Farmer’s son, 12, wins top prize with urgent bid to stop food waste
A young Queensland boy’s simple but powerful message to reduce food waste and its impact on Australian farming families earned him a VIP seat in Canberra alongside Prime Minister Albanese
READING LEVEL: GREEN
If Jett Jarvis was the prime minister of Australia for one day, he knows exactly what he would do to improve our country.
The 12-year-old Aussie from regional Queensland said farmers would be a top priority under his leadership.
Jett comes from a farming family in Dalveen, a rural town in Queensland’s Southern Downs Region and encouraged supermarkets to drop their “imperfect produce prejudice*”.
“It’s perfectly fine and it tastes exactly the same,” Jett told news.com.au.
He said farmers were “pretty important because you need them to survive”.
“If they weren’t there, we wouldn’t have food,” he said.
Jett was one of nearly 500 young Australians who entered podcast Squiz Kids’ inaugural “PM For A Day” competition, with the young farmer claiming the top prize.
He was tasked with answering the question: “If you were Prime Minister for a day, what one thing would you do to make the country a better place?”
Jett’s entry video impressed judges with his game-changing idea to improve our way of life.
“The one thing I would do to make the country a better place is I would educate people so they understand how much food is wasted every year because it doesn’t look perfect,” Jett said in his clip.
“Imperfect food tastes exactly the same,” he said. “It just looks a little different. If more people bought this food, farmers would get paid fairly and less food would be wasted.”
7.6 million tonnes of food goes to waste each year, which costs our economy over $36.6 billion annually, according to Farmers Pick.
Data shows the average Aussie household is losing $2,500 to food waste each year.
Jett, the son of a farmer, has seen first-hand the impact this wastage has on the industry, but the issue goes further.
2.4 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables never even have the chance to make it to grocery store shelves, because supermarkets won’t stock “ugly” fruit.
This extreme food wastage drove Jett to try to ensure more Australians understood that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
As part of his prize, Jett visited Canberra and put his “prime minister” title to the ultimate test for the day.
He was celebrated at a special morning tea at Parliament House, received a special mention at Question Time* and met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in person.
During his meeting with Mr Albanese, Jett was able to discuss the issue impacting hardworking farmers across the country.
In his interview, Jett asked: “How important is it for Australians to understand that imperfect produce tastes the same?”
“I think that Australian consumers, hopefully, you will help in educating them. Getting that message out there, I think, is really important,” Mr Albanese responded.
Jett also asked Mr Albanese if the job of leading our country was difficult, because it “sounds like a lot of work”, and questioned why children should be interested in politics.
“Decisions we make today are about how we shape the future … It’s important that you get a say, and that you show interest, because it’s the world that you’ll live in.” Mr Albanese said.
“I’m really optimistic* about Australia’s future. Be optimistic. Hope is much better of an emotion than fear.”
When asked by news.com.au if he wanted to be Australia’s prime minister when he grew up, Jett suggested he wasn’t entirely sold on the top job.
“Not really be the prime minister, but maybe something to do with the prime minister,” he said.
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POLL
GLOSSARY
- prejudice: biased either for or against a particular point of view
- Question Time: a daily parliamentary session where MPs ask Government ministers questions about their portfolios
- optimistic: seeing things in a positive way
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QUICK QUIZ
1. Why does Jett want to see imperfect produce sold at supermarkets?
2. How many tonnes of food goes to waste each year?
3. How much does that food waste cost our economy?
4. The average Aussie household is losing how much to food waste each year?
5. How many tonnes of fruit and vegetables never make it to supermarket shelves because they are considered too “ugly”?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What would you change?
Rewrite the story. The changes you must make are: that the story is about you and a change that you would make if you were Prime Minister. It can be anything you think is important.
Time: Spend at least 30 minutes on this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Civics and Citizenship
2. Extension
Create an advertising campaign. Your purpose is to convince Australians to buy imperfect produce. Include a slogan, a poster and a storyboard for an online or TV advertisement.
Time: Spend at least 20 minutes on this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Media Studies, Visual Communication Design
VCOP ACTIVITY
I spy nouns
Nouns are places, names (of people and objects), and time (months or days of the week).
How many nouns can you find in the article?
Can you sort them into places, names and time?
Pick three nouns and add an adjective (describing word) to the nouns.