This article originally appeared on Queensland Country Life.
The Marsh Queensland Rural Ambassador competition has once again drawn together some of the state’s finest young people, reasserting that the future of Queensland agriculture is in good hands.
Judges had the tough job of selecting a winner from 11 finalists last week, eventually naming Myles Newcombe, Gympie, the 2019 Marsh Queensland Rural Ambassador.
Mr Newcombe’s passion for agriculture began at a young age, raised on the land and heavily involved in his family’s stud and commercial Charbray operation.
It’s this passion for the industry that has him hoping to use the rural ambassador platform to promote sustainability, production and efficiency within the agriculture industry.
“I believe that as our population grows, urbanisation is growing, but our land isn’t growing any bigger,” he said.
“I see it a lot where people have started out with buying their block but then life takes over and they get busy and the country then becomes less managed or less utilised.”
Mr Newcombe said he’d like to form a co-operative or a database that allowed for better management and utilisation of country.
“I would love for that to become an opportunity for young people or producers in general to get their foot in the door in using country correctly,” he said.
Based in the highly productive Gympie region, Mr Newcombe runs a Charbray seedstock operation across lease and agistment blocks, and is determined to get the best out of all of his country.
“I’m a keen believer in the country needs to be utilised properly and also improved,” he said.
“I’m a big one for improved pastures and developing country with not only pastures, but also infrastructure.
“I’m a big believer in cutting up paddocks smaller so the animals are getting the best use out of the whole lot of the paddock, rather than being picky and leaving less-desirable grasses.
“Even though what I’m doing is probably only on a smaller scale, I’m finding that especially where I am on the coast, that’s working a lot better for me to cut the paddocks up and intensively graze those and then rotationally graze the country.”
Mr Newcombe said he looked forward to expanding his knowledge through the rural ambassador journey.
“If I can learn from a lot of different producers out there who are doing some really good stuff, I’d love to have that opportunity to expand my own knowledge and take that to implement not only in my own business, but also in my area,” he said.
The judging panel awarded Brianna Hockey, Childers, the runner-up position, and Matthew Castino, Cairns, was recognised with the Community Spirit Award.