The organisation was pitching for funding from industry groups and corporates to inject more farming-based curriculum into the education system.
The project would cost $1.5m, chief executive Terry Copeland said.
Once in place Young Farmers staff would manage the relationship with schools and commercial backers of the project like a sales account, he said.
It was a similar approach to other sectors, like the construction industry, which worked together to target schools for recruitment.
Copeland said farming needed to find a way to get more town and city kids into primary industry and Young Farmers was ready and willing to help provided it had financial backing.
The group already had seven staff working with schools but couldn’t expand on existing income from membership fees and sponsorship.
If fully funded, Young Farmers would be able to get 12 staff on the job.
The Red Meat Profit Partnership was already supporting the school programme and Copeland hoped to have another couple of partners on board by the end of the year.
Members mostly supported the new direction, which was part of a strategic review over the past 12-18 months.
“It’s looking at who we are and how we make a difference.”
Financial backing for the school curriculum and other initiatives could help Young Farmers deliver what it wanted to deliver.
Copeland said most member-funded organisations found it hard to attract commercial support and Young Farmers was no different, especially now it no longer had television coverage of its competition grand final.
It wasn’t possible for Young Farmers to do more for agriculture on the back of its $70 membership fee. Most of that income was invested in clubs.
