Generational and geographically, the 2016 Syngenta Growth Awards winners are poles apart.
But the synergies between the six 2016 winners and two 2015 winners who toured parts of England and Austria recently were striking.
The awards, entering their fourth year, recognise growers, distributors, channel partners or agronomists who do something special in areas of productivity, sustainability or community.
“They are diverse in terms of the type of agriculture they are involved in,” said Paul Luxton, Syngenta’s Australasia territory head.
“From small scale, high value horticulture to large scale broadacre cereal growing and everything in between.
“This isn’t about size it’s about those three categories and we often find that if you draw as three circles, they all intersect and most of those people are doing something in each of those categories.”
Mr Luxton, who joined the tour group after attending a global Syngenta conference in Germany, said there was a common theme among the group, regardless of the size of individual operations.
“They all share the same challenges and I have also found that there is a real camaraderie that has developed between them,” Mr Luxton said.
“They are the cream of the crop, but it’s not just about size.
“There is a lot of innovation and creativity from people who are doing direct export of quality vegetables to Hong Kong to digital apps to improve their farming practices.
“There’s a lot of really creative stuff so it’s not just about size, it’s about recognising innovation as well.”
Queensland Country Life journalist Lea Coghlan traveled with the Syngenta Growth Awards Tour as a guest of Syngenta.