Tullamore’s Fiona Aveyard has been named a 2023 Nuffield Farming Scholarship recipient.
She will receive a scholarship fund of $30,000 and plans to travel to the US, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Ireland for her studies, focusing on opportunities that include niche marketing, investment and mechanisation, as well as the potential impact on succession, population and jobs in regional centres.
The Central West Lamb producer is being sponsored by the RAS Foundation (RASF), who are proud to be investing in agricultural innovation.
Awarded by Nuffield Australia, the Nuffield Farming Scholarships are designed to provide innovative agricultural leaders with the opportunity to travel the globe, develop their skills and connect with international experts as they research ideas to improve their business and industry.
Fiona plans to help drive the future of the red meat industry by exploring value-add opportunities.
A fifth generation farmer and lamb producer, she is the founder of Outback Lamb Pty Ltd, a business specialising in gourmet lamb sausage rolls, developed from their single-origin, pasture-raised lamb in a carefully maintained paddock to plate process.
“Farming cannot continue to focus solely on increases in animal productivity to achieve the increases necessary to best feed and clothe a growing world population,” Fiona explained.
“I see a need for a reimagined business model where portions of our global value chains are unbundled to better meet changing consumer demand, particularly in regard to traceability, carbon-neutral production and consumer health.
“As Australian agriculture moves towards its goals of farm gate output of $100 billion and carbon neutrality (CN30) by 2030, I envisage a situation where more and more producers will integrate value-add components that incorporate manufacturing or processing into existing farm businesses.”
As a Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) Meat Ambassador, Fiona also plans to contribute to the MLA’s objective of doubling the value of Australian red meat sales by 2030.