Congratulations to Grace Griffiths: the 2025 CRDC Chris Lehmann Young Cotton Achiever of the Year, just announced at tonight's cotton industry awards in Toowoomba.
Grace began her cotton journey at 16 by leading her family farm's myBMP certification. Today, she's a grower, agronomist and GIS specialist with Data Ag and founder of 101 Ag Pathways to promote careers in agriculture. Grace is a community leader, CGA events president, and was named Goondiwindi's Young Citizen of the Year in 2024. A graduate of the Cotton Australia and CRDC Australian Future Cotton Leaders program, her project focused on simplifying carbon discussions for growers.
Our congratulations too to Grace's fellow finalists, Blake Palmer and Jacob Booby. Blake is a soil scientist and extension specialist who has worked on multiple CRDC-supported projects at the Australian Cotton Research Institute (ACRI), where he continues to complete his PhD on soil compaction and crop rotation. Now the CottonInfo Soil Health Technical Lead and Regional Extension Officer for the Namoi, he bridges research and practice to improve soil outcomes in the cotton industry. His work emphasises scientific impact and industry collaboration.
Jacob grew up in Narrabri and has developed a deep connection to the cotton industry, working in ginning and agronomy roles before joining Namoi Cotton, where he is a Senior Account Manager, managing the accounts of 220 cotton growers spread across the Namoi, Gwydir and Bourke Valleys. He holds leadership positions across these three CGAs, enabling regional collaboration and shared learnings. He graduated from the Australian Future Cotton Leaders program in 2024.
All three are making meaningful contributions to the cotton industry, and we congratulate them on being selected as finalists in the CRDC young achiever award for 2025.
