Grace Griffiths is the sole Queenslander vying for the Chris Lehmann Young Cotton Achiever of the Year Award this year.
The other finalists are both from Narrabri in NSW: LDC senior account manager Jacob Booby and CottonInfo soil health technical lead and regional extension officer Blake Palmer.
A Goondiwindi-based cotton grower, agronomist and GIS specialist with Digital Ag Technologies, Grace began her journey at 16 when she led her family farm’s myBMP certification.
She later founded 101 Ag Pathways to promote careers in agriculture.
Grace is a community leader, CGA events president and, last year, was named Goondiwindi’s Young Citizen of the Year.
Topically, her Future Cotton Leaders’ project focuses on simplifying carbon discussions for growers, an issue she will present at this year’s Cotton Collective in August.
“Carbon is a topic that is forever evolving in nature but the message on-farm I always found was simple: Start baselining and accounting for all your inputs,“ Grace said.
“You can do this yourself with some correctly placed soil tests and knowing your inputs each year on each paddock.
“If we aren’t measuring something to begin with, how are we going to measure any changes? No matter what path you end up down, the first step is streamlining input and soil data – that’s it.
“Once we have that down pat then we can enter further conversations in the landscape of what’s next and why.
“Like any of these conversations it is always going to be what best suits your farming system, operations and business.
“Even with clients I work with in this space – no two are the same, even if they are neighbours.“
Grace Griffiths was raised on her family’s cotton farm in Goondiwindi.
After completing an agricultural science degree in 2021, she returned home to work in the family business’s agronomy services team.
Her agricultural career has since expanded into cropping and soil improvement projects in the Northern Territory, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and carbon farming accounting work with Charles Sturt University as part of its Cool Soils Initiative.
Grace said her own experience finishing university without clarity of what agricultural careers were available prompted her to create 101 Ag Pathways.
The app features vision of employees working in various industry sectors, including many who shunned a traditional university pathway.
“I founded 101 Ag Pathways in 2022 just as social media pages to start off with. It started when I, even after growing up surrounded by agriculture, had no idea of the careers available to me.
“It got me thinking how many others are missing out on a career they may love just because they have never been exposed.
“I started showcasing different people’s ag career journeys, what their jobs entailed and how they got there.
“Now the 101 Ag Pathways platforms also share a bit more of my day-to-day life as an agronomist and what we get up to on farm, and also a jobs board, posting available jobs in agriculture and where people can find them.“
Following her gut feel and passion for agronomy, Grace decided against switching from agricultural science to veterinary science at university, which was her original plan.
“I have always enjoyed the community within the cotton industry,“ Grace said. “How welcoming, collaborative and supportive the industry is of young people – to name a few – is truly amazing.“
