There’s this idea that to be successful, you’ve got to get yourself a degree, but for Callan Daley, failing a maths subject a few times was the stepping stone to much greater things.

At 24, Callan is the Business Development Lead for MEQ, a start-up company that creates technology that measures meat-eating quality, and this year, he has been jetting across the country and the world with his work.

Callan grew up on farm in Queensland before heading to boarding school in Brisbane and realising how people in the city lived. It gave him a taste of a different lifestyle, and he was captivated by it.

“I’ve always had it [farming] in the background, but drought and harsh living conditions growing up as a kid aren't exactly the most appealing ways to foster an interest into an industry.”

Despite this, his fire for Agriculture reignited toward the end of schooling and he set off for a gap year on a cattle and cropping farm out of Goondiwindi where he was introduced to the world of cropping, plants and machinery.

With this under his belt, he headed back to Brisbane to study Chemical Engineering and Plant Biotechnology at University, all the while - often daydreaming back to his Gap year.

In 2019, when a maths subject got the better of him, he decided it was time for a 6-month (working) break on the family farm.

“We [his parents] clashed heads here and there. I think most kids and parents do. But overall, really good to see how I could apply my knowledge, even my knowledge [from a young kid] growing up how I could apply that as a young adult.”

It was while at home, a family friend gave him a “stern word” to give the EvokeAg Future Young Leaders program a go. It was at the event that he met former CEO of MEQ Probe and well, the rest is history.

“MEQ started up as a small-scale company looking to develop and build a hot carcass grading technology for beef and lamb. So being able to tell processes, producers and consumers the eating quality for that particular animal while it was still just recently slaughtered within an abattoir.”

He’s now back living in Brisbane but Callan's work has taken him all over the place, from the other ends of Australia to New Zealand and even the United States of America this year alone.

“It helped that my parents are always very encouraging of both my brother and I to go and explore other options. I think that's a very open-minded way to approach to have.  Children of agriculture need to go and broaden their life experiences a little bit more away from the farm.”

Callan’s certainly a next-gen Trailblazer in the Agriculture industry, keep your eye on him!

Listen to Callan’s podcast here: