The Harry Perkins Australian Nuffield Farming Scholars Public Fund

Sposonsored by The Commonwealth Bank, Rural Press Limited and Westfarmers.

 

The Harry Perkins Australian Nuffield Farming Scholars Public Fund provides a capital base for the Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarship Programme. The scholarships benefit the Australian community by enabling dynamic young Australian farmers to travel internationally, expand their personal horizons and learn from leading agriculturalists from around the world.

The Foundation will provide a capital base for the Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarships. It will be prudently managed as an investment fund, with earnings used to support scholarship infrastructure and underpin the annual scholarship programme. The Foundation will thus provide the Association with a springboard for the future growth of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship business, consistent with the recommendations of an external review of the scholarship programme conducted by Dr Geoff Miller AO and Mr Neil Inall in 1999.

Since the first Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarships were awarded in 1950, almost 150 Australian farmers have undertaken Nuffield Scholarships and all have made significant personal contributions to the development of Australian agriculture and regional development. The external review confirmed that Nuffield is meeting its objectives and that through their achievements, Nuffield Scholars collectively help build the social capital of Australian agriculture and the nation.

By building an enduring financial base for the Nuffield Farming Scholarship programme, generation after generation of Australians with a passion for farming, a vision for their productive futures and the drive to make it happen will be given this unique learning experience.

Message from the Foundation Chairman

Australian rural communities face their biggest challenge ever. How will they retain their young people to manage Australia's rich agricultural resources in the face of declining community services and career opportunities ? The long term effects of this drift to the cities and overseas is devastating. For all their resilience, rural communities face a bleak future if future generations continue to chose to find their ways elsewhere.

The solution surely lies in encouraging our most talented, capable and creative young farmers to see the opportunities available to them in the global agricultural marketplace. Australian agriculture has a tremendous future. External forces such as globalisation of markets, application of information and communication technologies and advances in biotechnology are creating challenges and opportunities which Australian farmers are well positioned to gain from. Understanding these changes and being able to seize the opportunities are the key attributes required to drive Australian agriculture forwards and begin rebuilding the social infrastructure of our rural communities.

The Nuffield Farming Scholarship programme does exactly this. It invests in the "human capital" of Australian agriculture by developing well-informed, visionary agriculturalists to lead their industries into the future. And it does it most effectively. An external review of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship Programme undertaken by Dr Geoff Miller and Mr Neil inall in 1999 found that the average Internal Rate of Return to the Scholar from undertaking the Nuffield Scholarship was 24% (10-43%).

If you value the role of Australian agriculture in Australia's social and economic development, if you are concerned about the decay of rural communities and if you would like to give something to the development of young Australians who will repay that gift many times over through their intelligent, creative and persistent endeavours, I urge you to consider making a contribution to the Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarship Foundation. Like me you will be continually amazed, inspired and made to feel proud of the talent and achievement your contribution has fostered.

Duncan McDonell
Chairman, Australian Nuffield Farming Scholarship Foundation