Our enduring partnership with the Glen Innes Natural Resources Advisory Committee (GLENRAC) is a good example of UNE’s efforts to contribute to stronger communities. This community-driven association has been promoting sustainable agriculture, natural resource management and community projects for more than 30 years. And we are proud of the part that UNE alumni have played – and continue to play – in its valuable work.
Graduates of UNE have regularly served as members of GLENRAC’s board of management, and now both its chief executive officer (Kylie Falconer) and one of its project officers (Katie Barnett) come from our ranks. There’s a neat synergy between UNE’s education and outreach and GLENRAC’s aims to promote healthy and productive social and physical environments, says Kylie.
“Our board and staff are comprised of people who want to give back to their community and it’s fortunate we have a healthy population of graduates in our district with a similar mindset,” she said. “We continue to have research collaborations with UNE and are always keen to explore opportunities to build the capacity of current students as we work with landholders.”
Katie completed a Bachelor of Agriculture/Business at UNE majoring in Agribusiness before becoming the assistant manager of a New England mixed grazing, superfine merino wool and agroforestry operation. Her GLENRAC position, as Project Officer for Sustainable Agriculture, sees her working with UNE and Southern New England Landcare to help farmers better manage their pastures through the Drought Resilient Pasture Project – supported by funding from the Future Drought Fund. This project uses the Ag360 software platform launched by UNE for some coaching sessions.
Other projects Katie manages include a best-practice water infrastructure project, a drones for weed monitoring and control project, and a soil extension project.
“It’s important to keep building relationships through avenues such as field days and workshops,” said Katie, who worked throughout her university studies, doing casual stock work in the New England area and as a farm hand and governess in Queensland. She was nominated for Australian Agricultural Student of the Year in 2022 and, as part of the Regional Youth Taskforce, advocates for young people from throughout regional NSW and provides policy and operational advice to the government.
Katie has been identified as a youth ambassador and future influencer within the agricultural sector. She was selected as a Young Farming Champion in 2022 and promotes positive images and perceptions of farming under the Action4Agriculture banner, including providing real-life examples to young people who may never have considered a career in agriculture.
“The aim is to try to get them excited about agriculture and careers within it, how good our regional communities are and why they should be moving out here,” Katie said. “And it’s an exciting time to be working at GLENRAC, where we can positively influence landholders and producers. I am always looking outside the box, questioning traditional practices, shifting paradigms and considering how we might integrate new practices to make our operations more sustainable and profitable.”
It’s all very familiar to Kylie, who studied Rural Science at UNE, is chair of the local NSW Farmers branch, and runs cattle and sheep with her husband Matthew Falconer – another UNE (Rural Science) graduate – just outside Glen Innes. During her 15 years with GLENRAC Kylie says community engagement has become a primary goal.
“People – private land managers and conservation-minded landholders – are an important pillar of our organisation,”
“People – private land managers and conservation-minded landholders – are an important pillar of our organisation,” she said. “During the 2018-19 drought and subsequent bushfires, we became the ‘go to’ people to connect people with all sorts of drought and bushfire assistance. As a result, our membership has continued to grow – to just over 1,720 members – as we support the Glen Innes community.”
Looking back on her degree and Honours thesis, Kylie says her UNE education has proven a solid foundation for her career. “That knowledge and the systems-based approach have always been valuable in my professional roles; my UNE studies gave me a great grounding in scientific principles,” she said. “It’s not an easy course to complete, so those that do are considered quality graduates with a good work ethic and practical skills.”
Through GLENRAC and her NSW Farmers advocacy, Kylie tries to give regional communities a say. “Many little towns in the bush are quietly being left behind in the trend towards regionalisation. It’s important for communities like ours to have a voice, and having a voice requires people to turn up, to feed into policy development at the state and national levels. If you are not involved, you are not at the table.”
Managing GLENRAC stakeholder voices – including NRM groups, Landcare, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, industry, government and First Nations peoples – certainly requires collaboration and goodwill. “With such a diversity of stakeholders, with very different needs, finding middle ground to meet common goals is really important,” Kylie said. “We have a highly engaged committee of management that is very engaged in discussions about what future success might look like as we try to build personal and business resilience across our community.”
Physical demonstrations of that change can be slow but incremental. “We see the results of our efforts in the landscape, in the revegetation people have undertaken or their improved management of grazing for increased ground cover or repairs to a badly eroded gully,” Kylie said. “It’s really exciting to be part of an organisation that is challenging the status quo.”
