[MEDIA RELEASE] Meet the 2024 quizmasters and athletes of agriculture out for national glory

Melbourne Royal will host the Australian Young Farmer Challenge National Finals (AYFC) on Saturday, October 5, in addition to the Victorian state title. 

Along with showcasing their skills in a series of on-farm simulated challenges and surprise, this year the relay-style event will include a 3pm brain-testing tease on the Entertainment Stage, before competitors roll up their sleeves and head to the Main Arena at 5pm. 

Melbourne Royal Youth Development Competition Coordinator, Ben Shanahan said the pressure will be on as competitors look to avoid taking a handicap into the physical challenges. 

"The quiz is a great precursor to the practical challenges; everything livestock, farm safety and general knowledge - anything agriculture will be covered in the quiz," he said. 

"And then in the practical challenge we'll see horticultural challenges, a Kubota challenge where teams navigate through a course, weather patterning and then an exciting finale with the team's state flags.

"We're all very excited to be able to showcase Australian agriculture and see how vital the practical skills are." 

Each team will feature four people, with at least one representative from each gender. The AYFC  is an engaging, entertaining and fast paced competition open to young rural people aged between 18-35 years. 

Competitors do their best to complete the challenges correctly against the clock, as as well as focus on safety, and most importantly, enjoy the competition and put on an entertaining show for the thousands of people who flock to the event every year.

Audiences are in for a real show this year as 20 competitors from five states flock to Melbourne - including a seventh generation farmer, the Goulburn Show Young Women 2023, and one New South Wales competition who's won every Farmer's Challenge she's ever been in. The challenge is on. 

Meet the five teams out to win the 2024 Australian Young Farmer Challenge National Finals. 

Victoria

• Darcy Gervasoni, Smeaton, VIC
• Mitchell Hepburn, Strangways, VIC
• Jenny Redpath, Clunes, VIC
• Lily Carnes, Beaufort, VIC

Lily Carnes, 19, has had an impressive rise to Young Farmers Challenge stardom. She joined her local group as a fill-in member but quickly found herself a valuable player. She loves getting involved with all Young Farmer events to support agricultural issues across the sector. Darcy Gervasoni, 23, hails from a family farm in Smeaton, Central Victoria. Her day job keeps her busy working for Western AG in Ballarat as an animal health specialist. Mitchell Hepburn, 28, is a force to be reckoned with - he's got he added advantage of being involved with the Clunes Young Farmers for 10 years, and has worked his whole life on his family's farm in Central Victoria. Jenny Redpath, 28, is on a mission to not only win the challenge - but to be the first female generation to take over the family farm. She's also competed in many Young Farmer Challenges over the years. 

New South Wales

• Chloe Sawell, Wingello, NSW
• Cooper Mooney, Goulburn, NSW
• Katie Beresford, Currawang, NSW
• Claire Liversidge, Goulburn, NSW

"I've won every farmers challenge I've ever been involved in so hopefully we will win this one as well!" said Chloe Sawell. The 24-year old hails from Wingello, NSW and is the manager of multiple cattle farms and equine properties. By her side will be Cooper Mooney, 27, a seventh generation farmer from Goulburn NSW running a mixed enterprise in sheep, cattle and cropping as well as running a livestock and rural transport business, Katie Beresford, 25, Goulburn Show Young Woman of the Year 2023, and owner of Equine Sports Therapy, and  Claire Liversidge, 25, a fourth generation Merino wool producer from Goulburn, and Sales Support Officer for Elders Ltd.

Queensland

• Fraser McLardy, Buderim, QLD
• Rebecca Roellgen, Brookstead, QLD
• Harry Hunter, Ashgrove, QLD
• Ella Christie, Boyneside, QLD

The winners of the Queensland Young Farmers Challenge at the Ekka, Fraser McLardy from Buderim alongside Rebecca Roellgen, 22, Brookstead, who grew up on a cotton farm and is a fully qualified dentist, Harry Hunter, 21, Ashgrove, who works in automation in the ag sector in his current mechatronics engineering studies, and Ella Christie, 22, Burrandowan, who is part of her family's multigenerational commercial beef operation and breeds and backgrounds Angus cross cattle for feedlot entry.

South Australia

• Annabel Whittaker, Clarence Park, SA
• Molly Whittaker, Ramsay, SA 
• Alycia Redden, Maitland, SA
• Nicholas Rodda, Newtown, SA

Annabel Whittaker, 20, Clarence Park, South Australia was born and raised on the land and she's on a clear mission to realise her dreams as a professional farmer. She'll represent her state alongside Alycia Redden, 29, Maitland, SA, a wool classer who's been a familiar face in the shearing sheds for six years, and a former farm hand on a sheep and cropping farm, Nicholas Rodda, 26, Newtown, who grew up on the family farm, worked for the family for five years, and has recently stepped into farm machinery sales for WSB Distributors, and Molly Whittaker, 27, Ramsay, is a 27 year old wool classer and first flexed her Young Farmer Challenge muscles in 2023. 

Western Australia

• Abby Nicholson, Moorine Rock, WA
• Cameron Broun, Beverley, WA
• Shelby Nicholson, Dianella, WA
• Laura Bryant, Beverley, WA

Team member Abby Nicholson, 26, Moorine Rock, will be competing with her sister, friend, and her friend's fiancé, after  recently visiting and working for a family farm in Scotland where she threw herself into the Young Farmers Association and every activity on offer. Now back on home turf, Abby's ready to show the rest of the country why Team Western Australia is gunning for the win in the Young Farmer Challenge. Her sister Shelby Nicholson, 28, Dianella, hails from a cropping and sheep farm and is hungry for the win after competing in the Perth Young Farmer Competition last year. Cameron Broun, 28, Beverley, is a fifth generation cereal grains and sheep farmer and is heading into his second National YFC finals having entered in the Beverley and Perth Royal Shows - and this time he's going for gold alongside his fiancé Laura Bryant, 28, Beverley, who is a lecturer in agriculture at Central Regional TAFE and a seasoned Young Farmer Challenge competitor - she's competed in the state finals at the 2023 Perth Royal Show and is ready to roll in Melbourne. 

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For all enquiries relating to the Australian Young Farmer Challenge National Finals, contact Katie Stanley, Executive Officer, Agricultural Shows Australia at execofficer@agshowsaustralia.org.au