The NSW Farmers Association supports excellence in the future workforce and will this year be awarding five $4000 scholarships to eligible students committed to enhancing agriculture and rural communities.

Farmers across New South Wales produce more than $15 billion of food and fibre every year, representing about a quarter of Australia’s total agricultural output. Australia’s produce is globally prized for its consistency and high quality achieved through the dedication, innovation and skills of our agricultural professionals.

NSW Farmers Rural Affairs Committee Chair, Sonia O’Keefe, said agriculture was a vibrant, global, and highly competitive industry that would need to attract and retain the best and brightest.

2017 NSW Farmers Scholarship recipient, Thomas Taylor, Grenfell, said he benefited immensely from the overall experience of the scholarship process, from the interview phase to attending the NSW Farmers 2017 annual conference. Mr Taylor, a Commerce and Liberal Studies student, said the scholarship would assist him with his Shanghai University exchange, where he will gain insight into China’s agribusiness sector.

“The exchange will help me to develop Australia-Asia ties, particularly for the trading of grain and livestock to China,” Mr Taylor said.

Another 2017 scholarship recipient, Felicity Taylor, Moree, said the generous prize enabled her to support herself while living away from home to complete her studies in a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney.

“It also helped me take up extension opportunities, notably a work placement with the US Department of Agriculture in Texas during August 2017,” Miss Taylor said.

“I will commence a Graduate Program with Rabobank in March 2018, and look forward to staying in close contact with the NSW Farmers Association as my career progresses.”

More information is available on at: www.nswfarmers.org.au

Applications close Monday, March 5.