Australia's Oyster Coast has opened the farm gates to a duo of school leavers, who will spend their gap year learning the ropes in the industry.
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Skyla Robinson McEvoy and Lily Smith have relocated to Narooma under the AgCAREERSTART program, run by the National Farmers' Federation.
The intention is to help young people kick-start a career in agriculture.
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This year, Skyla and Lily will train as oyster farmers; if they decide it's for them, they will have a permanent job waiting for them, and training with formal aquaculture qualifications.
The pair picked aquaculture from a range of farming options offered by the program.
Already, having the new recruits on farm is proving a boon for the industry, according to Australia's Oyster Coast CEO Devin Watson.
"As host farmers we get access to a national labour market of interested young people willing to relocate to regional areas to work on our oyster farms," he said.
"It also challenges us as an employer to look at our programs and how we contribute to the future of Australia's agricultural workforce," said Mr Watson.
With recent extreme weather events affecting the oyster industry's ability to harvest, Mr Watson said growers were considering their industry's future - namely who will take over the .
"As oyster industry custodians, we want to enable the next generation to become leaders in a more resilient oyster industry," Mr Watson said.
Recent figures from DPI show that aquaculture contributes over $80 million to the NSW economy and provides over 1,700 full and part time jobs in regional areas.
