1 July 2026
Picture this: you're mapping out a career in agriculture and stepping into a sea of unknowns but you’re eager to dive straight in and experience all the sector has to offer.
For a handful of early career professionals, that's exactly where their story began as the latest cohort of QFF’s Agricultural Extension Work Placement Program (AEWPP).
And by all accounts, it's been one of the best chapters of their lives, working with host agribusinesses alongside landholders to help improve farming practices and water quality outcomes.
An additional seven new graduates recently joined QFF’s growing alumni of nearly 40 extension officers who’ve completed the 15-month program, which has been funded through the Queensland Government's Reef Water Quality Program since its inception in 2018.
And while cohorts were spread across regional locations, they stayed tightly connected.
A group chat kept them looped in on each other's training and day-to-day wins, while QFF’s AEWPP team were only ever a phone call away.
"They're not just thrown straight into a full-time role in a region they've never been in," says Eloise Cosgrove, QFF's Program Manager for Graduate Programs.
"They've got that support network straight off the bat."
In addition to industry mentoring and on-farm experience, trainees were taken to major industry conferences like the National Farmers’ Federations (NFF) Ag Exchange and the Sugar Cane Conference.
But it was through ongoing coaching sessions to help them build the one skill that, it turns out, matters most of all.
Eloise says you can ask any extension officer what separates a good one from a great one, and the answer is almost always the same.
“It's not technical knowledge. It's the ability to build relationships,” she says.
The program leans into this deliberately.
Trainees worked with a consultant to develop practical strategies for connecting with farmers, received industry mentorship, and were only ever a phone call away from support when needed by the AEWPP team.
A cross-industry bus tour halfway through the program gave trainees a window into each other's worlds as they swapped notes, built connections, and got a first hand look into the similarities and vast differences of how farming in sugar cane country compared to predominantly grazing regions.
It's the kind of context that takes most people years to accumulate, Eloise says.
"They got exposed to so much more across the industry than you'd generally get that early in your career.”
Though for Eloise, the most telling moment of the program came during a graduation event held in Cairns where trainees delivered a presentation to program stakeholders and supporters on what a year in the field had taught them.
"By the end, it was clear how much they had developed both professionally and personally,” says Eloise.
"They'd built strong connections with landholders and industry members, and their confidence really shone through in their final presentations.
"They all stood up and shared their experiences with confidence and enthusiasm. I can't wait to see the impact this group will have on the future of agriculture."
L-R: Tim Bradley (AEWPP Steering Committee), Eloise Cosgrove (QFF Project Manager), Todd McNeill (Reef Catchments mentor), Joel Faulkner (Farmacist Mackay graduate), Nick Hill (Farmacist Mackay mentor), Anna Greenland (BPS graduate), Rob Milla (BPS mentor), Chloe Paviour (DCCA graduate), Katie McCosker (DCCA mentor), Teagan Schermer (Reef Cathments Graduate), Suzie Jones (Farmacist Mackay graduate), Kate Aldridge (Farmacist Ayr graduate), Darren Oliveri (Farmacist Ayr mentor), John Turner (Farmacist Mackay mentor), Jeanette Long (Ag Consulting Co), Kim Kurtz (DETSI), Adam Knapp (QFF). Extension officer Maggie Bath of Mackay Area Productivity Services (MAPS) also graduated the program but was unable to attend the graduation event.
To learn more about the program visit the project page here.
The AEWPP is funded through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program (QRWQP) and delivered by the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) in partnership with the host organisations.