A MAJOR agricultural products company has acknowledged the advocacy efforts of former National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson.
BASF awarded Ms Simson the outstanding contribution to agriculture award at its 2024 Agricultural Solutions Awards Night on February 28 in Melbourne.
BASF head of agriculture solutions of Australia and New Zealand Gavin Jackson paid tribute to what he labelled Ms Simson's tireless efforts in championing the cause of Australian agriculture.
The company also applauded some of its own high achievers.
Allison Collins received the best new talent award, while Andrew Glenn was presented with the customer focus award.
The newly named Grant Hagerty Award for Excellence went to Katerina Ehsan.
The team award went to the young agronomist training team.
In his speech, Mr Jackson listed farm consolidation, technology advances and sustainability as the major things that will shape the next decade of agriculture.
"Farming really is the biggest job on earth and this is certainly true for Australia and New Zealand and we've seen it get bigger, with the value of agricultural production increasing from $54 billion to over $80 billion in Australia during the last decade," he said.
The awards evening also included a comedic presentation from poet and speaker Mick Colliss, the inaugural captain of the Australian sudoku team.
Former high profile AFL player and coach Nathan Buckley spoke on the importance of encouragement and his journey of personal development.
- The author travelled to the event as a guest of BASF.