Member and Industry News Meet Cattle Council of Australia’s 2017 Rising Champion! AHA Communications team Each year, CCA supports the NAB Agribusiness Rising Champion initiative, a program that offers young beef producers the opportunity to network with key beef industry leaders and develop their own professional and interpersonal skills. From hundreds of applications, seven state and territory finalists are selected before a final national winner is announced. In 2017, the winner of the Rising Champion competition was Kylie Stretton and it comes as no surprise – the initiative aims to inspire, empower and support young people who are passionate about Australia’s beef industry and Kylie definitely fits that bill! Owner and manager of Charters Towers livestock agency, Northern Livestock Service, Kylie produces beef and free-range eggs on her property ‘Clancella Downs’. Keeping busy, Kylie is also the co-founder of the ‘Ask an Aussie Farmer’ community on Facebook, an initiative to develop closer connections between farmers and consumers. In 2014, Kylie was named as one of Emerald Grains and Fairfax Media’s 100 most influential women in agriculture, and a finalist in the 2015 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award. Kylie’s main focusses within the beef industry lie with consumer understanding and collaboration within industry. We caught up with Kylie to hear her thoughts on the Rising Champion initiative, the future of the cattle industry and what makes a good leader. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE AS THE WINNER OF THE 2017 RISING CHAMPION INITIATIVE? I’m really looking forward to learning about not just CCA, but a whole range of organisations that represent the industry. I’m hoping to learn more about the internal structures of the grass fed beef industry and how others work, both here in Australia and overseas. I’m also excited that I have the opportunity to meet a whole THE LINK AUT/WIN 18 31
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