General News
6 July, 2026
Students win challenge
FOUR St Monica’s College students will represent Cairns at AgTech26 after winning the local round of CQUniversity’s GrowHer AgTech workshops.
Kate Watkins, Lacey Taylor, Lydia Pinto and Madison Ahloy-Coutts were selected as the Cairns winning team after developing an innovative solution to a real agricultural challenge during the Queensland Government-funded program.
The students were among the participants in GrowHer – Advancing Young Female Founders through AgTech, delivered through the Regional Enablers Program.
Working alongside industry mentors, students learned about innovation, pitching, and problem-solving before developing and presenting AgTech ideas focused on challenges such as water efficiency, livestock monitoring, sustainability, and farm productivity.
One winning team was selected from each workshop location following a competitive pitch process.
The Cairns winners will join students from Cloncurry State School P-12 and St Patrick’s College Gympie as the 2026 Student Delegation at AgTech26 in Emerald on 23 July.
CQUniversity senior agriculture lecturer and GrowHer project lead Dr Jaime Manning said the workshops highlighted the creativity and potential of regional Queensland students.
“These students were challenged to think about real agricultural problems and come up with practical technology-driven solutions – and the ideas they presented were incredibly impressive,” she said.
