Trans-Tasman award finalists

THE ZANDA MCDONALD Award has announced their 2023 finalists, comprising six agricultural professionals from Australia and New Zealand.

Now in its ninth year, the award recognises future leaders working in agriculture, and provides an impressive prize package centred on tailored mentoring and education.

The New Zealand finalists are Harriet Bremner, 33, author and health, safety and wellbeing advocate for rural New Zealand, and farmer at Jericho Station, Southland; Jacques Reinhardt, 34, manager at Castlepoint Station, Wairarapa; and Monica Schwass, 31, future farming manager at The NZ Merino Company, based in Christchurch.

The Australian finalists are Charles Vaughan, 29, Queensland operations coordinator/group veterinarian for Australian Cattle Enterprises and director of Charles Vaughan Veterinary Services Pty Ltd; Mitch Highett, 33, founder and managing director of farm management company Bullseye Agriculture, from Orange, NSW; and Sarah Groat, 34, development officer for government Agtech programme “Farms of the Future”, for the Department of Primary Industries, who lives on the family farm near Rankin’s Springs, NSW.

Each winner will get a personal development package, including a personalised mentoring trip in both countries, $10,000 worth of tailored education or training, media coaching, and other mentoring and industry opportunities.

Face-to-face interviews will take place towards the end of the year, and the winners will be announced at the Zanda McDonald Award Impact Summit in Brisbane in March 2023.