Sarah Wall, Max Laurie and Rebecca Clapperton won the Undergraduate division of the 2017 International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) Student Case Competition.

They beat 80 other contestants from every continent except Antarctica.

The competition is part of the IFAMA World Conference, and asks student teams to address a business challenge – this year, on how IFAMA can move to a more viable business model.

Team manager, UNE’s Sally Strelitz, said the three distinguished themselves by looking past conventional answers for new ideas, such as a sustainability checklist for agribusinesses that would enable them to earn IFAMA endorsement.

She said presentation was also a key to their success.

The team was supported in the lead up to the event by Lyn Gollan from UNE’s Law School, who is also a member of Toastmasters, and at the event by Ms Strelitz and their academic adviser, Dr Stuart Mounter.

UNE was also represented by a postgraduate team, made up of Christina Stannard, Matthew Winkel and Casey Onus.

The theme of the 2017 IFAMA conference continues the three-year initiative, Become the Solution: Food Security 2050.

This was introduced in 2015, which was also the first year UNE students took part. UNE is also the only Australian university to participate.

The team sponsors included Syngenta, Ceres Ag, Guyra Milling, Rabobank, Rex Airlines and UNE’s School of Environmental and Rural Science.

Ms Clapperton is a fourth-year Bachelor of Agriculture and Business student, who has done most of her training via Skype from her home in Central Queensland. She grew up on a beef cattle property.

Ms Wall, in her third year of a Bachelor Agriculture/Business degree at UNE, is from a sheep and cattle grazing property near Wean, NSW.

Mr Laurie, in his third year of a Bachelor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, is from a New England beef property.