She and other committee members have put together BrightSIDE, an afternoon session during the dairy conference on June 25, which is specifically for farm workers, and focuses on career progression.
Mrs Johnston, who, along with husband Graeme, is a 50/50 sharemilker on two farms with 900 cows, wants to encourage dairy farm owners and employers to pay the $100 fee for their staff to attend.
''I am keen for the younger generation to come to BrightSIDE, which is a separate session just for them, after they finish moving the cows on the crops,'' Mrs Johnston said.
BrightSIDE has been designed to help young farm workers learn about the resources and tools available to help them with their careers within the sector, as well as work out what their goals are and how to achieve them.
She said she wanted to encourage them to look seriously at their career development, to invest in themselves and to be inspired, motivated and empowered to move themselves forward.
''We need to invest in these people for the future of the industry.
''It's not rocket science.''
Keynote speaker Gilbert Enoka, who is the All Blacks' mental skills coach, will be talking about the values he lives by.
Tom Hartmann, a financial expert from the Commission of Financial Capability, will talk about financial literacy and its importance to young people.
Farm consultant Alex Hunter will talk about mapping their progress from farm worker to sharemilker, and Tony Robertson, principal of the Genesis Group, will discuss how to work hard, have fun and make money at the same time.
''A lot of workers get into debt as they do not have basic financial literacy skills and we have to start teaching them about that as well as farming.''
She and her husband had started working for wages, and now they have an equity partnership in one farm and sharemilk 50/50 on that farm as well as on a second farm.
''Our goal is to own our farm in the next five years.''
She said she always got pleasure helping staff progress along their career path.
''I enjoyed working with our staff - the human resource part of dairying - and trying to support them to go self-employed.''
-SIDE is being held in Invercargill on June 25 and 26. Register at side.org.nz.
