ARCBA Phillip Arthur Rickards Young Breed Leaders Scholarship awarded

Mr Phillips was this year's winner of the Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association's Phillip Arthur Rickards Young Breed Leaders Scholarship, awarded at the association's conference held in Brisbane this week.

The scholarship award is $10,000 to go towards a study tour, one Mr Phillips plans to use to investigate better ways to get first generation farmers into the industry at large, as well as seedstock production.

Alongside his wife Emma Phillips and son Angus, 3, Mr Phillips runs a Murray Grey and Angus seedstock operation at Walla Park.

Mr Phillips said he hoped his study tour would investigate avenues to open the industry to those who were not born into it, like himself.

"I've applied because I would like to go and look at how first generation farmers or small family operations can actually grow in size in today's farming environment, particularly in seedstock, I do feel that there's other parts of agriculture that might do it better than us," he said.

"It's an extremely prohibitive industry to get into, there's a lot of hurdles, but it's extremely rewarding.

"So how can we provide some of these opportunities to young people where they can build equity in a business - just like shares or ownership or rent-to-own type of schemes.

"Throughout my career, I've come across literally hundreds of thousands of young people in a similar situation where they know what they are passionate about, they've got amazing skills, they've got a great attitude, so hopefully as an industry, we can help them get to a stage where there's some ownership opportunities."

He said winning was "humbling".

"I would just say that there's a huge team of people that have helped me on my journey here," he said.

"Obviously my family - my wife and my son - but other people as well.

"I've been very fortunate to have some mentors throughout my life. I might have been presented the certificate but for me, it's very much a team award."

Mr Phillips said one of those mentors was a sixth-generation farmer who had been generous with not only his knowledge but his time.

"It has been great to have some mentors like Darren Koopman who is a sixth-generation farmer from the Adelaide Hills, he's a great friend of mine," Mr Phillips said.

"I think people like Darren and others, what they've taught me is how you can best conduct yourself in situations where you really need to find some inner confidence."

Both Mr Phillips and his wife also work full-time, he is Angus Australia's extension manager, and Ms Phillips is an agriculture teacher at a local high school.

"We have pretty strong aspirations for where it may go in the future," Mr Phillips said. "I work for Angus Australia, I'm the extension manager and look after the education and retention programs for breeding decision tools as well as the Angus youth scholarships, awards, and bursaries.

"I've done that for two-and-a-half years, previous to that I was with Teys Australia as a cattle buyer and supply chain manager, so I've worked pretty much purely in the beef industry for 20 years."

He said he was introduced to the agricultural industry as a teenager.

"I picked up a real obsession with cattle through high school when I was probably 12 or 13. It developed through showing cattle at the South Australian Junior Heifer Expo, working on different beef properties and studying a Bachelor of Agriculture, working through genetic evaluation, Meat Standards Australia grading systems.

"It's a really deep passion if I'm being honest with you, I've never dreamt of doing anything else."

Independent chair of ARCBA Thomas George said he was impressed not only with Mr Phillips but every attendant at the conference.

"We were very impressed, we had a very high-quality group of applicants and we narrowed it down to three [for the award] which we interviewed and then we selected Jake after our second round of interviews," Mr George said.

"He's an outstanding young leader and will go a long way in the industry.

"He's already achieved a lot in his time so far, but look the quality and the experience he's had pipped the rest of them.

"His ability to be able to express himself clearly was outstanding. His vision for the future was also highly encouraging."