Trangie’s Richard Quigley is the cream of the crop after taking out the winning title at a crop competition held in Temora.
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Richard was among dozens of students from across the nation to have their skills tested at the 2013 Australian Universities Crop Competition.
He was not only part of Sydney University’s first place winning team, the third year Bachelor of Science in Agriculture student came in first overall and won the individual prize which includes an all-expenses-paid international 10-day study tour to Kansas, USA.
“It was all a bit unexpected,” an excited Richard said. Especially seeing the level of knowledge among the other competitors. But I feel extremely excited about this opportunity I have been given and it really did just top off a great event where I met so many people and had a wonderful time.
“I come from a farming background so the trip to USA will be a good opportunity to visit some farms.”
Richard is entering the final year of his degree in 2014 and is content he is on the right path.
“I am really enjoying the course I am doing and to go to events like the Australian Universities Crop Competition gives me an avenue to practially apply what I am learning,” he said.
Using specialist software, grading grain, determining yields, analysing soil, identifying weeds and managing business were just some of the agricultural skills tested at the three day event that took place last month.
Dr Daniel Tan, a senior lecturer from the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment at Sydney University, said the competition where both Richard and the university had grewat success at, proved the students can take their knowledge from the lecture theatre to the field.
“The new generation of farmers and agricultural advisers must be able to combine ancient practices such as seed selection with the latest technologies to pioneer new approaches in an increasingly competitive and global market,” Dr Tan said.
“Our University team of seven undergraduates - six women and one man - really are the cream of the crop, demonstrating their competitive edge.”
The team from the University of Sydney took home the perpetual trophy, beating their closest rivals Charles Sturt University and Curtin University. In addition to Mr Quiqley the team members were: Constance Mort, Mudgee; Eleanor Readford, Gulargambone; Haruna Suenaga, Tsukuba, Japan; and Emily Lamberton, Eleanor Percival and Sarah Waldron-Jones from Sydney