Brown Family Wine Group, Lambpro, Farm Vlogs produce agribusiness young guns
Know the names of these under-40s, because they’re destined to shake up agriculture on both sides of the farm gate.
The agriculture industry has been on a mission to attract more young people to its ranks for more than a decade.
And the message finally seems to be clicking. Young, vibrant leaders are taking the helm of farming operations, joining advisory boards, embracing technology, championing sustainability, winning accolades for their achievements, and pushing for positive change on farms and off them. Young Farming Champions co-ordinator Lynne Strong says the networking and advocacy group has been working for a decade to increase the visibility of agriculture’s rich career options, and what the industry really needs is for more young up-and-coming leaders to share their stories.
“Part of our organisation’s role is to showcase the diversity of people in agriculture,” she says. “80 per cent of careers in agriculture are beyond the farm gate. In the next 10 years, we have identified that there will be a 15 per cent growth in research, development, IT and innovation jobs, a 10 per cent growth in jobs behind the farm gate and a 9 per cent growth in what is called learning and development – which I call extension.”
She says young people are increasingly interested in how to make a start in those sectors, and much credit for the image boost sits with young agri-leaders who share positive stories.
The 16 movers and shakers who follow have those types of stories. All under the age of 40, they push for sustainability and innovation in ag, and are influencing not only how food and fibre is produced, but also policy and consumer mindsets while inspiring the next generation to follow in their footsteps.
EMMA BROWN, 34, CAROLINE BROWN, 37, KATHERINE BROWN, 39
They may have been born into one of Australia’s most notable wine families, but that doesn’t mean the fourth generation Brown sisters have just floated into the family business based in Milawa, Victoria. Emma, Caroline and Katherine have put in a mountain of work to establish themselves as authorities in the industry, and to evolve their family’s iconic brand for a new era.
A new business name, diversification into vineyards in Tasmania and a brave launch of a new non-alcoholic wine range are just some of the changes made by the young women, who collaborate with their four older cousins – Nick, Angela, Eliza and Cynthia – working across wineries in the globally recognised company.
Communication manager Caroline, 37, group marketing manager Emma, 34, and winemaker Katherine, 39, all worked in the wider wine industry before returning to the family fold.
One of the recent achievements of which they are proud is changing the age-old Brown Brothers company name to a progressive new one – Brown Family Wine Group – which they say better reflects the people and priorities involved in the business today. The first female winemaker in the family, Katherine is passionate about safeguarding the operation from climate change by growing wine grapes in different locations.
JOE BOYLE, 26
Growing up on his family’s grains and sheep property near Birchip in northwest Victoria during the millennium drought left an impression on Joe Boyle.
The 26-year-old former agribusiness analyst recently returned to the family farm at Watchem, where he classes himself as “just a farmhand”.
Not many farmhands, however, write letters to the Deputy Prime Minister, calling for urgent action on climate change.
Knowing many growers in his cropping community take the issue of hotter, drier climate seriously, Joe last year drafted a petition to Barnaby Joyce in collaboration with Farmers for Climate Action, gaining more than 6000 signatures. While awaiting a response from Joyce, quiet leader Joe is learning the ropes of farming and also advocating on other important issues, such as worker shortages and recent Environmental Protection Agency regulations related to on-farm manure use.
TOM MIDDLEBROOK, 29
Dairy farmer Tom Middlebrook works with his father running 450 milking cows on a property at Gloucester, NSW. Having been hard hit by the millennium drought, Tom puts in huge effort to make the most of their resources, including water, nutrients and soil.
“Our main focuses are working with the resources that we have and providing the right inputs to get the right outputs, and create longevity within our farming system, the farm itself and the health of our animals,” Tom says.
Technology is front and centre for the family, and Tom had taken up the innovation baton from his father. He has implemented moisture probes that measure exactly what is going on underground, so he can optimise irrigation in real time. He has also championed a project to measure evaporation.
Returning nutrients to their soil with effluent recycling is another project Tom has pushed, and he is also a driving force behind a plan to add a methane digester to create biogas, turning waste into energy that could be pumped back into the grid.
He hasn’t just kept his knowledge to himself however. He has been part of an online docu-series to share what he learnt about soil moisture management, and data collection.
That has been great to be able to convey with people the learnings as well,” he says. “I think it is one of those things that if not a lot of people are doing it, you can beg the question is it worthwhile.”
ROZZIE O’REILLY, 29
Rozzie O’Reilly is in charge of one of the nation’s most impressive and respected lamb breeding programs.
As operations manager for Lambpro at Holbrook, Rozzie co-ordinates the joining of thousands of ewes, which produce about 10,000 lambs a year, all while managing staff and liaising with more than 250 clients.
It’s all in a day’s work for the University of New England graduate, who has worked side-by-side with owner Tom Bull since 2017 and is also establishing her own cattle and sheep enterprise.
In addition to helping clients exceed their business goals, Rozzie is passionate about showcasing the career options available in the meat industry and has been the driving force behind the Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association’s annual meat careers expo.
“I think there are a lot of young people in ag that are very passionate about the industry,” she says. “But I also think there are a lot of people who don’t realise the opportunities that are available in ag. Once they do see the light, they are amazed.”
DAVID WESTBROOK, 37
A former crop and sheep producer from Kangaroo Island, David Westbrook has made it his mission to help other farm owners achieve their business and personal goals. Growing up on a cropping property in South Australia, David started his own operation with wife Becky in 2010, but found managing the business presented huge challenges.
Seeking skills to help him boost profitability and ease the relentless on-farm workload, David became a founding member of Farm Owners Academy in 2015.
Through the group’s coaching, he honed leadership, time management and financial planning skills. The thing he most valued, however, was a new positive mindset.
With his life on a new path, he decided to join the two co-founders as a coach, and has been with them ever since. Now working with a team of 14, the academy has helped more than 200 family farming businesses.
“The thing that excites me the most is there is so much they can achieve,” David says.
CLAIRE BOYLE, 28
Claire Boyle, older sister of Joe, is equally committed to driving action on climate change, but has made it her main career goal.
She wants to do all she can to protect Australia’s current and future farmers from more extreme weather events, such as the harsh drought that defined her childhood.
As the policy and industry manager of Farmers for Climate Action, Claire works work with rural communities, commissions reports and research, and makes submissions on climate policy to governments.
She completed a double degree in history and politics from the University of Melbourne as well as a Juris Doctor at Melbourne Law School.
“I hope we can get to the point where climate action and strong climate action is supported across all governments. I know there will be inevitable impacts across rural communities, and they will face the brunt of what is to come. I want to make sure they don’t get left behind,” she says. “We are already to unfortunately starting to see those events play out. There is a lot of adaptation that needs to happen. I want to have a role in all of that.”
CLAY GOWERS, 29
Young cropper and Victorian Young Farmers Advisory Council co-chair Clay Gowers is planning for the day driverless tractors and drones will boost productivity on his family’s 4500-hectare grains farm near Mildura.
While he’s waiting for the tech to catch up with his expectations, Clay has jumped on board another digital revolution. Launching an Instagram page called Farm2Freedom, Clay has thousands of followers who ask frank questions about the realities of broadacre farming and learn what happens on farm.
DR DANILA MARINI, 30
With a PhD and degree in animal science, Dr Danila Marini is a CSIRO experimental scientist and animal ethics co-ordinator who is currently working with sheep and technology. Equally importantly, Danila recognises the hurdles for women and gender diverse people in all industries, including agriculture.
Identifying as non-binary and using the pronoun them, Danila is on a mission to share their story with high school students through work with the Young Farming Champions program.
Danila strives to be a role model for any young people and wants to empower them to talk about the issues important to them and realise they can be accepted by and contribute to the agriculture industry in big ways.
CALUM WATT, 27
Calum Watt is applying his scientific genius to the world of grains, as national wheat breeder for Intergrain.
Based in Perth, Calum grew up on a hobby farm at Harvey in Western Australia and mixed his passion for science with his interest in sustainable food production to land his dream career.
He completed a PhD from Murdoch University in 2021, and has worked for Intergrain for the past 18 months. His goal, he says, is to create grain varieties that are superior to what has come before, with firm focus on drought adaptability, frost adaptability and nutrition use efficiencies.
“I have wanted to be a plant breeder for a very long time. I view it as the most efficient way to improve the productivity and sustainability of grain production, which in turn leads to everyone having access to have safe, affordable, nutritious food,” Calum says.
CAITLIN MCCONNEL, 31
Lawyer, grazier, director. Caitlin McConnel can do it all.
The 31-year-old agribusiness lawyer has been chair of the Future Farmers Network in Queensland for the past two years, balancing her legal career with leading the group to expand its networking and advocacy work.
All the while, Caitlin lives on her family’s sixth-generation Queensland station, Cressbrook, where she works remotely.
When she took the helm of Future Farmers, its focus was firmly on building connections and offering support to young primary producers.
Now she is steering it to widened its reach.
“It is almost a time of rebirth,” she says. “Our mission has always been to support young people in ag. Now young people is ag is not just primary producers; young people in ag is all encompassing, so it is people in all the support services as well.”
SHANNON CHATFIELD, 29
A stint as a jillaroo on a Northern Territory cattle station has led Perth-raised Shannon Chatfield to an extraordinary career with Australia’s northern beef industry. She is a research project officer for Consolidated Pastoral Company working across stations in northern Australia.
“What started out as a month contract on a station out of pure curiosity has turned into a new passion and a career with long-term goals,” she says.
Shannon is passionate about sustainability and has her eyes on a leadership role in beef.
“I want to be a leader people look up to; someone who can confidently promote the industry but also talk about the tough issues challenging agriculture.”
MARK MERRETT, 24
If Mark’s face looks familiar, it’s no surprise.
The young grain grower has become a star on screens of all sizes, from online videos to TV appearances.
Mark grows crops with his dad, Ewan, on the family farm at Kaniva, in western Victoria, and has become a wildly successful vlogger whose YouTube channel is filled with engaging clips of day-to-day life on the broadacre property.
“I never expected anyone more than my family to watch it really,” Mark says.
But thousands more than just family tuned in, with Mark amassing 5500 followers. He is passionate about opening young people’s eyes to the opportunities in agriculture.
“I’ve always had a passion for capturing the farm – capturing what we are doing. It kind of evolved. I just put myself in my position 15 years ago or 20 years ago when I was a kid if I had been watching the videos I’m creating now, I would have loved it.”
AMY COSBY, 33
The daughter of an ag teacher, dairy farmer Amy has a PhD in and has always had a passion for working with other people to support the adoption of technology in the agricultural industry.
Today, that is where she shines, both implementing the latest technology and approaches on her own dairy farm at Leongatha South In Gippsland, but also passing on the knowledge to others as a researcher at CQUniversity who upskills other young farmers on digital technology.
“I’m lucky in that my professional life is really closely linked to what I do at home as well,” Amy says. “My work focuses on attracting and upskilling the next generation agricultural workforce. Whilst roles on farm are vitally important, they’re not the only jobs available in agriculture. So whilst having on farm experience and being involved in the industry from that perspective is really good, you don’t have to be a dairy farmer to work in dairy … You could be a researcher, you could work for any of the major processing companies, even if you’re an accountant in a regional area, or an area with lots of dairy – you are working in agriculture – there’s lots of amazing opportunities there.”
BRYAN VAN WYK, 28
Bryan Van Wyk is head of operations for Austral Fisheries’ northern prawn fleet, which operates out of Cairns in Queensland. It is the life of his dreams for now, but he has big plans to move up in the industry as well.
Sustainability is high on his agenda, and he’s most proud of the fact Austral is the world’s first carbon-neutral fishing company. Bryan’s love for the ocean is reflected in his advocacy work for Australian fisheries, and his commitment to maintaining his local fishery’s Marine Stewardship Council accreditation.
“I believe that one day I will be leading my organisation in the Northern Prawn Fishery and hope to maintain a profitable operation while staying true to important values such as environmental sustainability and crew wellbeing,” Bryan says.
CHARLIE PERRY, 35
Charlie Perry lives and works on his family’s Wagyu beef farm at Gurya, in Northern NSW, which has been recognised as one of the best in the nation for its substantial growth, even in the face of drought. Much of that growth has been driven by Charlie, who is this year’s Australian Zanda McDonald award winner.
The young farmer returned to agriculture after a career in business consulting. Since taking over management in 2016, he has focused on productivity gains and sustainability. He also serves as president and chair of the Australian Wagyu Association.
The state of Australia’s dairy industry
An average farm with 200 cattle will lose more than $146,000 if no step-ups are announced this season, as farmers say they are “working for nothing”.
‘Untapped opportunity’: How to make money from regen ag
The boss of one of Australia’s biggest agricultural funds offers an insight into the future of farming and investor appetite for climate-based solutions.