The 2027 pilot program
Courageous Farms
INSPIRING YOUNG PEOPLE TO TAKE ACTION AND UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF TIME, DELIVERED THROUGH REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND INVESTMENT LEARNING.
COURAGEOUS FARMS
THE 2027 PILOT PROGRAM
Courageous Farms is built around a simple idea. Every farm can produce two harvests: food for the table and a future for the next generation.
Young people around the ages of 12 to 14 are at a pivotal stage in life. They're starting to test their independence and imagine what their future might look like. Courageous Farms gives that growing independence somewhere positive to go, helping them take responsibility, build confidence and begin acting on something of their own.
They don't need to have their future figured out. The aim is to help them discover what interests and inspires them, and to give them the confidence to take their first steps towards it.
Through regenerative agriculture and a real livestock investment, young people don't just learn ideas. They live them.
- 6–8Young people in the pilot
- 12–14Years old, roughly
- 8Stages, alongside school
The program
TWO LAYERS, ONE PROGRAM
Layer One — What the young person experiences
They accept the challenge to save, invest their own money, explore different pathways and learn from people who've pursued something meaningful in their lives and succeeded. Through those stories and experiences, they find inspiration, discover what interests them, choose a goal and take real steps forward. Along the way, they build confidence and start to see what's possible for them.
Layer Two — What they learn through the experience
As they earn, save and invest their own money through a real livestock trade, they begin to understand how money works: assets, costs, income, risk and compounding. At the same time, they develop patience, judgement, resilience and an understanding of the consequences of real decisions.
The point isn't to make money the goal. It's about using real experience to build confidence, capability and understanding that can stay with them long after the program.
The 2027 pilot program
THE COURAGEOUS JOURNEY
Courageous Farms inspires young people to build confidence, understand money and discover what’s possible for their future. Designed to fit naturally around school, sport and family life, the program unfolds through eight six-week stages, with something new to discover every fortnight.
Through personal video conversations, check-in emails, inspiring challenges and farm-based Anchor Days, young people turn learning into real experiences.
First Six-Week Block | 1 December to Mid-January
Earn & Save
Take on the challenge of earning and saving $300 while discovering the value of money and responsibility.
Second Six-Week Block | Mid-January to End of February
Stay the Course
Build discipline, patience and determination to achieve your first financial goal.
Third Six-Week Block | March to Mid - April
Become an Investor
Turn savings into a real livestock investment while learning about assets, liabilities, risk and return.
Fourth Six-Week Block | Mid-April to End of May
Anchor day 1. | Compounding & The Time Advantage
Discover how time, small actions and compounding can create extraordinary opportunities
Fifth Six-Week Block | June to Mid-July
The Two Mountains
Understand the importance of a time horizon, financial foundations and the freedom to pursue your dreams.
Sixth Six-Week Block | Mid-July to End of August
Get Inspired, Aim Higher
Explore inspiring people, their journeys and achievements, and discover what’s possible for you.
Seventh Six-Week Block | September to Mid-October
Anchor day 2. | Set Your Goal, Build Your Pathway
Turn inspiration into action by setting a meaningful goal and creating a pathway to achieve it.
Eighth Block | Mid-October to End of October
Courageous Table | Giving Thanks
Recognise those who have supported your journey, culminating in The Courageous Table — a celebration of gratitude and achievement.
MORE THAN A PROGRAM
Courageous Farms isn’t about telling young people what they should become. It’s about inspiring them to discover their own path, recognise their potential and develop the confidence to pursue their dreams.
Because the greatest outcome isn’t simply what they achieve today — it’s what they believe they can achieve tomorrow.
Start early
THE TIME ADVANTAGE
The greatest advantage a young person can have isn't money, it's time. They've got decades ahead of them, and they don't need to know yet exactly what they want to do in life. What matters is starting to understand that small decisions made early and repeated can build into something much bigger.
Saving a little money, developing a skill, finding inspiration, building confidence, practicing discipline. These things may look small today, but over time they compound. Money can compound, but so can knowledge, skills, habits, confidence and experience.
Financial understanding is an important part of that advantage. Learning early how to save, invest, understand risk and put productive assets to work gives young people time to learn while the stakes are still low.
The aim isn't to have everything figured out at this age. It's to start building a foundation early, so that when they do discover something they genuinely want to pursue, they're ready to act with confidence, greater freedom and more choices about the life they want to build.
THE TWO MOUNTAINS
Mountain One — Build Your Base
Mountain One is building your foundation: real skills, confidence and understanding money and how it can work for you. Saving, investing, compounding, learning risk while the stakes are low.
That effort is aimed toward a time horizon where you’ve got enough for basic financial breathing room. That’s where life becomes more about choice than necessity.
Mountain Two — Back Your Dream
From there, when something genuinely calls you, that’s Mountain Two: the freedom and courage to pursue what matters to you.
You don’t need to know your second mountain yet, but you should know there is one.
From the founder
Why I created Courageous Farms
I believe there is more potential in every young person.
Sometimes it simply needs someone to see it, believe in it and create the right space for it to emerge.
My own journey started early. At eight, I made my first small livestock trade. Through my early teens, I worked with livestock, bought and sold animals, learned to save, took on responsibility, and started a small contracting business. Around twelve or thirteen, I discovered the story of Sidney Kidman. He became a childhood hero and a real inspiration for me: proof that someone could start young, begin with very little, and build something extraordinary over a lifetime. At sixteen, with my father’s backing and a dream to become a farmer, I bought my first farm.
The years that followed were not a straight line. There were droughts, debt, mistakes, hard work, calculated risks and lessons that could only be learned by living them. Looking back, one of the greatest advantages I had was not money. It was time. Starting young gave me room to learn, stumble, adjust and allow hundreds of small decisions to compound.
Courageous Farms is not about asking boys to follow my pathway. Farming was my pathway. Theirs may be completely different. The purpose is to walk beside them for a short part of their journey and give them the space to ask:
Who am I? What matters to me? What could I become? What could I build if I used my time deliberately?
Tom · Founder, Courageous Farms
The role of mentors
Example more than instruction
A small number of carefully selected adults will contribute to the program. They will not necessarily be famous or highly wealthy people. They will be people whose lives demonstrate qualities worth learning from: character, competence, responsibility, resilience, good judgement and contribution.
The boys will be encouraged to ask questions, listen to different life stories and understand that there is no single correct pathway through life.
The role of parents
Parents remain central
Courageous Farms is not designed to separate boys from their families. Quite the opposite. The aim is to help boys grow in independence while developing a deeper appreciation for the people who have supported them.
Parents will be informed about the structure of the pilot and involved at appropriate points. The program will be developed with attention to child safety, parental consent, supervision, risk management, mentor suitability, privacy, physical safety and age-appropriate financial education boundaries.
What success looks like
Small but meaningful changes
At the end of the pilot, we are not expecting a completely different child. Success may appear in small but meaningful changes:
- Taking greater responsibility without being asked
- Saving toward something important
- Communicating more confidently with adults
- Identifying a goal of his own
- Learning from failure rather than fearing it
- Thinking differently about money and productive assets
- Showing greater appreciation for family and the people around him
The Courageous Table
Each boy will have the opportunity to stand and reflect on his journey: What have I learned? What do I want to build? Who has helped me? What am I grateful for? And who might one day benefit from the person I become?
Achievement rarely happens alone. Gratitude is not an afterthought to the program. It is part of the destination. The deeper message we hope each boy begins to carry is simple:
I can build my future deliberately.