The definition of having your hands full !
Lawyers Weekly Australia – well worth a listen
Caitlin McConnel is a senior associate at Clayton Utz and practises in agribusiness, food, natural capital markets and ESG, as well as being a sixth-generation farmer in regional Queensland.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, McConnel discussed her dual roles as a farmer and BigLaw associate and how they intersect in her day-to-day life.
McConnel’s family is recognised as the oldest identified family business in Queensland and one of the oldest in Australia, after her great-great-great-grandfather settled their property in 1841.
“We only have 1,000 acres, we’re on the upper branch of the Brisbane River, and we have beef cattle and agrivoltaics. And agrivoltaics is a relatively new term that is starting to make its way into a lot of ESG and renewables conversations, where it’s actually the utilisation of agricultural land for the dual purpose of agricultural production and renewable energies, predominantly solar,” she said.
“And as a result of actually the deregulation of the dairy industry back in 2000 and our disbursement of our dairy herd, my dad made the decision in 2010 to install large solar installations to take advantage of the 44 cent kilowatt hour rebate that was available then. And given his knowledge of not only our property, but how livestock tend to interact with machinery and all things electrical, he worked with the engineers at the time to ensure that the solar panels and the design were taking up the smallest amount of land possible, but also designed so that our cattle could graze underneath them without damaging the system.
More at
