11
Nov, 2026
How will your agribusiness mark Friday 20 November?
The National Farmers’ Federation has announced this year’s National Agriculture Day theme: Our Farmers, Our Future. It recognises the people whose work feeds and clothes us, supports regional communities and helps shape Australia’s future.
There’s plenty to celebrate. The value of Australia’s agricultural production is forecast to meet in the region of $100 billion in 2026/27, with an extraordinary network of people and businesses making that contribution possible.
For the agribusinesses we work with at Sketch Corp, Ag Day is an opportunity to bring teams, clients and communities closer to the industry they’re part of. It’s also a chance to uncover stories that deserve a wider audience.
Around this time of year, we’re often asked by our clients for inspirational ways to turn this important calendar date into an event their people are excited to participate in.
So, if your usual ‘bring a plate to the lunch room’ has enjoyed a long and distinguished career, here are five ideas to celebrate National Agriculture Day a little differently, and on theme, this year.
1. Dress code – Australian grown
Your favourite shirt has a backstory. How much of it do you know?
Challenge your team to search their wardrobes for an item made with Australian grown cotton or wool, then wear it on Ag Day. It could be a cotton shirt, a much loved Merino jumper or a wool hat with a few good years behind it.
The challenge is to find out where the fibre began. Australian cotton is commonly sent overseas for processing and manufacturing, so the country on a garment’s manufacturing label only tells part of the story.
Give everyone a minute to share their find, why they love it and how easy or difficult it was to establish its origins. For remote teams, a photo and a short story in the team chat work just as well.
Couldn’t trace an item? That’s a useful finding too. Discuss what information would have helped.
You’ll have the beginnings of a conversation about provenance, labelling and how brands help people recognise the Australian agriculture already in their lives.
2. The great steak debate
Think wine tasting, with a little more sizzle.
Dig out the barbie and nominate your barbeque master (there may well be one working amongst you) to curate a blind tasting of three (or more!) Australian beef samples with confirmed breed information. Angus, Hereford and Wagyu could make a delicious lineup, depending on availability and budget.The
Ask for the same cut of each breed where possible, prepare each sample consistently and serve small, numbered portions. Give everyone a tasting card to record flavour, tenderness, juiciness and their best guess at the breed.
Then comes the reveal.
Alongside each answer, introduce the producer, the region and a little about how the cattle were raised. Better still, invite a producer to join you and explain the decisions behind the Australian beef your team is enjoying.
Keep the guessing lighthearted. Feeding, handling, marbling and other factors influence eating quality, so taste alone won’t reliably identify a breed. That complexity is part of the story worth sharing.
Round out the menu with Australian produce so everyone can participate in the lunch, and award a prize for the most accurate guesses.
3. Give credit where it’s grown
This Ag Day, introduce your audience to the people behind your product or service. Share their stories and show what their work makes possible.
It might be one of the pickers on harvest, a technician who keeps your machinery running or someone in your trusty accounts team who makes sure orders, payroll or invoicing runs smoothly. Their knowledge, care and experience are part of what makes your business worth choosing.
In the lead up to Ag Day, bring your team together to identify a few people you’d love your audience to meet. Invite them to share how they found their way into your business, and the ag industry, what their work involves and what makes them proud. Ask what they wish more Australians understood about what they do.
A photograph accompanied by their own words or a short video interview can bring these stories to life across your website, social channels and customer communications. Launch the first on Ag Day, then continue introducing people across the following fortnight.
For audiences unfamiliar with agriculture, these stories offer a window into the work behind the products and services they rely on. For your customers, they create a more personal connection to your business. And for the people you feature, they’re a chance to receive some well deserved recognition.
4. Exploring our roots
An old photograph. A familiar surname on a property gate. A story someone in the family has told for years.
Invite your team to explore their personal connection to farming and, if they’re comfortable, bring a memento that contributes to telling that story.
It might be a picture from a grandparent’s dairy farm, a memory of picking fruit during school holidays or an object passed down from someone who worked on the land. These connections might begin in Australia or on the other side of the world. And they may be more recent – a first job, a career change or the work they do today.
Create a small exhibition in the office, or a shared digital map showing where everyone’s stories began. Pair each contribution with a few words from its owner.
Then bring the conversation forward: What has changed since that story began, and what knowledge or values are worth carrying into the future?
It’s a personal way to get to know your team on a deeper level, and to share in the experiences your team brings to the industry today. You might even discover a few things about the person you’ve worked beside for years.
5. The toughest interview in agriculture
Your toughest questions this Ag Day might come from someone who hasn’t finished primary school.
Invite a local school class to visit your workplace, or host a morning where your team can bring their children along to discover what Mum or Dad actually does all day.
Then put your team in the interview chair.
What does this machine do? Where does that grain go next? Could a robot do your job? Build the visit around your own people, products and processes. A short tour, a demonstration or something children can touch and explore will give them plenty to ask about. Help them connect what your business does with things they recognise, from what’s in their lunchbox to the clothes they wear.
Let their curiosity lead, and give your team the opportunity to explain their work in their own words. You might be surprised by the questions that get everyone thinking.
With permission, capture a few exchanges for a short video series: Kids ask. We answer.
It’s a chance for your people to share work they’re proud of, while giving children a closer look at agriculture and the possibilities it holds for their own futures.
However you choose to mark National Ag Day, take a moment to appreciate the people across the industry whose work makes Australian agriculture what it is today, while shaping its future.