Agronomist, business owner and Young Farming Champion Emma Ayliffe has been named the Young Farmer of the Year in the 2020/2021 Kondinin Group and ABC Rural Australian Farmer of the Year Awards, at a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra on June 17.
Emma Ayliffe and her partner Craig Newham
The prestigious awards recognise outstanding achievements in Australian agriculture and Emma is a worthy winner of her category.
Emma Ayliffe is a trailblazer; an innovative young woman on a mission to lead Australian agriculture and rural communities into a bright, resilient and profitable future. At 29 she is a successful business owner, a nationally recognised agronomist, a fledgling farm owner, an in-demand public speaker and a role model to a cohort of young people looking to follow her into this future with optimism and confidence.
What sets Emma apart as a young farmer is her desire to share agricultural information both behind and beyond the farm gate. With financial and sweat equity in her own piece of land, Emma trials innovative ideas and shares these with her agronomy clients and wider farming community. She shares her agricultural story with all Australians.
“It is great to be able to show young people, and young women, that you can really be a big part of the agricultural industry,” Ms Ayliffe said. “My goal with this award is to use it to keep building the profiles and opportunities for young people in ag and, personally, to take on more leadership within the industry to ensure an inclusive, cohesive and prosperous future.”
Watch Emma being interviewed by Warwick Long for The Country Hour
Emma was nominated for the awards by Lynne Strong from Picture You in Agriculture, who also nominated the winner of 2020/2021 Rural Consultant of the Year award Dr Neil Moss.
Dr Moss is a respected veterinarian and director of agricultural consultancy Scibus who has been supporting Australian agriculture for over 25 years.
Dr Neil Moss with Karen Deane (L) and Dan Dixon (R) from Corteva AgriScience and Sally Murfet (Rural Consultant of the Year in 2019)
Neil’s skills and experience came to the fore in 2020 when was appointed as the Dairy Liaison Officer to head up the crisis response to the dairy industry in South East NSW following the devastating bushfires. This appointment required Neil to draw both on his deep knowledge of dairy farming as well as his compassion and empathy of the community. At the same time, Neil was able to draw on his deep connections and respect across the greater industry to pull together a cohesive and effective response.
“It is a deeply humbling honour to win this award and it is an accolade I would never have expected or sought.” Dr Moss said. “I am thrilled that the work I have done with farmers and the dairy and beef industry over time has been so appreciated and well received. I am looking forward to further building the “extension bridge” between research and implementation and continuing to provide practical, integrated and evidence-based advice to farmers and the broader livestock industry. I will use the award to continue to strive for excellence in client care and empowerment and to promote collaboration in effective service-delivery to produce best outcomes for dairy and beef business regardless of their scale, level of production intensity or stage in their journey of growth and development. I would like to thank the Kondinin Group, ABC Rural, Corteva and most importantly, the many farmers and other industry professionals and mentors whom I have had had the pleasure to learn from and work with over the years.”
Watch Neil being interviewed by ABC journalist Kath Sullivan
Both Emma and Neil participated in a leadership development workshop and networking event as part of their awards.
Congratulations Neil and Emma. Picture You in Agriculture is proud to be working with the best humans
Watch Emma being interviewed by ABC journalist Kath Sullivan
Listen to Neil talk to David Claughton on the Country Hour here