Dylan Male wins ag scholarship for Aboriginal agriculture research

Dylan Male is the first winner of the Emerging Young Leaders Scholarship, a new program run by Riverina Local Land Services and Picture You In Agriculture.

The 23-year-old is trying to revive and upscale native grass seeds which, anthropologists have discovered, were cultivated by Aboriginal Australians as a grain crop.

Mr Male is convinced these seeds may be the key to combating climate change and growing sustainable crops in an increasingly dry and hostile environment.

It is an issue that hits close to home for Mr Male, who has witnessed firsthand how drought can devastate a community.

"Growing up on a farm during the millennium drought I got to see a lot of the challenges facing the agricultural sector," Mr Male said.

"As a young kid I didn't know if there was much I could do, but as I grew up I realised I could be part of the solution."

He was inspired to take on an agricultural science degree at Wagga's Charles Sturt University, and he is about to embark on a PhD at La Trobe University.

Mr Male said he had a lot to learn from Aboriginal farming traditions, saying that they successfully managed to grow food in Australia's brutal climate for millennia.

He has also studied Indigenous agricultural techniques in other countries, drawing upon ancient knowledge from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Hawaii.

During his studies he will also be taking a two-year training package as part of the scholarship program, which will involve media and communications training.

Mr Male hopes this will help him get his research out there and to inspire other young people to take up more leadership positions in the ag industry.

"Youth are under-represented in the agricultural industry, so I wanted to share my story and experiences to encourage other young people to consider a career in agriculture," Mr Male said.

"It's an incredibly diverse sector with a lot of opportunities; you can go into research, policy, faming - I want to shed a light on these opportunities and increase community awareness of how important the agricultural sector is to our functioning world."

Riverina Local Land Service's Ray Willis said Wagga's future was in safe hands with people such as Mr Male.

"Dylan is a great example of the talented young people we have in the Riverina," Mr Willis said. "Our region has a bright future."

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The following is a blog post sent to The Daily Advertiser by Mr Male.

Hi everyone, my name is Dylan and I'm passionate about agricultural systems that produce enough healthy food for all and reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. This passion has led me to commence my PhD studies investigating the agronomy and ecology of a native Australian grass species that was cultivated for its grain by Indigenous Australians. The project is in partnership with Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation and Latrobe University.

One question I often find myself being asked is 'What has sparked your passion and driven you to do what you do today?'.

From an early age, growing up in the Riverina I witnessed firsthand some of the challenges facing our agricultural sector. I have the most vivid memories of the millennium drought from growing up on a farm on Wiradjuri Country in NSW. From seeing towering red walls of topsoil approaching over the horizon and enveloping the sky into darkness, to watching green crops wither away from a lack of rain and parched sheep gathering around dams dwindled to no more than a mere puddle. There were many times I wanted to do something to help. As a kid, I felt powerless to do anything. However, as I grew up, I soon realised that I could help contribute towards overcoming the challenges facing our farmers - even ones as big as tackling climate change and land degradation.

We are living through a time of rapid change and challenge, where our agricultural systems are increasingly vulnerable to fracturing. It is a time where the world population continues to rise, placing added pressure onto food security and our planet's finite resources. It is a time where the health of our soils is poor and in need of repair. On top of this, we are seeing the high-risk nature of farming exacerbated by a changing climate. It is a time which demands adaptive thinking and innovation if we are to ensure future prosperity of our modern agricultural systems.

One crucial way to achieve this is through the incorporation of traditional agricultural knowledge into our modern systems. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth and is renowned for its particularly harsh conditions. Yet, despite this, the continent has been successfully inhabited by humans for tens of thousands of years. Perhaps one of the most held misconceptions is that Indigenous Australians relied exclusively on a 'hunter and gatherer' approach to obtaining food. However, Indigenous Australians were incredibly innovative and sustainable when it came to food production. One must only read through Bruce Pascoe's 'Dark Emu' to realise that food production systems in pre-European Australia were very well established and sustainably managed. One of these traditional food production systems consisted of domesticating, growing and harvesting grains from native grasses. The cultivation of grains for human consumption has played an important role in human survival and societal development around the world (think rice in Asia, wheat in the Middle East and maize in America). For Indigenous Australians, this was no different. In fact, evidence suggests that Indigenous Australians were the first people on Earth to use grain for food, with starch particles found on grinding stones in parts of Australia dating back many tens of thousands of years.

Since European colonisation, there has been great loss to these native grain production systems. Not only has environmental destruction led to native grasslands becoming one of the most threatened and degraded ecosystems in Australia, but highly relied upon traditional knowledge that had been developed and passed down over many generations was suddenly lost as a result of dispossession and genocide.

There is increasing recognition that the growing of Aboriginal food plants will contribute towards a more prosperous and sustainable modern Australian agricultural sector. It will also provide empowerment to Aboriginal communities and play an important role in healing Country. Additionally, the upscaling of native food crops could be an important tool to combat the effects of a changing climate on food production and to protect against losses to biodiversity.

These are just some of the reasons behind what drives me to pursue a career in agriculture and where I find myself today. I look forward to my continued learning journey and hope to do my part in ensuring Australia's agricultural sector prospers into the future.