Welcome Tanya Luck – SEQ Water Quality Officer

Agriculture is in Tanya Luck’s blood. Having grown up on a sheep and cattle farm on the Western Downs, she studied horticulture and agronomy, and has worked in the industry all her life.

Now Growcom—the program delivery arm of the Queensland Fruit & Vegetable Growers (QFVG)—is lucky to welcome Tanya into the fold as part of SEQ Water Quality Program, where she will work with growers across the Lockyer and Bremer catchment areas on minimising farming’s impact on local waterways.

A love of the land and being “hands-on” with her work has always been important for Tanya, with the majority of her previous working experience being in seed testing.

When she isn’t at work with the SEQ Water Program, Tanya’s out on her family’s farm, which they expanded during the pandemic, and currently rear 280 head of cattle.

Although Tanya’s farm raises beef. Being a fellow farmer means she really empathises with the challenges faced on properties throughout southern Queensland. “It all feels a bit hard sometimes,” she said.

But As part of the SEQ Water Quality Program, she’s looking forward to working with growers to identify tools, solutions, and contacts that can help minimise the amount of nutrients, pesticides, and sediment moving off farms in economical and productive ways.

“I want to build a rapport with growers so if they’ve got issues, they’ve got a point of contact and we can find the answers they’re looking for,” she said.

Tanya emphasised the care farmers have for their land and the central role of water in the landscape.

“Water must be good quality, or everything suffers. We want to leave things in a good state for the next generation, and I’m keen to work with growers to help them achieve that.”

As well as the social aspect of the job: meeting growers, getting a feel for the different approaches to growing and different perspectives on the industry, Tanya is also a research enthusiast, and is keen to get to the bottom of any questions that get thrown her way.

Tanya’s mix of expertise in horticulture and agriculture more broadly, as well as her can-do attitude, and desire to work alongside growers makes her a tremendous addition to the SEQ Water Quality Project and Growcom. Welcome, Tanya.

The SEQ Water Quality Program is funded by the Department of Environment & Science.