Woogenellup’s Zoe Skinner joins Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association team in United States tour

Second-year Murdoch University agriculture student Zoe Skinner is one of five students selected for the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association team bound for the US in January.

Raised in Woogenellup in WA’s Great Southern on a beef and cropping farm, Ms Skinner is currently studying a bachelor of agricultural science with majors in animal science and crop and pasture science.

She will take part in industry tours through the Australian red meat export industry chain in the US and competing in meat judging events in Texas and Colorado.

Ms Skinner is the only student from WA to be picked for the tour, and will be joined by University of Queensland’s Piper Christensen and Will Lawrence, University of New England’s Sarah Bradfield, and Penelope Crothers of Marcus Oldham College.

Ms Skinner said she was excited to find out she would be touring the US with the ICMJ after her team placed first at the Intercollegiate Meat Judging Conference in Wagga Wagga earlier this year.

After spending three weeks in the US with the ICMJ team, Ms Skinner plans to extend her trip by three weeks and work in placements around the country to expand her agricultural expertise.

“I want to go into the red meat industry — what that kind of looks like, I don’t know yet,” she said.

“The beauty of going with these things to America and Brisbane, and seeing the eastern seaboard and then the international red meat industry, it opens your eyes up to a lot of these opportunities that are out there.”

Ms Skinner said she is looking forward to building her industry connections on the tour and expanding her knowledge of the agriculture industry.

“It’ll be just like getting into the industry over there and really familiarising myself with getting to know people,” she said.

“There will be a lot of networking and connection building . . . and getting to know their processes and their systems.

“I will be comparing it to Australia and what we do, and what we can take away from them.”

Ms Skinner was presented with industry immersion opportunities through her degree at Murdoch University — she said she could not thank the ICMJ team enough for her selection for the US tour.

“It’s giving me lots of opportunities, like ICMJ, to go and really immerse myself in the industry,” she said.

“ICMJ is just an invaluable program, I couldn’t really put it into words — the relationships, networking, connections I’ve built and the places it’s taken me.

“I got to spend a week in Brisbane and now I get to spend five to six weeks in the US — that’s pretty unheard of.”