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James Schubert

• Cowan Grant

My name is James Schubert and I am from Naracoorte in the South East of South Australia. As a person who has lived my whole life in rural Australia I understand the difficulties and challenges of travel, isolation and distance, but despite this I also enjoy the life in the country. Our family has a mixed farm on the South Australian and Victorian border where we breed fat lambs, cattle, grow wool and a number of crops for both seed and hay. I have always been interested in a career in agriculture and I enjoy outdoor life and the challenges of farming.

Our family has lived in the same area for all of my life, with my parents buying the farm just over 20 years ago. I have done all of my schooling at Naracoorte and appreciated being able to study while still being able to live in a country environment. I enjoy the outdoors, hockey and getting around the farm. Being outside is really important to me so I decided to gain formal qualifications so I could obtain a career in agriculture. Doing work experience in this area also helped me decide that this was where my future career would lead.

Following year 12 I decided to have a gap year and developed my interest in farming even more while gaining great experience from a number of jobs including grape harvesting in the Padthaway area, sowing crops in Victoria and doing contract harvesting in northern New South Wales. The year helped me to gain much-needed funds as well as see other parts of our country.

I am currently studying the Bachelor of Agriculture at Roseworthy and really enjoy the country feel of the university as well as the atmosphere and friendships made with others who are also living on campus. Obtaining the Cowan Grant has provided me with fantastic support as it covers my accommodation costs for the full three years of study and will allow me to concentrate on my course. This help means that I am able to focus on academic work during the semester and that I do not need to rely on family or my savings to pay for these costs. The year 2006 was a difficult year for many farmers, my family included. The South East is normally a very reliable farming area, however crops failed and rainfall was at a record low having a big impact on farming income.

In the future I hope to get into Agronomy and assist farmers with crop, weed and water management and help make farming a more profitable and responsible venture. The course and practical experience I will gain while studying will assist me greatly with this goal. Once I am qualified I would like to travel interstate or overseas to gain more experience of different methods of agricultural management.