General News
19 March, 2025
Future appears bright for North West's ag industry
There were a lot of young faces in the crowd at the BeefUp forum in Cloncurry last week.
Organisers of the Cloncurry BeefUp Forum were rapt with the strong turn out from young professionals.
MLA adoption program manager Sally Leigo said many large beef operators had given their young workforce a day off and actively encouraged them to attend the BeefUp event, which provided the latest research updates and industry economic projections.
She said it was the youngest crowd she had seen at any of the forums held around the country.
“We have tried to include a social component to the event to try to draw in that younger crowd,” she said.
“But the number of young people here in Cloncurry has really taken us by surprise – we know a lot of young people come to this region to start their working life, but that doesn’t always translate to attending these industry events.
“There are more than 120 people here today and the majority look like they are in their 20s – it is really fantastic to see.”
Among the up-and-coming beef industry workers was Madison Mitchell, who grew up on a beef property near Armidale in New South Wales.
The 19-year-old said she had only arrived in the North West about three months ago to take up a two-year contract at Stanbroke’s Fort Constantine station, about 40km north of Cloncurry.
“Everything I am learning up here, I am hoping to take back and apply it at my family’s property,” she said.
“I wanted to come to this forum to learn some more about what is happening in the beef industry because it is where I want to focus my career.
“My dad came to North West Queensland when he was young to work on the stations and he always told me it was the best way to learn. I have always wanted to work in the beef industry, I had thought about becoming a vet since I was little – I am already learning a lot at Fort Constantine.”