Young Farmer Business Program | Young Farmer Business Program Advisory Committee: Meet Olivia

Young Farmer Business Program Advisory Committee: Meet Olivia

Earlier this month we started introducing you to members of our Advisory Committee! The Young Farmer Business Program Advisory Committee makes sure the program is on track, delivering business skills to young farmers and fishers. We’ve got representatives from the Future Farmers Network, ASC of NSW Next Generation, NSW Farmers and the NSW Young Farmer Council on the committee, as well as four independent members. They’re a great bunch who are passionate about the future of primary industries in NSW!

Today we’d like you to say hello to Olivia Falkiner – Future Farmers Network – appointed representative. Olivia is a non-executive Director of Haddon Rig, a mixed-enterprise agricultural company in Warren, NSW. She is also a non-executive director of the Future Farmers Network.

Olivia has worked as Senior Policy Advisor for the NSW Deputy Premier, managing the regional NSW portfolio, including the Regional Investment Fund and the NSW Drought Program. Olivia previously worked with Chapman Eastway Capital after studying Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney.

Worst meal ever eaten…

Fish pie as a kid seemed pretty horrific at the time.

Tell us about the worst gift you’ve ever received…

No bad gifts I don’t think. It’s pretty nice to receive anything.

If you were stuck on a desert island – with no phone coverage – what 3 things would you pack?

Vegetable seeds. My kindle. A Kayak.

What would you tell your 16 year old self?

Get a grip.

Biggest business learning you would share with other young farmers…

Get as much experience as you can and say yes to all opportunities. Courses. Mentors. Different jobs. Internships at school and at university to try different things.

If we gave you $10 million tomorrow… what would you spend it on?

Investing in the local community. Investing in real estate and the rest in stocks when COVID start to recover. Maybe I’d also go swimming with whales often and do a horseback safari in Tanzania and see the gorillas in Uganda as well haha!

Favourite quote (can be motivational / funny / from a book / from your parents… whoever!!)

“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude” – Eleanor Roosevelt, or
“We’ll get there somehow but who the hell cares how” which was written on my Grandpa’s fighter plane in WWII.