Young go-getters in agriculture were celebrated at the Ballarat Golf Club on Friday, with 150 people attending the 2023 Ballarat Rural Achiever Awards.
Coghills Creek potato farmer Lachlan Wrigley took out a top prize of $1000 and the Excellence in Agriculture award of the night for his work in sustainable farming and educating young children and families about where food comes from.
Mr Wrigley, who also grows fat lambs on his property, said he was humbled by the win.
"I've tried to just be a quiet achiever but it is really good to be recognised," he said.
"I did start at the bottom and slowly worked my way up, which is something you get proud of as you get a bit older and look back upon."
He said it was encouraging that young people from Ballarat and the surrounding region were "keen to work together and "understand where all our food comes from."
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Mr Wrigley also took out the Next Generation Farmer of the Year, awarded to producers aged between 21 and 40, while Skipton's Asha Shanahan won the Agribusiness Achiever of the Year.
Ballarat Grammar student Miriam Drinnan, who also runs a Corriedale sheep stud, won the Secondary Student of the Year award, while Jessica White won the Tertiary Student of the Year.
Farmworker Nash Jones won the Agricultural Apprentice of the Year award, while Burrumbeet mixed produce regenerative farm Sunnybank won Innovative Primary Producer of the Year.
Tyla Armeni, who works in her family's butcher shop, competes in show jumping, and is a local rousey based in Cape Clear won the Rising Star award.
The awards had not been held since 2017 due to volunteers wanting a break to focus on their farming businesses and COVID restrictions.
Event organiser Kerri Gallagher said she was excited that the event was back with a tremendous response, with 32 nominations across six categories.
"We've had the support of our executive team and our staff to be able to put it on bigger and better than ever with record amount of sponsorship, a record amount of nominations and finalists," she said.
She said the response to the awards meant the industry would remain healthy in the region for a long time coming.
"Whether it be beef, dairy, sheep cropping, all sectors have had a really a strong few years here, and that's why it's so important there's so many young people coming through the industry," she said
She said the society was keen to see more volunteers come on board to help prepare their new showground site at Mount Rowan for a permanent move planned for January 2024.
"It has been a very long process to get it to the point that we have a permit to be able to start building and we've hit this really exciting time where we are about to build our very first building out there - that commences in May," she said.
"We also have a lot of buildings to build between May and when we move out there in January, so it'll be a huge team effort.
"We are open to anyone who would like to volunteer that's interested in agriculture or the events that we've throughout the year, whether it's the Victorian Sheep Show or our annual Ballarat show in November... but there many different committees that people can get involved in too."
