There's a curious mix of scientist and farmer in Stuart Buck, but that's what makes him so good at his job.
Trained as an agronomist, Stuart was Brisbane born and raised but that hasn't stopped him pursuing his passion for agriculture and more specifically, crops and pastures.
The times he spent as a child on relatives' farms sowed the seeds for a career in agriculture, and it's one that has taken him through a range of positions.
Stuart's stints as a researcher have always had the farmer at heart, and he's used his work to build up a bank of both technical and practical skills. This has, he says, allowed him to provide relevant advice to the producers he works with, knowing he's practised what he's preaching.
His resume is impressive, with his current role as principal pasture agronomist with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
He's spent the better part of 30 years in central Queensland, almost long enough to be considered a local, working on an irrigated grain and cattle farm before moving into research, development and extension projects in dryland cropping systems, as well as stints in soil science and sown pasture systems.
And while most agronomists work with annual crops like cereals, oilseeds or legumes - and Stuart has done this, too - his focus and passion is working with pastures.
For the past 15 years, that passion has involved supporting graziers establish and manage sown pastures including legumes such as leuceana.
Stuart says one of his goals to ensure successful pasture development and management is to communicate the concept that pastures are just like any other crop. They require soil moisture retention practices before planting, they need good weed control, and they need a management regime that allows them to thrive. That's a paradigm that needs to be understood, he says, if forage legumes like leuceana are to be successful.
He still gets excited by the changes that can be made and the guidance he can provide to make graziers more productive, and the passion that has driven his career shows no signs of slowing down.
And away from his day job, Stuart, his wife Lisa and their four children spend time on their property south of Rockhampton, where they currently breed Wagyu cattle.
