Galong mixed farmer Danny Flanery and Queensland pastoralist Ardie Lord have each been named a recipient of the inaugural Rabobank Land Stewardship Award.

The new award program – which will run annually – recognises Australian farmers who are “putting thoughtful, practical land stewardship into action to strengthen their farm business operations while aiming to deliver environmental benefits”, Alison Osborne, chief sustainability officer for the agribusiness bank, said.

Announcing the 2026 award recipients, Rabobank Australia group executive Country Banking Marcel van Doremaele said both inaugural winners had distinguished themselves with “their progressive approach to caring for their land while contributing to a strong, productive and sustainable agricultural sector”.

“Both Danny and Ardie have successfully demonstrated they have put in place very practical actions that strengthen the long-term performance of their businesses and the health of the land they manage,” he said.

Mr van Doremaele said across Australia, farmers were “investing in healthy soils, biodiversity, water management and more resilient production systems, with a shared belief that healthy land is the foundation of a successful business and a resilient, future-ready agricultural sector”.

“The expectation is that improving the condition of the land will support productivity, reduce risk and strengthen long-term business performance,” he said.

“As a food and agribusiness bank, our success is closely connected to the success of Australia’s farmers. This award is an opportunity to recognise and share those stories and to showcase what land stewardship looks like in practice across different regions, sectors and farming systems.”

Mr Flanery, who runs a third-generation mixed grazing and cropping operation ‘Boorowa Flats’ at Galong in southern New South Wales, has focused on long-term landscape repair through tree planting, creek protection and adaptive grazing management.

This followed a chance helicopter joy flight above his family farming property in 1990s, where he saw first-hand the impacts of many years of overgrazing on the land quality.

“I thought those things need to be addressed or we won’t be here in five years time,” he said.

From there, Mr Flanery set out to work to restore the landscape on his property, with his approach contributing to improvements in soil health, water quality, biodiversity and livestock performance.

“The first thing I did was the creeks because there was a lot of erosion on our creeks because the stock were just always in and out. And then the rocky outcrops. And what was meant to be just a couple of years of ‘let's just fix a few problems’, I fixed all my problems and then I'd run out of things to fix and kept going,” he said.

Mr van Doremaele said Mr Flanery’s actions had strongly suggested that sustained stewardship can strengthen both land condition and business outcomes.

The Rabobank Land Stewardship Awards – which are open to the specialist global agribusiness bank’s client base throughout Australia – are selected through an employee voting process, incorporating both a specialist technical panel assessment and a broader staff vote.

This year’s winners were chosen from a field of 40 applicants – and a shortlist of six – from across the country.

Both winners will each receive a place in the Rabobank Executive Development Program, a prestigious trans-Tasman course developed for progressive farmers to build their strategic planning capabilities and commercial management skills to assist in business growth (individually valued at $16,500).