UNE Business School and the Centre for Agribusiness welcomed a group of 11 agribusiness students with Professor Thomas Foulke from University of Wyoming, to UNE last week as part of their two-week Australia visit.

The students had a full itinerary of activities lined up around Armidale and the surrounding area throughout the week. Starting with some local history and a welcome at the UNE SMART Region Incubator on Monday, students went on to visit local agribusiness service providers in town Outcross Agri Services and ICT International. They heard from staff here at UNE, including Centre for Agribusiness Director Derek Baker, visited Costa Tomatoes in Guyra and were hosted by Bald Blair Angus for a BBQ dinner.

Professor Tom Foulke of UoW and Toni Widders, Aboriginal Support Officer for School of Law & UNE Business School share a minute of rest after the walk up to cave paintings at Mt Yarrowyk, with students visiting from Wyoming.

We were pleased to share with them some of our important local cultural sites, including a trip to Mt Yarrowyck with Toni Widders, cultural awareness education with Pat Cohen, Pam Widders and Greg Davison (Director, Oorala Centre).

The students were able to call by the Armidale Saleyards and Cattle Sale, as well as visiting the SMART Farm Innovation Centre. They helped us celebrate the recent success of our IFAMA student teams in Miami, a victory that came after a study tour took our own students to Wyoming for an amazing visit of their own!

We introduced the students to some of our own star UNE students – our IFAMA team joined Liam Carney and Nathan Mark from the Bachelor of Computer Science along with Mikayla Bruce, studying Agricultural and Resource Economics. The group visited the unique Deearegee Woolshed, hearing from owner Hugh Sutherland before moving on to tour Gostwyck Station. The group met owners Phillip and Alison Attard, who shared an overview of their innovative production systems.

The group also had an opportunity to visit the Lockheed Martin facility, Uralla TT and C Satellite Tracking Station, talking the interpretation of big data and impact with Station Manager Darren Dwyer.

The group out at Gostwyk – our Wyoming visitors with students from IFAMA, as well as Liam Carney, one of UNE’s students who recently took part in the UNE SMART Region Incubator’s Agmentation event.

We’re pleased to say we well and truly tired them out – after a Friday night dinner at the Goldfish Bowl, the Saturday was spent enjoying the Rugby Final and some spectacular New England winter weather.

UNE shares a strong connection with University of Wyoming with exchange arrangements that have seen some of our best agribusiness and agriculture students enjoying 6 month stays in Wyoming. This is a special relationship and the outcome of a strong research-based relationship with Professor Garry Griffiths (UNE Business School) and Professor Nicole Ballinger (University of Wyoming). We’ve enjoyed sharing the New England with such an appreciative audience, seeing our amazing agribusiness service providers and producers through fresh eyes, and truly appreciating the opportunity to build connections to these business community members for our own students.