Two young South Australians are among the second cohort of graduates from the Future Livestock Consulting Internship.
For the past two years, Jackson Adams from the University of Adelaide and Tara Graetz from Rural Directions have been among 10 young people from across Australia participating in the internship supported by Meat & Livestock Australia's Donor Company.
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They have been placed with experienced advisory businesses to enhance their industry knowledge while developing extension skills such as presenting and implementing one-on-one consultancy.
The 10 interns have had five sessions across northern and eastern Australia and all interns were required to complete a Graduate Certificate in Agricultural Consulting through the University of New England, NSW.
Both Mr Adams and Ms Graetz say developing an Australia wide network with like-minded people has been the biggest benefit.
Mr Adams believes his internship with the University of Adelaide's Davies Research Centre has fast-tracked his career progression.
"My experiences over the last couple of years whilst based at the university may be quite different from those based in private firms, but I feel that it has given me a different perspective and broader understanding of the industry," he said.
"I feel confident that producers can come to me with their challenges and while I won't always have the answers to every question, I now have the networks to lean on and find the answer as a team, which is what it's all about."
Mr Adams has recently commenced his PhD working on reducing the impact of key endemic diseases to the sheep industry.
Ms Graetz, who is an agribusiness consultant based at Clare, says it is great to be afforded the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals pursuing a similar career.
"Five years ago the only graduate positions for livestock consulting were with Elders and Landmark for stock agency internships but now with stronger prices for meat and wool it is changing and more of these positions are becoming available," she said.
"The Future Livestock Consulting Internship is giving small businesses and sole operators a chance to grow their businesses by taking on a young consultant and passing on their knowledge."
Ms Graetz's work includes benchmarking businesses, assisting Rural Directions to deliver the Pasture Principles and Southern BusinessEDGE workshops and, one-on-one consulting.
