Last year, Australian agriculture was worth $62,208 billion to our economy, but is expected to fall to $59,353 billion this year.

This makes it more important than ever for the younger generation to turn that around.

One person who falls in that category is Hannah Cargill who is in her third year of studying a Bachelor of Agriculture and Bachelor of Business degree at the University of New England (UNE).

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The student from Braidwood understands the difficulties and importance of agriculture given her experiences growing up.

"Growing up in rural and regional NSW, I have encountered the challenges anyone faces in a small community," Ms Cargill said.

"The drought impacted so many communities across, not only NSW, but the whole of Australia.

"So many businesses are still on the road to recovery.

"To me, staying in these areas is so important for the future of not only those communities but potentially NSW as a whole."

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The former Braidwood Central School student chose to study her double degree because agriculture and business are two areas she is passionate about.

"I grew up on a family property and that was when my passion for agriculture developed and I really want to get into the industry," she said.

"Through school, I did a few assignments on farm business management and came to the realisation that business is a really important factor in the industry."

Following her studies, Ms Cargill hopes to help and assist businesses and communities to "build strategies around strength and resilience so they are able to stay strong and overcome challenges and disasters like the current COVID-19 pandemic, the recent bushfires and widespread drought".

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To make her life easier, she has received support from the Braidwood and District Education Foundation, the South Easter Livestock Exchange (SELX) and Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) scholarship and is a UNE Foundation and CEF co-funding recipient.

"The foundation has been a great support," she said.

"It's the community getting behind the youth and making sure everyone gets the best opportunity.

"It enables them to have access to study resources and helps them get to where they want to be.

"They made it easier for me to enjoy my studies, meet new people and not stress about how I will pay for my studies."

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