Last year, six graduates started their new career in agricultural extension through the Queensland Government funded Reef Extension Agriculture Work Placement Initiative.
The graduates were placed within NRM or agricultural organisations from Mossman to Gympie with the explicit purpose in helping to foster and mentor the next generation of extension professionals across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) catchments in Queensland.
Holding a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Queensland, Dominique Hinchliffe was placed with the Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG). Based in Wondai in the South Burnett, Dominique has been involved with BMRG projects assisting graziers and growers improve their soil conservation and soil health.
Being actively involved in grazing extension and delivering information to landholders and graziers has been an eye-opening and exciting adventure for Dominique.
In her time at BMRG as an Agricultural Extension Trainee, she has worked with soil conservation officer, John Day to help deliver on ground soil conservation projects.
“It has been great to see a variety of methods for managing erosion such as building rock chutes, using geofabrics, building diversion works and mechanical intervention like battering, just to name a few. The effects of erosion can be significant for landholders, so investing in soil conservation is something very worthwhile,” Dominique said.
“Having the opportunity to work with someone like John Day, who has so much knowledge in soils pastures species and timber has been amazing. There is never a drive to a farm visit with John that I don’t learn something new, whether it be about a particular tree species or soil type that we spot from the road.”
As well as assisting with the current round of soil conservation projects, Dominique has visit older erosion sites to help assess the effectiveness of the conservation works undertaken. This provided a brilliant opportunity to meet and network with many new landholders throughout the Burnett Mary region and see some successful erosion projects from as long as five years ago.
Dominique has also helped run multiple soil health field days and workshops in the region, partnering with independent agronomist David Hall.
“I’ve had the opportunity to organise four field days and three workshops for BMRG on using manures and composts. There has been plenty of interest in these concepts throughout the region, so these have been a wonderful opportunity to put my extension skills to work and meet landholders,” Dominique said.
“A highlight of working for BMRG for me is getting to make new relationships with landholders in our region. I love getting out and about and learning from them. I believe making these relationship is vital in agricultural extension. I love seeing how much they all care about managing their land and businesses. Working in agriculture, although challenging, has been very rewarding.”
“I’m thankful for the Reef Extension Agriculture Work Placement Initiative for the opportunity to develop my skills as an extension officer and facilitating a great graduate program.”