Lego Farmer helps tell the story of Australian agriculture
21/2/2017
A tiny plastic farmer wearing a wide-brimmed hat is becoming quite a celebrity as he raises the awareness of Australian agriculture in schools and via social media.
The Lego farmer spends his day working hard, fixing machinery, baling hay, checking the harvest, planting crops or hanging out with his working dog.He is the star of Little Brick Pastoral, a blog started by agribusiness graduate Aimee Snowden, who lives on her family's farm in the southern Riverina area of New South Wales.
Born and raised on the land, Ms Snowden was keen to share her love of agriculture, in September 2014, she decided to experiment with the farmer 'minifig', and her camera.
"When I first started, I thought it would be a bit of fun," she said. "But after a little while, I realised it had a lot of potential as a way to start a conversation around production and farming in a different way. I don't want farmers to be portrayed in a negative way. I want it to be positive. That is my main driver."
Using the toy enabled her to capture a wider audience — parents and their kids, city residents who may have grown up in the country, and people who loved Lego.
"It creates interaction and a conversation with kids and their parents." Ms Snowden said
During the Year of the Pulse, the NSW Department of Primary Industries teamed up with Little Brick Pastoral(DPI) to create a teaching resource
Ms Snowden developed 12 agricultural characters and released On the Pulse, a kit containing classroom activities designed for primary school-aged children.
Its goal was to connect students with where their food comes from, teach them about careers in the industry, and increase their agricultural literacy using minifigs as a storytelling tool.
The initial rollout of 200 kits was very popular and Ms Snowden said while feedback on its success was still to come, she hoped there would be more opportunity to work with schools.
Ms Snowden would like to see characters like the Lego Farmer highlighting the various careers in agriculture — from paddock to plate — in classrooms around the country.
As well as increasing awareness and offering an insight into the Lego Farmer's life, Little Brick Pastoral provides information about agriculture in Australia including industry links to resources for other farmers, students, teachers and representative groups.
But the farmer's fame is not restricted to the blog — he has almost 8,000 followers on Facebook, uses Twitter, and shares photos on Instagram where other Lego photographers congregate.
And yes, there is a female Lego farmer too, although most of her time is spent behind the scenes.
"Women play an important role in all agriculture and in fact, they make up 43 per cent of the world's agricultural labour force," Ms Snowden said.
Ms Snowden and the Lego Farmer are not affiliated with the famous toy maker, but were involved in the #BuildAustralia campaign.
