Scott Nicholson of Stawell and Neuarpurr’s James Hawkins were among the 24 scholars announced at a dinner in Darwin during the Nuffield Australia National Conference.

They receive a $30,000 bursary for a 16-week group and individual travel program.

Mr Nicholson said an increase in global demand for Australian food and fibre, and greater community scrutiny, would drive the need for new technology to help improve the management of livestock in breeding and handling.

He said technology such as the adoption of mandatory electronic identification tags in Victoria had the potential to boost the industry through its improved traceability of individual sheep – and more could be done in this space. 

“With the continuing need to expand operations to keep pace with the constant cost price squeeze, sheep enterprises will need to get larger and much more efficient. Technology is everywhere, it’s just a matter of sorting out the developments that can be of real benefit to the industry,” he said.

Supported by Australian Wool Innovation, Mr Nicholson will travel to New Zealand and North and South America.

Mr Hawkins is the owner and managing director of P.I.G.S – an operation managing pigs for a Victorian outdoor bred pork producer and processor, The Pastoral Pork Company. Together with the family property, ‘Brippick’, the enterprise produces 2000 tonnes of compost annually, which helps to manage soil health and promote sustainable farming practices.

He also manages a contract hay and straw baling business and will complete a Master of Agribusiness with Marcus Oldham College by the end of 2017.

Supported by Rural Bank, he plans to travel to the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the USA to investigate how Sub-Soil Manuring (SSM) can increase the soil’s ‘bucket size’ through soil chemical, physical and biological changes so as to provide gains that will create an increase in profitability for producers.