Natalie Hughes

About Natalie

An ardent advocate for rural Australia, Natalie Hughes is presently employed as RAPAD’s Program Lead for their delivery of the Commonwealth and State-funded Farm Business Resilience Program.

A fifth-generation grazier and fourth-generation sugar cane farmer, she has also worked across numerous horticulture enterprises, including pumpkins, watermelons, lychees, pineapples, and bananas, and she continues to be involved in commercial pasture seed and silage production.

Through these and her experience as a Rural Financial Counsellor, Natalie has developed extensive knowledge of the conditions faced by farming businesses and of the strategies available to minimise risks.

She has contributed to national disaster recovery and drought policies through a variety of roles and, in 2022, Natalie was awarded a High Commendation for the QLD Agricultural Minister's Emerging Leader Award.

Natalie is presently a director for natural resource management group NQ Dry Tropics and a director of the ABL Foundation which oversees the Advancing Beef Leaders program. She is the former Deputy Chair of Southern Gulf NRM (2021-2024) and a proud MLA Red Meat Ambassador and ARLF Drought Mentor. 

Natalie holds a Master of Economics (Agriculture and Resources), receiving the D H Drummond Thesis Prize in Post-Graduate Economics, a Bachelor of Education (Secondary), a Cert IV in Training and Assessment, and a Diploma of Financial Counselling (Rural).