Senator Susan McDonald talks Zanda, Devoncourt and ag's future

This was the sentiment behind a deeply touching talk given by Queensland senator Susan McDonald at the celebration dinner for the 2023 Zanda McDonald Award in Brisbane this month.

The Award, a mentoring program designed to recognise and encourage outstanding young leaders in agriculture, is named after the respected cattle industry leader who died in a tragic accident on his Queensland farm in 2013.

While senator might be her official title, Ms McDonald said it was not the one she was most proud of.

That would be daughter of Don and Chris McDonald, sister of Zanda, Jim and Julie and mother of Lucy, George and Hamish.

Zanda, so named by a 17-month-old sister who could not manage Alexander, grew up with his siblings Susan and James at Devoncourt Station, 70 kilometres south of Cloncurry.

"Zan and Jim and I shared our classroom, the school of the air radio, our first horse and we were each other's best friends," Ms McDonald said.

"There was no other career than beef production and no other place than western Queensland that Zanda wanted for as long as I can remember."

And it was his sense of looking ahead that drove him to break new ground - to move into a branded and direct market box beef model for example.

"He recognised the power of telling a story - three million trees and a cattle operation powered by wind and solar energy. He told the story of our family and he made personal connections and friendships with everyone he dealt with," she said.

"Later, he identified that animal welfare would play a greater part in the profitability and performance of the herd, but also would form part of the social license we need to hold.

"His work with Chick Olsson on Tri-Solfen has now been proven and the rollout overseas for treatment of foot and mouth and other diseases means some of Australia's poorest neighbours are able to see a cow have a calf each year, rather than every three years.

"Increasing the nutrition available to these families, and their prosperity, may seem small advances compared to the big herds in Australia but they are very significant and can't be underestimated in Australia's role in the Pacific."

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The growing and processing of food and fibre was the most important thing a person can do, Ms McDonald said.

Only 1 per cent of the population is involved in the growing, harvesting and processing of food and fibre that allows the other 99pc to live their lives the way they do.

"This is an extraordinary contribution," she said.

"It is a difficult task, subject to weather and market variability, biosecurity risk and increasingly under threat from a growing sector of the world's regulators with limited understanding as to what it takes to feed the population.

"Community sentiment in affluent countries is being shaped by notions of sustainability, emissions and feeling good.

"I believe there must be more attention given to the importance of the regulatory environment in which we operate and the need to be inside the tent where the decisions are being made.

"A lack of engagement in politics leaves us open to activist campaigns and decisions being made for industry by people with little understanding of the complexities of food production, supply chains and regional places."

The senator called on the agriculture leaders of tomorrow to embrace the need not only to educate, advocate and orchestrate but also to inspire.

"There will be pushback, social media campaigns, protests, threats and governments sympathetic to all that - as we are seeing now - but it is because we know what lies ahead that we should be confident in mounting an inspirational defence," she said.

To the Zanda Award finalists and winners of 2023, and those to come in the years ahead, Ms McDonald had this message: "Scientists have discovered that birds gain an increase in collective lift when they fly in a V-formation and it all starts with a leader. The birds then take turns to be in the lead and help the others.

"It's your turn to take the lead and help generate the collective lift that will benefit us all."