mmg.com.au

Deniliquin’s Jack Ellice-Flint (pictured, right) has been named the top ‘young gun’ in Australia.

The Brown’s Rural agronomist won the Australian Independent Rural Retailers (AIRR) Young Gun Competition last Friday night.

The presentation was made at a gala ceremony on the Gold Coast, where Brown’s Rural was awarded a website design package as the prize.

The win cements Mr Ellice-Flint as one of the ‘‘business leaders of tomorrow’’, a prospect the 25 year-old finds ‘‘humbling’’.

‘‘It felt pretty good to win, and it was a bit of a surprise.

‘‘You could tell the people I was up against were all very switched on.

‘‘I really wasn’t expecting to win and I was happy just to have made the top five.’’

Brown’s Rural co-owners Ross Burnham and Ross Campion went to the Gold Coast AIRR conference with Mr Ellice-Flint.

Mr Burnham said he and Mr Campion were ‘‘pleased as punch’’ with their employee’s win.

‘‘Jack has been with us nine months now, and he’s a great young man.

‘‘He applied himself enormously and we hope he stays with us for a while.

‘‘He is learning all the time from Ross (Campion), who is one of the leading agronomists in Deniliquin.

‘‘More than 70 young people applied for the competition and, as a national award, Jack’s win is also great for the town.’’

The Queensland conference was a three-day event, where Mr Ellice-Flint said he got the chance to learn more about the industry.

‘‘There were a number of presentations and a trades fair,’’ he said.

‘‘I also got to learn a bit more about what Ross Campion and Ross Burnham do, so that was good.

‘‘The gala night was a really great night where they also announced other awards including supplier of the year and member of the year.’’

Before being selected in the top five, Mr Ellice-Flint attended a conference in Sydney in November to learn more about marketing and business.

He then had to implement some of the things he learned into the Deniliquin business, which earned him a spot in the finals.

Mr Ellice-Flint said he had improved his own agronomy service to farmers by offering new information on resistance management, crop rotations and gross margins.

The budding agronomist came to Deniliquin from Western Australia in April last year, where he was an agronomist with Elders in Dalwalliwa.

He is originally from Bowral in NSW, and studied agricultural business management at Charles Sturt University in Orange.