Can Legos Build Careers in Agriculture?

Aimee Snowden, from the small town of Tocumwal in the New South Wales Riverina district in Australia, wants to make it easier for young people to consider a career in agriculture through her project, Little Brick Pastoral.

Little Brick Pastoral is an education tool for students, teachers and adults to learn more about the agricultural industry and careers in Australia through Lego, as reported by ABC.

"The main reason why [we use Lego], and I know it's a really bad pun, is that Lego connects,” Aimee said.

In 2014, Aimee was playing around with Lego photography when she realized that there were no farmer characters. She decided to make one, and then many.

For inspiration, Aimee draws on people already in the agriculture industry and re-creates them as a Lego character. She then photographs the Lego character in their real-life counterpart's day-to-day jobs, to track their careers.

"I really wanted to show them around [the careers in agriculture] and show them the diversity. That's why [Little Brick Pastoral] was born," she said. "It's debunking the myth that a career in ag is only a farmer."

Coordinator of the School Years Collaborative Tables Lighthouse Project, Jennifer Frisardi, has worked with Aimee at a school camp showing students the diversity of careers in agriculture.

Frisardi said it was important to help break down the misconception that a farmer was the only career available in agriculture because there was a shortage of young people in the field.

"Sometimes it seems to be that it's not that the students wouldn't do these jobs, but they've never heard of it or considered it," she said "So it's about opening them up from the farm to the table process. We all have a place in agriculture because we eat three times a day."

Well said.