SCADDAN farmer and fire safety advocate Tom Curnow has been named the winner of the 2018 WAFarmers Ruralbank Agricultural Award at the WA Young Achievers presentations.
Mr Curnow was recognised for his passion and commitment to the agriculture sector on Saturday night, after what has been a challenging two and a half years for the young farmer.
The 20-year-old lost his father Kym in November 2015, who died defending the Esperance community as devastating bushfires raged through the region.
Since then the young man has been running the family’s broadacre cropping enterprise with the help of his two uncles, which has seen his love for farming further develop.
“I was in Year 12 in 2015 and I’d just come back from school, I was back here for three days just helping with finishing harvest off after graduation and the fires ripped through and took my old man,” Mr Curnow said.
“It took a while to recoup – me and my twin brother came back on the farm that first year and we basically just put a crop in – that was the main aim of the game for that year.
“I probably would have gone away for a while if it all hadn’t have happened but I definitely wouldn’t swap the farm for anything now.
“It has been challenging getting chucked into it a bit, but you sort of learn how to swim pretty quickly I suppose and I’ve been lucky to have my uncles as mentors.
“I’m really liking having the opportunity to go farming, I just like the lifestyle and I’m really passionate about agriculture.
“It’s pretty exciting for someone of my age to be in the position that I am and being able to hopefully make an influence and go forward in the ag industry.”
This year Mr Curnow is running a 2800 hectare cropping program, with wheat, barley, canola, field peas and lentils in the mix.
He has adopted a controlled traffic farming system on the property and is excited about the opportunities that lay ahead for the WA agricultural industry, particularly in the Esperance region.
Mr Curnow is hoping the Young Achievers Award will provide him with a platform to better represent the next generation of farmers.
“Now that I’ve got three years under my belt I’m looking forward to starting to get things a bit more organised and getting down to the nuts and bolts of farming and really trying to advance not only my farm but just make a bit of a footprint in the industry itself,” he said.
“I’m really hoping to use this award to become a part of a few more organisations, and try and get a bit of a younger voice out there.”
Mr Curnow also hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps and further engage in bushfire awareness promotion in the Scaddan community.
“I’m a part of the local brigade here just by default of farming and my uncles and my dad had a lot to do with that too,” he said.
“A lot of those issues from the fires have been addressed already but it would be good to get my voice in there as well and have a bit of influence at a local level to benefit farmers in the long-term.”
WAFarmers chief executive officer Trent Kensett-Smith described Mr Curnow as a worthy recipient, who had a bright future within the farm sector.
He said Mr Curnow’s contributions to the Scaddan community and wider agricultural industry are what earned him the prestigious award.
