John is a 5th generation farmer on the Monaro. He received his Bachelor of Agribusiness from the University of Sydney and now owns and operates Delegate Station Pastoral Company with brother, Will. Delegate Station primarily breeds and finishes prime lambs in addition to cropping. John volunteers for the Bombala Junior Rugby League and supports various community organisations.

Mandy Horton owns and manages a family farm with her husband Ron near Delegate on the Southern Monaro.  After graduating with an Associate Diploma in Farm Secretarial Studies, she worked as a free-lance farm administrator and finance manager around the Monaro, giving her an in-depth knowledge of this regions wide variety of farming businesses.  Mandy has always been involved in the management and everyday operation of the family farming business, which focuses on a self-replacing merino enterprise with some prime lambs and trading cattle.  Her skills and knowledge are primarily in this area of farm management, especially  farm financial management and livestock production systems.

After studying Ag Science at Sydney Uni, Lisa came home to help out on the family farm at Jerangle for 6 months. 35 years later, she has now raised her family on that same farm.

She is a fierce advocate for young people (particularly women) pursuing careers in Agriculture and has been known to shout “Girl Power” in the paddocks.

Hugh is a business and sustainability professional with over 18 years experience in various business development, management and technology commercialisation roles in Australia and overseas. Hugh’s family have been farming at Bombala for 6 generations and he recently returned to the district to run the family business. He runs the farm part-time, while also continuing his off-farm job at CSIRO. Some of Hugh’s agricultural interests include integration of ecosystem services into productive agricultural enterprises, drought management strategies and weeds management strategies on non-arable grazing lands. Hugh holds a Masters degree in Environmental Management from the ANU, a Diploma in Agribusiness from Marcus Oldham College, and is proficient in Chinese. Hugh is currently Treasurer of the Bombala Cricket Club and supports various other community organisations.

Charles Keighley grew up on a small mixed family farm in Western Kenya. The farm ran a small Ayrshire dairy herd and produced a ‘Pont L’eveque’ soft cheese. The whey from the cheese was fed to pigs, which cultivated small paddocks used in rotation to grow export strawberries and asparagus. The farm also grew geraniums for oil distillation and maintained a small flock of Corriedale ewes crossed with South Down rams.

In 1973, the farm was forcibly taken, his father passed away, and his mother moved to England. Charles went on to study at London University, where he attained a BSc specialising in animal husbandry.

After completing his studies, he returned to Kenya to manage a large mixed farm that ran 12,000 Merinos, 1,000 head of cattle and 4,000 acres of crops.

In 1990, Charles, together with his wife Hilary and their 18-month-old son Geff, emigrated to Australia. He managed Kelton Plain for Bruce Haslingden for 16 years, during which time their family grew with the arrival of two more sons, Tim and Nick.

In 2013, Charles and Hilary purchased ‘Woburn’, and in recent years entered into partnership with David Haslingden at Kelton Plain.

Their main enterprise is a commercial flock of Australian White ewes, some of which are crossed with White Suffolk rams. Sheep have always been Charles’s passion, particularly the shedding breeds.

Julie is a Director of Boyce Chartered Accountants in Cooma, NSW.
Julie has a long history with Boyce, joining in 1998 as a Cadet whilst completing a degree in Business (Accounting and Business Management) through Charles Sturt University, via distance education.
Julie grew up on the family farm near Boorowa and has always had a keen interest in rural affairs. She sits on the board of the Agricultural Societies Council of NSW which is the body that governs the country shows in NSW.
Julie spent three years assisting to produce the firm’s Grazing Comparative Analysis report and has also been involved in training clients in the use of Phoenix accounting software.
More recently, Julie has completed further study to become authorised to provide strategic superannuation advice to clients. She is passionate about providing the highest level of service to clients and excited to be able to make a difference to their lives through superannuation planning.

Richard Simpson is a scientist based in Canberra with CSIRO Agriculture and Food. His research has spanned many areas of pasture production including issues of management, botanical composition, feeding value for livestock, plant nutrition and fertiliser use.  He has provided agronomic support for the development of tools such as GrassGro which are used widely in Australia’s grazing industries and is co-author of a soil phosphorus management package (Five Easy Steps…). His recent research has been focussed on improving the effectiveness of fertiliser use, the phosphorus-efficiency of grassland production, soil biology and root health, and grazing land capability and sustainability with the objective of lifting productivity and sustainability of farm management practices.

Sally grew up on a grazing property on the Monaro and studied Ag Science at UWS Hawekesbury and Post Grad studies at UNE and Sydney Uni focusing on Genetics and Animal Breeding. 

Sally’s career has taken a number of paths, working with NSW DPI for approximately 20 years to now running her own consultancy business since 2011 based out of Young NSW that services commercial breeders, ram breeders and service providers with a current client base ranging across Australia and internationally.

Sally has extensive experience and knowledge working with livestock production systems, advising seed stock and commercial breeders about on-farm management, animal health, genetic selection, reproduction and integrating with other enterprise demands.  Sally has delivered key industry extension and research programs, with a key emphasis on navigating ways to take the science and find practical implementation solutions.

Shawn is an academic and livestock production researcher based in Wagga Wagga with Charles Sturt University. Shawn grew up on a grazing property at Tumbarumba in the South-West slopes. He studied agricultural science at Sydney before working with Elders for 8 years in their branded meat supply chain programs and agribusiness banking. He then switched careers, completing a PhD at Charles Sturt University and has continued at Charles Sturt as a researcher and academic.  He is the current Director of the Fred Morley Centre and is a Senior Research Fellow in the Gulbali Institute at Charles Sturt University. Shawn’s research focusses on beef and sheep production systems and has included systems research projects as well as more focussed projects on livestock mineral and vitamin nutrition, drench resistance, welfare, lamb feedlotting and application of agtech in livestock production. He is also an active member of the Australian Association of Animal Sciences, having served in NSW branch and on federal committees.

Rebecca has been an integral member of the MFS team for over six years. She began her career with the organisation in an administration role, progressed to Projects and Finance Officer, and became the Executive Officer in 2024. Her roles have allowed her to develop strong skills in project management and finance.

Living in Delegate on the Southern Monaro, Rebecca has deep ties to her community, rooted in her family’s farming history. She volunteers as the treasurer of the Delegate R.S.L sub-Branch and is involved with various other local organisations.

As a mother of three young children, Rebecca balances her professional responsibilities and volunteer roles with family life.