is better than sex.” It was a successful night with over 170 people from the region attending and having a great night of socialising. The speakers did a fantastic job debating the topic and presented some very clever, informative and humorous arguments. Afterwards the crowd danced late into the night.
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| Farming team (Lto R): David Jochinke, Alexandra Gartmann and Luke Hogan. | Sex team (L to R): Sophie Guthrie, James Jess and James Hunt |
Luke Hogan, Alexandra Gartmann and David Jochinke had the tough task of debating the affirmative “That farming is better than sex.” They defined ‘better’ as improved, healthier, superior, enhanced, more important, last longer. Some of their arguments included:
- Farming is a bigger contributor to the economy and employs more people and lasts longer!
- Farming is also for the whole family and any age.
- Farming is more important as it has a minister for agriculture and although both (agriculture and sex) have droughts, only agriculture has a whole bureau dedicated to forecasting when the drought will break.
- In farming the growing season is about 5 months – during that time there are multiple orgasmic ups and downs and with harvest as the climax – if it is a good one, it can go on for weeks.
- How many people would have found their partners without agriculture because most relationships result from going to clubs or restaurants where there is plenty of food and alcohol. Even a rose provides a romantic gesture. These are all products of farming – be it grains, viticulture, horticulture, fishing, etc.
The negative team who had to argue that sex is better than farming consisted of Sophie Guthrie, James Jess and James Hunt who were also very creative with their arguments. Some of the cleaner ones included:
- A rain drought is a lot harder to break than a sex drought as rain cannot be purchased
- Beneath the wholesome façade of farming a lot of sex is occurring - animal husbandry, pollination, etc.
- Who would you rather be Ian McClelland or Hugh Heffner?
The crowd decided that they preferred the negative arguments but the speakers all did a great job of presenting their arguments and a great night was had by all.
Past 2020 Vision events
Read about the 2020 Vision study tour in 2007.
"Who's the Boss Now?"- Read about the 2005 discussion regarding the challenges imposed by working in a family business. Discussion panelists include Lyn Sykes, Libby Price and Charlie Boyle.