It was congratulations all around for two impressive young women Elisha Seekamp and Rebecca Gowen who took out the respective winner and the runner-up titles at the Beef Australia 2009 Rabobank Young Ambassador Awards.

For the judging panel of three, Central Queensland regional manager for Rabobank, Brad James, said the decision went down to the wire between Elisha and Rebecca who both have solid grazing industry backgrounds and an astute understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Australian agriculture.

Elisha Seekamp grew up on a Clermont district property before moving to Toowoomba, undertaking a Bachelor of Law and being admitted as a solicitor in 2007. Elisha continues to work part-time for a Brisbane-based law firm while living and working on a cattle property east of Aramac.

As Beef Australia´s 2009 Rabobank Young Ambassador, Elisha will attend the International Livestock Congress in Denver (US) in January and will attend a youth leadership course at Marcus Oldham College later this year.

Runner-up Rebecca Gowen, whose family operates an Armidale district cattle property, is a University of Queensland agricultural economist graduate working for Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries at Rockhampton.

Rebecca has a vital role guiding some 101 family-operated cattle production businesses involved in the seven CQ BEEF (Better Economic and Environmental Futures) to undertake an economic analysis to identify opportunities for improved profitability.

Rebecca has also begun a post-graduate Masters Degree supported by the Fitzroy Basin Association to study the implications of a carbon trading scheme for the Central Queensland beef industry.

As part of her 2009 Rabobank runner-up title, Rebecca will attend the 2009 Young Beef Producers´ Forum at Roma in November and received a $150 RM Williams voucher.

The three other finalists were Ashlee Oldfield, Marty Rowlands and Hayden Todd.

Media contact: Russ Boadle, +61 7 4936 0320