Investor Information:
The Natural Resources Conservation Trust is the grant making arm of the Natural Resources Conservation League (NCRL).
For over 75 years, the NRCL has actively promoted the sustainable management of Victoria’s natural resources.
From its origins after the Black Friday bushfires in 1939 saving forests through large scale tree plantings, local nurseries and education, it is a trusted voice for the natural environment, amplifying the work of countless conservation initiatives throughout its long history.
Today, the Natural Resources Conservation Trust, through its impactful grant making and sponsorships, strives to promote innovative and strategic responses to contemporary environmental issues.
Website: https://nrct.au/
Tom Polkinghorne
2025 Nuffield Scholar
Delivering environmental outcomes and financial results
Livestock producers are under increasing pressure to be productive and efficient. Tom Polkinghorne aims to study how they can rise to this challenge while incorporating environmental outcomes.
Tom, from Dunkeld, Victoria, receives a scholarship supported by the Natural Resources Conservation Trust.
He said climate variability, higher production costs, higher land values, labour shortages and the focus on greenhouse gas emissions are forces that increase the need for livestock producers to be productive and efficient.
“I believe productive and efficient farms and farming systems which incorporate environmental outcomes can optimise profitability, lower carbon emission intensity and underpin social licence,” Tom said.
“There are increasing opportunities for livestock producers to improve environmental outcomes, whether that be through planting trees, managing soil health and ground cover, controlling pests and weeds and regenerating natural assets."
“But environmental outcomes and livestock system productivity are not mutually exclusive. In fact, a key driver of low carbon emissions intensity in a grazing operation is productivity.”
Tom’s studies will investigate the importance of productivity and how high output livestock systems that incorporate environmental outcomes can meet financial, environmental and social objectives.
Tom plans to travel to Europe, New Zealand, the USA and domestically within Australia.
At home, Tom is the general manager of Dunkeld Pastoral, where he oversees the operation of five farm aggregations and a conservation team.
He is the business development manager for Tipperary Group of Stations, as well as a director and shareholder in a family farming entity with properties in South Australia.
“Through this scholarship, I hope to make an important contribution to the livestock industry’s capacity to cope with an increasingly variable climate and increasing pressure to offset or inset emissions from ruminant animals,” Tom said.
“I also hope to contribute positively to the Nuffield global network by making many new connections, openly sharing my experiences and participating in a wide range of discussions on the key issues facing the agriculture industry today.”
Ph: 0439 654 826