AgTeCH19 is nurturing the next generation of emerging agricultural and food-tech leaders by giving them the opportunity to attend the event for FREE.

Applications are open now and close on Wednesday 9 October, 2019 at chdc.com.au for the Young Tech Bursaries, which provide complimentary registration for up to 20 budding agtech entrepreneurs and students (and their teachers) from across Central Queensland.

AgTeCH19: Build it, Use it, Profit, a major innovation and technology event for the Australian agricultural community, will be held in Emerald on 6 November. CHDC is excited to announced that the Young Tech Bursaries have been made available again in 2019 with support from CQUniversity and the Fitzroy Basin Association.

2017 Young Tech Bursary recipient Isabella Fanning says her experience was incredibly rewarding because it ticked so many boxes.

“One of the biggest advantages in agriculture is networking and developing contacts and AgTeCH17 introduced me personally to amazing innovators, farmers and other industry representatives,” the 23-year-old recalls.

“The program is highly interactive and educational, and the highlight was seeing technology produced within the Central Highlands region that hadn’t even been commercially released – an opportunity you wouldn’t receive any other way.

“As a young ag person, it's exciting to be in a room of several generations all discussing the same innovative concepts.”

Ms Fanning works at her family’s Gracemere-based livestock agency while completing her Bachelor of Agriculture at CQUniversity.

She urges other young Central Queenslanders to apply for the 2019 Young Tech Bursary, explaining the benefits for successful recipients are long-lasting.

“In the past two years, I have crossed paths again with so many of the individuals I met at AgTeCH17 and I also have a better understanding of several companies from throughout the region who were represented on the day.”

To be eligible, applicants must be in Year 12 in the Central Highlands, or enrolled, or about to enrol, in CQUniversity or another tertiary institution. Teachers and lecturers who would like to attend and accompany their students can also apply for a bursary.

AgTeCH19 brings together the smartest minds at the intersection of agriculture, machinery and technology to explore the future of agribusiness and showcase the latest innovations to improve farm and business profitability.

Since 2017, AgTeCH has been held each year alternating between Emerald, QLD and Mungindi, NSW. Each event has sold out, with more than 245 attending Emerald and 280 at Mungindi, representing two million hectares of production, making AgTeCH one of the largest regionally-based dedicated agtech forums in Australia.

New to the program in 2019, Young Tech Bursary winners also will get to meet the entrepreneurs from the first-ever cohort of the AgFrontier Regional Agtech Incubator, Queensland’s only dedicated agtech incubator, who will be attending AgTeCH19.

Register at chdc.com.au.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please contact Liz Alexander on (07) 4982 4386 or 0429 471 511 for further information. High res images on request.

Isabella Fanning (left, with Sharna Holman, Qld Dept of Agriculture & Fisheries) attending AgTeCH17 as a Young Tech Bursary recipient.

Former AgTeCH17 Young Tech Bursary recipient Isabella Fanning is encouraging others to apply in 2019.

Applications close soon for AgTeCH19’s Young Tech Bursaries.