A new group is being launched at the weekend for agricultural and food innovators in North Queensland.
The first North Queensland Ag and Food Innovators Network will be held over lunch at Rainforest Bounty, in Malanda, on Saturday.
Dr Geraldine McGuire, managing director of Rainforest Bounty, said the region was blessed with amazing and innovative agriculture and food producers but it lacked opportunities for them to meet on a regular basis.
“I keep meeting lots of amazing innovative ag and food producers in the area but what occurred to me was when I was their age it was exactly the same,” Dr McGuire said.
“I was really busy but I didn’t have time or energy to connect with other people.”
When her stepson Eddie and his wife Georgia returned to the Tablelands to join the family business, Dr McGuire thought the time was right to kick off the network.
“It will offer fertilisation of ideas, but also with my workshop facilitation experience an opportunity to think about how we can work together and what are the challenges facing innovators living in the region,” Dr McGuire said.
She said while there was no “age barrier” to those interested in being part of the network, it was designed for young innovators or those “young at heart”.
“We’ve got some great innovators like Shane Beattie and his pork, the Solinas family who have just started organic beef, the Persimmon Patch and Micro-Greens,” she said.
“Then there are chefs and other value-adders. It’s not just abut food but also about ag and the interface between the two.”
Eddie Nye is a sixth generation Tableland resident, who has for a long time wanted to return home.
“For us as a young people we need to get our foot in the door somehow,” Mr Nye said. “The network is following an old line but completely new. It’s incredibly important.
“There is something like 30,000 people on the Tablelands – that’s a huge market to tap into alone.”
Georgia Nye originally hails from northern NSW and said there were similarities between the the Tablelands and her home region, and the couple were keen to work out “how can we make this place grow because there is so much to see”.
Saturday’s event will start at 12 noon and feature a lunch with produce purchased from local producers, followed by a workshop where stories of opportunities and challenges can be shared.
“It’s an opportunity to meet like minded people from your community to discuss the successes, difficulties and potential that living on the Tablelands provides,” Dr McGuire said.