Barnaby saving it up for one ceremony

He has earned a Diploma in Agriculture, Diploma in Farm Management, Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) and Master of Management in Agribusiness, and by choosing not to receive the first three when he completed them, will get all four on 12 May.

"In all honesty, there was no real reason behind postponing the previous graduations, I just liked the idea of graduating from them all at once," he said.

I didn’t initially plan to study as much as I ended up with, it sort of just snowballed from the diplomas, which I was going to graduate with at the same time.

After finishing at Lincoln, he decided to spend the remainder of the year working in the cropping team on a mixed farming property, Murdeduke Angus in Southern Victoria.

While working there, he landed a position in Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s regional and agribusiness banking graduate programme, which he started last February.

Born and raised in Wellington, the former St Patrick’s College Silverstream student was torn between pursuing a career in accounting and finance or a career in agriculture. 

"Before committing to study I decided to take a gap year working on a dairy farm and I was hooked. One gap year quickly became two before enrolling at Lincoln.

"I was initially attracted to Lincoln specifically for its focus on agriculture and its Diploma in Farm Management course, which I thought would perfectly set me up for a career in agriculture.

"During my studies, I learnt about cross-crediting my diplomas towards the BCom(Ag). I wanted to further develop the financial management side of farm management, but I was also drawn to it from an aspect of risk.

"Anyone who has met a farmer will know about the toll it can take on your body. The BCom(Ag) provided me a back-up in case I needed to pursue a career outside of farming.

"In addition to this, I also learnt a lot more about the world of rural banking, which presented an unparalleled opportunity to grow a career offering a balance between agriculture and finance.

"At the end of my BCom(Ag), Covid arrived and presented a new opportunity. Lincoln Uni offered a selection of its master’s degrees for free."

He made the most of this option and decided to study a Master of Management in Agribusiness "due to the flexibility it offered and the ability to include a financial aspect to the course, while still remaining relevant to agriculture".

And the rest is history.

"Highlights from my study mostly revolve around the people I met both within uni, including other students and staff, but also outside of uni which wouldn’t have happened without Lincoln.

"While there, I was fortunate enough to work on farms around Canterbury, including larger scale corporate dairy farms and family-owned cropping farms."

He said small classes at Lincoln were also "a really great part of the experience as it gave the chance to grow personal relationships with lecturers".