GoFARM partners with Charles Sturt to offer $1.3m in agriculture scholarships
Boss Liam Lenaghan says a new partnership with Charles Sturt University will help solve agriculture’s workforce woes.
CORPORATE horticulture giant GoFARM has teamed up with a charity and farm management company to fund a new agriculture scholarship program at Charles Sturt University.
GoFARM managing director Liam Lenaghan said the new program would contribute “part of the solution” to the ag industry’s workforce shortage.
Called “AGcessibility: diversifying the next gen of agriculture”, the Charles Sturt program launches this year, and will offer more than $1.3 million in scholarships to students studying horticulture, agriculture, viticulture, ag science and ag business management.
GoFARM, the Anthony Costa Foundation and Australian Farming Services have committed to the program for seven years, funding 10 scholarships a year worth $15,000 each.
Applicants must be First Nations students or from a low socio-economic background.
Mr Lenaghan said the funding would also help employ an engagement officer and an academic horticulture leader at Charles Sturt.
“GoFARM’s purpose is to transform Australian agriculture,” Mr Lenaghan said. “We do that by investing in people and regional communities, as well as farmland.
“Charles Sturt has looked at all the figures, and on average there are four to five job opportunities for every student that comes through. There are not enough students to support the demand.”
He said he understood the value of a scholarship from first-hand experience.
Growing up on a generational family farm north of Ballarat, Mr Lenaghan received an annual stipend from the Victorian department of agriculture when he was studying ag science 25 years ago at the University of Melbourne.
“That enabled me to see all parts of the industry,” he said, “to see plant breeding facilities, crop and pasture research facilities, field-based work, across all sectors including horticulture.
“If we can provide that same opportunity, that is very satisfying.”
First Nations student Kade King is starting his second year of a Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences degree at Charles Sturt.
He received scholarship support through a different program to study ag, and said the experience had opened up career options he had never considered before.
“When I started my course in 2022, I had my sights set on becoming a vet,” he said. “Since then, I have seen how much opportunity there is in the agriculture sector and have found a passion for chemistry science.
“My advice to other students is to look at the options available, you’ve got nothing to lose. Agriculture is a lot broader than you think, it’s not only for people who want to own or work on a farm. There are so many different avenues and sectors to get involved in.”
Applications for the first round of AGcessibility scholarships close on Friday, February 3 at 9am.
To find out more, visit csu.edu.au
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