Innovative Darling Downs cotton grower Stuart Higgins has been named Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) Young Rural Achiever of the Year.
Mr Higgins was one of three people with University of Queensland connections honoured at the Telstra-sponsored awards presentation in Toowoomba on Tuesday evening (September 2).
The others are applied science graduate Emily Martin, who was named RAS Agribusiness Achiever, and first-year agronomy student Suzanne Janke, who won the Young Achiever Student Award.
Mr Higgins has been widely recognised for his efforts to improve urban community understanding of the complex decisions involved in daily farm management.
He invited members of the general public to become virtual farmers by taking to the ABC airwaves with a unique interactive program.
He set aside a plot of land on his farm and grew a crop with management decisions decided by feedback from listeners. A weekly diary of farm activities was posted on the Internet and many program followers came to his property to see “their” crop being harvested.
Mr Higgins has built his outstanding reputation as a farm innovator since taking up cotton growing after graduating from the University of Queensland.
He has since completed postgraduate studies in cotton production and is heavily involved in natural resource issues including Landcare and Queensland’s Water Use Efficiency Program, where he helped produce an educational compact disc for farmers.
UQ Gatton honours graduate in applied science (rural management) Emily Martin was named RAS Agribusiness Achiever. She won the prize for highest aggregate marks on graduation and has been widely recognised for facilitating the development of producer marketing groups.
Her awards have included the Queensland Primary Industries Week Young Achiever in 2000 and the Queensland International Business Bursary. She is currently principal of AgriGate Networx.
Suzanne Janke, a high-achieving first year agronomy student at the University’s Gatton campus, won the Young Achiever Student Award. Ms Janke, 18, was Dux of her high school and holds the Vanderfield Rural Scholarship and the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance Tertiary Scholarship.
For more information about the RAS Young Achievers, contact Anthony Smith at UQ Gatton (telephone 0409 265 587).
