Agriculture Scholar

2019/21

“I am emerging as a young leader in protected cropping in Australia and aim to transition into production horticulture and manufacturing agricultural products. In my professional career I have manufactured liquid fertilisers/pesticides, worked and completed research for the National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre. I’m currently the New South Wales and Queensland Sales Representative for Wholesale Horticultural Group.”

Thomas Gleeson-Stanley is one of our 2021 BBM Australian Industry Scholars. In 2019 he was awarded a BBM Global Industry Scholarship in Agriculture, but when COVID shut down all international travel, we took the opportunity to offer him a chance to pursue professional and personal development here in Australia.

“I first became interested in protected cropping because of my love for sustainability and conservation of ecological systems. Sustainability has been my passion since childhood. I was brought up on a Sustainability Street, which was a community-led initiative dedicated to sustainable living and teaching children about farming (my mum was one of the leaders in our suburb).”

“I’d like to make an impact on the world around me by building fruit and vegetable production systems in dry arid landscapes. These landscapes couldn’t otherwise produce fresh food because of soil conditions or water restrictions. This project is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

“One of the inspirations for this project was a primary school in Bohol, Philippines. This school I visited dedicated a large area to produce food using very basic recirculating growing systems. The island struggled with very infertile and compacted clay soils, making traditional farming difficult.”

“Students were able to take produce home to their families, providing an invaluable food resource for the local community. I want to utilise a similar framework, by finding remote schools that would be willing to provide space to put in a shade house, maintain the systems and harvest the rewards!”

We’ve asked scholars like Tom to take every step to become practical, holistic leaders of the future who are aligned to the United National Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), supporting our vision of a sustainable, significant Australia.

My goal of building high production hydroponic greenhouses in remote communities fits in with multiple UNSDG goals. Particularly SDG #2 – Zero Hunger.

“This project would directly reduce hunger in these dry, arid communities while providing good health and wellbeing for students, teachers, and local residents.”

“It would represent responsible consumption and production by providing a localised food system within these areas, feeding students quality and fresh food to fuel them at school.”

We look forward to supporting purpose-driven industry leaders like Tom in their journey towards leading the future.

“I ultimately would like to reach the point where I can run my own glasshouse cultivation system. In the next five to ten years, I plan to become a grower for a large commercial cultivation company here in Australia called Green Camel.”