Grace McLeod is a passionate farmer near Nhill and an accidental influencer helping spread positive vibes around agriculture.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At 29-years-old, Miss McLeod is now a permanent fixture on the family farm, working alongside her father.
"I came and went for a few years, working on the farm and saving and then going off and travelling," Miss McLeod said.
"Back in 2016 I was working on the farm and was about to head to Canada. I planned to work there for a few years and wasn't really planning on coming home.
"But in the lead up to going, I found myself really wanting to stay and that hadn't happened to me before.
"When dad had knee operations in 2017, I came back to help and have decided to stay permanently."
The farm is a mixed enterprise of cropping and sheep and Miss McLeod said she is more interested in the livestock than her father, but is also passionate about cropping.
"I really enjoy seeing how the farm operates as a whole. There isn't any part that doesn't interest me," she said.
Her passion for farming is behind her Instagram page @gmac that has grown to have more than 12,000 followers who enjoy an insight into her positive take on the industry.
"I remember when I was younger and moved to Broome and a friend said I should get on Instagram. I was always doing silly little things on there and it snowballed because I liked documenting the things that mattered to me and they seemed to matter to other people," she said.
"It is nice to connect with people and relate to people and put smiles on their faces.
"I did a harvest video a while back and it got shared and it just grew from there. I am very lucky that opportunities have grown from that including Graziher who approached me to do an interview for their magazine and I was a guest speaker at the Rural Women's Day event in Dunkeld in October."
Despite her strong online following, Miss McLeod said she never imagined it happening and she never had any agendas for her page.
"I don't think about the Instagram at all in that way. I had a lady come up to me at Rural Women's Day and she told me she thinks what I am doing is great and that I seem to really enjoy life. She then said 'you don't have an agenda, do you?' and I don't. It isn't about anything underlining, it is just my life and farm life and if I can share positivity for agriculture in anyway then that is great," she said.
"It has kind of developed its own agenda and that is just about sharing positive agricultural stories."
Miss McLeod said because agriculture is often misunderstood and misrepresented in mainstream media, she enjoys being able to do her bit to inform and educate people.
"I think agriculture gets (in) the limelight a lot in the media, but often in a negative tone. It is important to see the positive side and the side we as farmers see and know. Sometimes that is very miscommunicated with people who don't have an insight into the farming community," she said.
"For me it is about being honest and being real but being positive because there are so many positive things that get pushed to the wayside because of negative things that come out in media.
"And there is so much that is positive to talk about. Where we are today in agriculture is a long way from where we used to be. In our country, we hold some amazing standards and we should be very proud of our farming and what we do. Sometimes, it can be disheartening that people say some things because they are misinformed.
"So share knowledge and positivity is important."
Social media is also a way to help give farmers a face and not just see them as an industry.
"Humanising farmers is important, farmers are the heart and soul of the industry and it is important to show that," Miss McLeod said.
"Farmers care about the land, they care about their animals. It isn't about being aggressive with our message, just be honest and be heard. It can be really hard in this day and age to communicate to people that it doesn't matter where the food comes from, death in any way shape or form is not glamorous, people find that challenging with farming.
"How do you glamorise death? Because it is often a reality of farming. It is hard to communicate and understand. But maybe that regular soft exposure to the reality of farming may help.
"Back in the day a lot of people had a connection to a farm. These days there are so many people disconnected from agriculture so that understanding is not there.
"It is perplexing to people. Food is food and something we need to be thankful for and that is very hard to communicate to our privileged world."
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox twice weekly from the Wimmera Mail-Times. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the Wimmera, sign up below.