Ballarat Rural Achiever Awards

13/02/2026

Proceeds from the Ballarat Ag Ball firstly go to our wonderful 'Harvest the Future Scholarships'! We are so proud of this initiative ❤️

💛 Giving Back at the Ballarat Ag Ball 💛

When you attend the Ballarat Ag Ball, you’re not just in for a great night - you’re helping invest in the future of our local rural community.

In 2026, the first $5,000 raised at the Ballarat Ag Ball will go towards providing a Harvest the Future Scholarship, to be presented at the 2027 Ballarat Rural Achiever Awards to a local agriculture student. 🌾🎓

Any funds raised above this will be reinvested into the future of our region through the continued development of our new facilities at Mount Rowan.

By coming along, you’re supporting local students, strengthening our agricultural community, and helping build facilities that will benefit generations to come.
Thank you for being part of something that truly gives back. 💫

Get your tickets now: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1513211

12/08/2025

On Friday night there was great excitement in the room that a long time goal of the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society was coming to fruition! 🙌

We Launched and awarded our first 2 'Harvest The Future' $5,000 Scholarships. Entry was open to all Students both at Secondary School and those completing Tertiary qualifications. There were many outstanding applications for these scholarships and we congratulate and thank each & every applicant for putting so much effort into their applications. 👏

The Winners of the Inaugural 'Harvest The Future Scholarships' were:

Eleanor Grieve from Clarkes Hill and Lacie Smith from Rocklyn 👏👏

These scholarships are to go towards these 2 students furthering their education in Agriculture and have been made possible by the development of the Ballarat Ag Ball! Funds raised at the Ag Ball in 2024 and 2025 have gone directly to these scholarships so if you sponsored or attended either Ball we thank you for your support that has allowed us to make this scholarship program through BAPS reality! The Ballarat Ag Ball will return on Saturday 21st February 2026 so lock the date in your diaries now as we will work towards fundraising for the next round of Harvest The Future Scholarships to continue supporting the next generation wishing to study agriculture.

These awards were presented on behalf of BAPS by Joint Presidents Kerri Gallagher and Matthew Menhennet!

10/08/2025

🥁 The overall winner of the 2025 Ballarat Rural Achiever Awards winning $1,000 and the title of being the
Progress Accounting Excellence in Agriculture Award Winner for 2025 we are thrilled to announce was
Ben Wills from Forest Hill Farm -Newlyn

Ben is a smaller scale farmer proudly producing beautiful produce including spray free Berries and Garlic.

Congratulations Ben on your tremendous achievement 👏

Many thanks to Ewen Fletcher owner of new accounting business in the Ballarat CBD Progress Accounting for jumping straight on board as naming rights sponsor to this award & also taking a full day off work to be 1 of our 3 wonderful Judges of the 2025 Ballarat Rural Achiever Awards 🙌

10/08/2025

Our 2025 Ballarat Rural Achiever Awards Finalists and Judges Ewen Fletcher and Matthew Menhennet.
(our 3rd Judge Laura Molloy was absent)
5 individual awards sections - 19 incredible finalists -
You all should be so incredibly proud of your achievements to date and we look forward to watching you continue to shine in the future!
Progress Accounting
Community Bank Creswick & District
Central Victoria Livestock Exchange -
Crossroads Trading
Ballarat Grammar
Western Ag

10/08/2025

Next up we celebrated those working in Agribusiness in the region from being an employee to a business owner these awards shine a spotlight on those kicking goals in the Agribusiness Sector and is an open age section of the awards!

Congratulations to:

WINNER: Ben Wills - Forest Hill Farm - Newlyn
Runner-up: Chris Gallagher - Western Ag - Ballarat

Well done to Ben and Chris, 2 tremendous individuals kicking goals in the Agribusiness sector!

This award was presented by Asha Shanahan owner of Crossroads Trading! Asha is a past winner of this section and we were thrilled this year that Asha and Bernie jumped on board as a sponsor of this award!

10/08/2025

Next up we celebrated the bright future of farming in the region with the presentation of Community Bank Creswick & District Next Generation Farmer of the Year!

This section is open to those on the land up to the age of 40 who are kicking goals both on farm and personally and wow these 2 amazing individuals sure are!

Congratulations to:

WINNER: Katherine Bain from Stockyard Hill
Runner-up: Adam Leonard from Glenlyon

This award was presented by Jeff Unmack from the Community Bank Creswick & District! We were absolutely thrilled to welcome the Community Bank Creswick & District as a brand new sponsor of these awards this year supporting our next generation of farmers in the region!

10/08/2025

The success of Agricultural Apprentices was truly celebrated on Friday night! It is so fantastic for the region to have so many incredible apprentices undertaking the next stage of their training both in the classroom and on the land!

Congratulations to:

WINNER: Kiarna Cockerill - Federation TAFE Ballarat
Runner-up: Harry Ryan - Longerenong College

This award was presented by Jeff Paull from Central Victoria Livestock Exchange - CVLX Ballarat - We thank CVLX for their continued support of these awards and these talented individuals furthering their careers in Agriculture.

10/08/2025

Celebrating and highlighting the achievements of those on the next stage of their education journey Next Up we had The Ballarat Grammar Agricultural Tertiary Student of the Year.

This section had 3 incredible females studying agriculture vying for top honours! We can't wait to see where these talented young people go next in life!

Congratulations to:

WINNER: Eleanor Grieve - From Clarkes Hill
Runner-up: Emily Cook - From Trentham

Well done to Eleanor and Emily, you both have such bright futures ahead in the rural sector!

This award was presented by Mark Warwick from Ballarat Grammar, we thank Ballarat Grammarfor their continued support of these awards!

10/08/2025

Let's celebrate our Winner and Runner-up in each award section!

1st up: The Agricultural Secondary Student of the Year - Proudly Supported by BAPS

This section is always very hotly contested and this year sure didn't disappoint, the Judges were so impressed with the finalists achievements to date and ambitions for the Future!

Congratulations to:

WINNER: Lacie Smith - Loreto College, Ballarat

Runner-up: Jack Loader - Ballarat Grammar

Well done to you both! Lacie was also a Finalist in the Next Generation Farmer of The Year which is quite an achievement to be a finalist in 2 sections!

This award was proudly presented by brand new BAPS Executive Officer Angela McLachlan

09/08/2025

We Congratulate the Top 3 Finalists in the 2025 Crossroads Trading Agribusiness Achiever of the Year.
From Left to Right: Asha Shanahan from Crossroads Trading and Finalists Chris Gallagher - Western Ag Ballarat, Joel Antony CVLX Ballarat and Ben Wills - Forest Hill Farm Newlyn.

We thank Asha and Bernie Shanahan and their Business Crossroads Trading Ballan for their support of these Awards and their continued support of BAPS events throughout the year!

09/08/2025

We Congratulate the Top 3 Finalists in the 2025 Community Bank Creswick & District Next Generation Farmer of the Year.
From Left to Right: Jeff Unmack from Community Bank Creswick & District and Finalists Lacie Smith, Katherine Bain and Adam Leonard.

We thank Community Bank Creswick & District for their support of these Awards and their continued support of BAPS events throughout the year!