by Khrysti Balanay
As the Yeppoon Show rolls around for another year, an Emu Park local has thrown his hat in the ring to be the 2023 rural ambassador.
Scrolling through Facebook, Kameron Johnson saw a post where they were looking for an ambassador.
“I didn’t know it was for the show originally, and I thought it was more for helping local farmers,” Mr Johnson said.
“It was posted hours ago, and I thought if nobody put their hand up and somebody had to do it, I guess that person would be me.”
Growing up on a property, Mr Johnson has always been involved in agriculture, having recently moved back to Australia after a few years overseas in Taiwan.
“As an adult, I look back at how my parents would farm compared to their neighbours, and I remember they used to hand-feed cows with old bread from the bakeries,” he said.
“A few of the old farmers would say they were wasting their time, but when it came time to sell the cows, my mum got a bucket, started banging, and the cows came running. There was no need for a motorbike or horses to round them up.
“Now that I’m older and involved with my own farm, I adopted the mentality of alternative or out-of-the-box thinking, working with the animals rather than just controlling them.
“I currently work with pigs at an overseas farm in Taiwan. I noticed they didn’t seem to value pigs and thought they wouldn’t understand the process.
“But they do. If you teach the pigs that they get fed here, they understand. If you treat them well, they won’t be aggressive, and you can give them quite a good life.”
At the show, Mr Johnson hopes he will be able to share stories and advice from farms and improve the quality of the industry.
“It’s a classic thing, where Australian farmers don’t like talking about themselves, and they don’t like complaining. I think that’s a big issue,” he said.
“In the short time, I’ve been interested in this, I’ve talked to several farmers and heard some devastating stories that people don’t know about.
“By connecting dots and people, we can fix these problems.
“As the ambassador, I’m hoping to help provide farmers with an opportunity to get together, show off their skills and products and talk.
“So my goal is to help build a platform because it is not a standardised industry. There are no requirements, and farmers can be hesitant to ask for help.”