Pick of the crop: Sustainability warriors harvest the top gong at Farmer of the Year

Farming is moving with the times – as demonstrated by a family officially declared Australia’s pick of the crop.

A Queensland family at the forefront of agriculture’s sustainability movement have been judged Australia’s best farmers.

The Corish family, from Condamine, took out top honours at The Weekly Times Coles Farmer of the Year awards at a gala ceremony in Melbourne on Friday night.

The awards honoured the best in farming during 2023 across six categories: beef, cropping, dairy, horticulture and sheep farming, as well as innovation. Judging is centred on the key pillars of productivity, sustainability and innovation.

Forward-thinking passion wins prizes ... graingrower Nigel Corish at his 3600-hectare property 370km west of Brisbane. Picture: David Martinelli.

Nigel and Vanessa Corish and family, who run New Leaf Ag Pty, were recognised for their forward-thinking approach to growing crops, and passion for taking others along for the sustainability ride.

The family grows dryland wheat, barley, chickpeas, sorghum and irrigated crops across 4000 hectares and, with an eye to sustainability, have cut nitrogen fertiliser usage while increasing yields at the same time. The next challenge Nigel is taking on is producing carbon credits, as one of Australia’s first cropping farmers to run a soil carbon project.

“I’m being the guinea pig,” Nigel says. “I’m being the person that hopefully shows people how it is going to be done.

“I think we need to be part of the conversation and at the table, to allow us to become better farmers.”

Family business ... the Walpole family from Yielima in the Goulburn Valley took out the coveted Dairy Farmer of the Year gong. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Coles chairman James Graham and Herald and Weekly Times chairman Penny Fowler presented the awards. Mr Graham said the winners had “an eye to the future while continuing to deliver exceptional quality produce for Australian tables”. Mrs Fowler said farmers had “again proven themselves to be masters of innovation”.

Read about all the winners here

Originally published as Pick of the crop: Sustainability warriors harvest the top gong at Farmer of the Year