Celebrating 125 years of agriculture in South Australia

Two young women looking to further their agricultural careers in South Australia won the judges over in the annual Spirit of Excellence Awards.

Rewarding excellence in agriculture, livestock worker, Celia Scott took out the Peter Olsen Fellowship and this year’s Rural Youth Bursary went to Chloe Shaw from Jubilee Almonds in the Riverland.

Managed by the Agricultural Bureau of South Australia, the awards offer valuable funding to provide study and research opportunities to assist with developing regional careers. They were presented at a weekend dinner in Adelaide commemorating 125 years of the Agricultural Bureau in South Australia.

Advisory Board of Agriculture Chair, Mark Grossman said that it was encouraging to see two women so passionate about their industry and to be able to assist them in turning their dreams into reality.

Celia Scott has added $8000 to assist with her plan of setting up a “Paddock to Plate’ enterprise in the State’s south-east.

“As a proud producer, I would like to improve the image of agriculture through direct producer and consumer communication”. Celia said.

“By the time our product reaches the consumer, it is often seen as generic and run of the mill sitting there on a supermarket shelf”.

Celia currently works on her family farm managing 200 Angus breeders and 3500 composite ewes.

Winner of the Rural Youth Bursary, Chloe Shaw works in the Riverland as Technical Officer for Jubilee Almonds. The $5000 bursary will see her travel to the San Joaquin Valley in California where she hopes to build close networks with researchers gaining invaluable insight into the latest developments within the almond industry.

“I’m keen to implement field trials and improve orchard management techniques for the almond industry back in Australia”. Chloe said.

Also recognised were those providing an exceptional service to primary production.

Leighton Huxtable from the Borrika Agricultural Bureau has been active throughout his career in assisting local farmers in reducing operating costs.

The second recipient, Ken Solly has been instrumental in developing major events such as achievement days and managing interstate and overseas study tours, as well as developing and delivering many industry courses.