Let’s face it, we’re the supermarket generation.

Most of us meet our meat - if we eat it - by staring down a shelf in the chilled section of a supermarket aisle, bewildered by the amount of choice, labels and price-tags on offer. Rump, brisket or lean mince? Grain or grass fed? Free-range or organic?

In April, 2015 YFM launched a project with Target 100, an initiative that represents Australian cattle and sheep farmers, to help young Australians understand how their beef reaches their plates and how the red meat system really works. (Read more about our collaboration here).

BeefJam is a 3-day event that takes young producers and consumers on a crash course of the Australian beef supply chain and gives them 48hrs to reshape the way we grow, buy and eat our red meat.

Fifteen lucky applicants - 8 young consumers and 7 young producers - were given the chance to see, hear, smell and touch the whole Australian beef supply chain. That means all the different stages a piece of meat will travel through before it reaches your plate. From farm, to feedlot, to processor (you might know that as an abattoir) and then to retailer, ‘Jammers’ were able to experience the whole system, but also given the opportunity to ask big questions about how we feed ourselves, and the world, as we move into a food-challenged future.

BeefJam culminated with a 48 hour ‘jam’ where young producers and consumers collectively designed and prototyped solutions to challenges surrounding Australian beef. If you're trying to imagine what it was like, think about the biggest idea-bombing session you’ve ever seen and you’re on the right track. Essentially, the project was about bringing diverse minds together and using design-thinking to bridge the divide between those who grow and produce, and those who eat.

Applications for BeefJam are now closed. Stay tuned for updates on our chosen participants and join them on their journey through social media.