“It wasn't until that stage in my life where I realised I'd put so much pressure on myself to be normal. I hadn’t really accepted that I'd had a disability and wasn't sort of comfortable talking about it... Once I accepted that, my life changed forever.” 

- Nigel Corish

Nigel Corish was born with Cerebal Palsy, living with a disability has shaped much of his life outlook and amongst the challenges, it has fostered a need to be adaptive and think outside the box, you could say, it’s even a superpower. 

Born and bred in Goondiwindi, his entire family are involved in Agriculture. His parents moved to the region in 1979, converting a sheep and cattle property to dryland cropping. The move to growing cotton in 1982 would be instrumental in the family’s success today. 

“It's just been a phenomenal journey, and a ride full of family being very successful, and being able to support the family up until now.”

“The Goondiwindi community has had a huge role to play in that. And I think what I've learned, growing up over the years is giving back to the community is so important.

Nigel’s love of farming began at a very early age, 

“Going down the paddock, watching the machinery, watching the sunsets at picking time and so forth are some of my greatest sort of memories as a child and also living in a really good community”. 

Despite living a childhood alongside many of his mates, Nigel recalls feeling somewhat isolated as he recognised he was different from the other kids. 

“I felt very different and sort of isolated to a certain degree that i wasn't part of the sort of main group of the kids in the class. But in saying that I could keep up. And I wasn't the best at cricket or wasn't the best at Rugby League, but I certainly had a go. But they always included me to be part of it and that was pretty special.” 

Family has played a huge role in Nigel’s life, together they were determined to create the opportunities, one would come to Nigel on the brink of his teenage years, 

“One of the biggest, I guess, achievements, I'd thought at a very young age was when my parents bought me a motorbike it was my 12th birthday. And that was a game changer in my lifetime. Because up until that stage, because there was a right hand throttle on the motorbike I could never ride a two wheeled motorcycle. So it was a very big frustration in my life. And they came up with an idea of adapting a thumb throttle on the left hand side, which was a game changer for me. And allowed me to ride around the farm with my brothers and sister and friends. And it was just such a great experience.”

At the age of 24, Nigel would encounter a life changing event, suffering a mental breakdown he was diagnosed with depression. 

“Up until that age I didn't [accept my disability]. I really put a lot of pressure on myself that I had to keep up and had to be normal to a certain degree.” 

“I was living by myself on the farm. And just a lot of internalising, seeing things weren’t good. I was always down on myself, particularly with my disability, particularly working on farm during the physical activities whether I was changing points on a planter, or changing shear pins on the ripper. I couldn't do, or I could do those things, But it took me a lot longer”. 

“And I just got so frustrated with myself doing it, which would sort of lead to a breakdown unfortunately. Which led to depression for a period of time. It wasn't until I started seeing a psychologist and really reflecting back on my childhood”. 

Seeking professional help, Nigel was able to address some of the realities and pressures he had placed on himself, and it would see him flourish.

“And it wasn't until that stage in my life where I realised I'd put so much pressure on myself to be normal. I hadn't really accepted that I'd had a disability. And I wasn't sort of comfortable talking about it, and so forth. And once I accepted that, my life changed forever. Which was brand new, and I guess the rest is history after that.” 

Nigel has accomplished a great deal in his life, Moments encompassing family and achievements are shared with us in the images supplied by Nigel Corish.

As he entered his 30’s, Nigel Corish was a force to be reckoned with. Not only had a life of putting in the extra effort, his family’s ingenuity and approach to innovation would see him recognised nationally. Including as Cotton Grower of the Year and the following year as the Australian Young Farmer of the Year. 

“The Cotton Farmer Of The Year was certainly a big surprise to me. And certainly being so young, I think I was the youngest person ever to receive that award. It was so rewarding just to be sort of recognised by the peers in your Industry, because I've held the leaders of the Cotton Industry with such high respect and to be in their presence and be recognised by that group of people was, very, very humbling”.

Nuffield Scholar

In 2012, Nigel became involved with the Nuffield Australia Scholars program after his farm manager and fellow scholar Tim Napier became involved in the program. 

“Seeing the experience and the knowledge and what he [Tim] got out of the scholarship was a light bulb moment to say, ‘Okay, I should really be doing that, down the track’. And then I think it was about 2014. I was on the Cotton Australia General Committee, and Cotton Australia and the CRDC decided that they were going to start sponsoring a scholarship. So I had inside knowledge that they were looking for someone. So that prompted me to put up my hand and really give it a go. [ I was] very fortunate, lucky enough, to receive the scholarship”.

Nigel utilised his Nuffield Scholar journey to study Nitrogen use in irrigated cotton, and he describes the experience as one of the best of his life.

“Another light bulb moment for me, [was] where I changed my whole philosophy and idea of farming systems and of the holistic approach to farming”. 

Now for any potential scholars out there, who might be umm’ing and ahh’ing about whether or not to pursue it. Those feelings are totally normal! 

As Nigel worked his way through the application and interview process, on several occasions he thought about withdrawing. 

“Everything was telling me to pull out because having two small children, spending so much time away from the family. I literally could not imagine or see how it could work”.

Nigel reflects on the impact Nuffield had on his life, And how he was drawn back to the organisation three years after his scholarship journey to become a Nuffield Executive and later a Board member.

“I did not realise, the wonderful network, the wonderful organisation, and the lifetime sentence that I was going to get out of being a Nuffield Scholar. It's just a remarkable experience. And anyone considering, just make that leap of faith and challenge yourself to do it, if there's that gut instinct, something telling you to do it, you won't regret it. That's for sure”.

Today, alongside various roles, Nigel is also the Chair of Ability Agriculture, a role he is extremely passionate about and is excited to see organisations be more inclusive to people living with a disability or impairment. 

“In my career, I really hadn't included my disability in my leadership journey,. I've always been very against, trying to push disability, into the leadership roles I was in and that was quite disappointing on my behalf, to realise how much I could give back to the community of disabled people was quite unique.”

“Our community is very much under represented, under resourced, under researched. One of the big defining moments, of my work with Ability Agriculture over the last sort of 12 months or so is how under resourced, how little money is going towards that whole representation of a group. Not just the agriculture community, but the whole Australian community”.

Listen to Nigel’s full episode on your favourite podcast app, or below 🎧

This episode is part of our partnership with Nuffield Australia. Over the next 12 months, we'll be sharing a variety of stories from different scholars, understanding their journeys, pathways and how their Nuffield Scholarship has helped shape their careers.

Nuffield Australia awards scholarships each year to farmers in Australia. The objective is to increase practical farming knowledge and management skills and techniques generally. These scholarships give Australian citizens the opportunity to study farming practices in New Zealand, Europe, Asia and the Americas and those countries best suited to the scholar. They will also promote a closer understanding between farmers in the countries visited.

Since 1951, Nuffield have been building capacity for producers, their businesses, industry and rural community. It's a learning opportunity, with business friendships formed with our approachable, global network. There are over 500 Nuffield Scholars in Australia and almost 2,000 worldwide.