Chloe Gould only moved to Kyabram at the end of 2023, but she’s determined to be a voice for agriculture across the region.
A group of 29 change-makers have been selected to participate in the 31st Australian Rural Leadership Program this year, and Ms Gould is one of them.
The program is run by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, which develops participants’ leadership skills to represent and drive change and resilience in rural and regional areas of Australia.
The cohort includes participants from every corner of Australia’s rural landscape, with backgrounds in agriculture, infrastructure, health, business and social work.
As a strategic initiatives manager at the Tongala plant of Greenham, Ms Gould works on system development and implementation, innovation and welcoming fresh employees through the company’s graduation program.
Ms Gould was born and raised in regional Queensland in a town called Yippee and has been interested in agriculture since she was in school.
“For most of my life, I’ve come off the land, and then throughout school, I was always involved in agriculture and always been around it,” she said.
After completing an agricultural science degree at the University of Queensland, she moved to Victoria to pursue a career as a strategic initiatives manager at Greenham in Tongala.
She moved to Kyabram in December 2023 and said she hoped to channel a voice for the community through her role in the leadership program.
She joined the program through a scholarship sponsored by the Australian Meat Processing Corporation.
Ms Gould said the program was something she was always aware of and strived towards as a goal.
“It’s something I’ve always looked at since a younger age, and always had the drive to continue to grow, learn and continue to hone my leadership skills,” she said.
“Even as a young person, I’ve always been involved in … continuing to understand what that bigger picture is and giving back to the community outside of just yourself.”
Ms Gould just returned from the first of four sessions across the year-long program, where participants gather to hone and strengthen their leadership skills.
The first session, she said, was a two-week immersive experience about self-awareness in leadership.
In it, she and the other participants worked through different challenges to push themselves to think about how to better understand themselves and the people around them.
Ms Gould said hearing the other participants’ journeys gave her a new perspective on her own experiences.
“Listening to people from different areas regionally … you start to hear some of their perspective and their journey, and it starts to give you that perspective that there’s so much more to learn — and that everyone around you has the ability to be a leader in their community,” she said.
“It’s been a really humbling experience to continue to grow and really understand and know yourself more.
“It’s given me the chance to have that impact on the community and be able to give back.”
Ms Gould said she was able to give back to the community through her role in guiding the graduate program students at the Tongala plant of Greenham, who, much like herself at their age, have the passion for learning, growing and developing their agricultural knowledge.
“As we bring new people, we bring new knowledge to the table — so I get to help them learn how to have the confidence in their roles,” she said.
Ms Gould also said the program was encouraging her to get to know the community that she would speak on behalf of through the program.
“It’s about understanding how I connect with this new community that I just moved into, and identify and see the opportunities of how I can continue to give back to them who have been so welcoming,” she said.
ALRF chief executive Matt Linnegar said he had already noticed progress among the cohort of 28 participants.
“Over the next 15 months, these leaders will embark on the most unique learning experience involving multiple sessions, including four immersive across the country and internationally,” Mr Linnegar said.
“They’ll develop their leadership in a collective environment and form a valuable and broad resource of expertise with an enormous capacity to lead, inspire and create change.
“And they’ll be adept at mobilising their networks and communities of influence to address issues and seize opportunities.”
Ms Gould said she hoped that through this program she could become a good representative and leader in agriculture and put Kyabram on the map.