APPLICATIONS for the 2023 AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship Program are now open for university students wanting opportunities to develop their leadership skills and expand their networks.

Students entering their final two years of an undergraduate degree who are passionate about the future of Australian rural industries are encouraged to apply for the $10,000 scholarships.

The AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship is a collaboration between many of the research and development corporations (RDC’s), the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia, FMC Australasia, AgriProve and Kalyx.

The collaboration provides eligible university students with a $10,000 bursary over two years and opportunities to develop their leadership skills and expand their networks.

As part of the program, students also attend an annual four-day professional development workshop and complete two weeks of industry work placements per year.

The Horizon Scholarship Program is open to students studying agriculture-related or STEM degrees with major studies and/or subject selections that align to agriculture.

AgriFutures Australia managing director, John Harvey said attracting people from non-traditional agricultural backgrounds will be crucial to solving the workforce challenges of the future and is excited to see the Horizon Scholarship Program evolve to meet this need.

“Our cohorts are no longer made up solely of ag students from traditional farming backgrounds. We now have scholars studying engineering, law, business and communications.

“We have scholars from the inner city in the same room as students from cattle stations in central Queensland, and this diversity in backgrounds and thinking is beginning to elevate the conversations beyond anything we’ve seen before,” he said.

This was the experience for current Horizon Scholar, Thomas McPherson.

“There are some brilliant ideas flowing when we get together because we all have a common goal of wanting to improve and make a difference in agriculture.

“Agriculture has some issues that probably have simple solutions but others that require pretty complex solutions,” he said.

“Being in a position where I have the privilege to soak up as much information as possible from those around me, even people you meet along the way at a conference, has been incredible and what I’ve enjoyed the most,” Tom said.

The diverse range of industry sponsors involved in the Horizons Scholarship program represents the desire to build prosperous and sustainable rural industries. To do this, there is a need to build the skills, capacity, leadership and knowledge of the future rural leaders of Australian agriculture.

Mr Harvey said Australian Eggs, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA), Dairy Australia, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Hort Innovation, Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), FMC Australasia, AgriProve, Kalyx and the AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses, Rice, Honeybee and Pollination, Agrifood Innovation and Emerging Industries Programs are all sponsors of the Horizon Scholarship program.

“Our scholars have seen first-hand the benefits associated with having such valuable industry connections,” he said.

To be eligible to apply students must:

• Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• Be studying an undergraduate degree at an Australian university
• Be entering the final two years of their degree in 2023.

Scholarship recipients will be selected on the basis of their commitment to a career in agriculture, as well as their leadership potential and tertiary academic record to date.

Applications close Friday, 13 January 2023 at 5:00pm AEDT. Shortlisted applicants must be available for a telephone interview in February 2023, and scholarship winners will be announced in April 2023.

For more information and to apply visit www.agrifutures.com.au/horizon.