For Yumeng Chen, farming is a family tradition, which she has embraced since her childhood in China. Having been named the 2026 Nuffield Scholar for the vegetable industry, supported by Hort Innovation, Yumeng’s project will explore how virtual modelling can optimise production systems and decision-making in vegetable growing.

“I grew up on family farmland in Southern China,” Yumeng said.

“My grandparents practiced mixed farming. From what I remember, we had about 20 hectares of rice fields divided into small blocks scattered across different locations within the same village. We had around 20 chickens and three pigs. We also had vegetable paddocks where we grew Asian leafy vegetables and other [crops] such as eggplants, tomatoes, pumpkins, winter melons, bitter melons, corns, and chilies.

“My grandpa dug two ponds where we raised fish. Next to the house, we had a mandarin orchard, along with a pomelo tree, a chestnut tree and some tea trees. My grandparents also farmed watermelons on half of a nearby hill. I have three aunties who are also farmers. During busy harvest seasons my cousins and I would help out, going from one household to another.”

After completing an agribusiness degree in Adelaide, Yumeng worked in Forth in Tasmania and Adelaide before moving to Melbourne. She began working at Fragapane Farms near Werribee, which grows broccoli, cauliflower, celery and other green vegetable crops. After nearly two years, she moved to the United States to complete a Masters in Supply Chain Management before returning to Fragapane Farms, where she is currently the Senior Account Manager.

“My main responsibility is taking care of the sales accounts for domestic retailers and the export markets. But I also do projects like supply planning, demand forecasting and data analytics.”

Yumeng explained that while it’s generally possible to tell if a company is doing well or not, it’s important to have benchmarks in place to measure by, to work out how exactly the company is performing. The challenge of doing this at the highest level is something Yumeng embraces.

“There’s always something new going on. I know a lot of people say farming is challenging, and it is absolutely challenging. But I think that’s the excitement, coming from how we deal with so many issues every day. I love that.

“The business owner Joseph and my manager Rob said to me when I first started, ‘we probably don’t want to be the biggest in the industry, but we want to be the best at what we are doing.’ I think the best way you learn about something is actually dealing with the issues, and it helps me not only for personal growth, but also to build a relationship with the teams, because the best way to build a relationship is actually solving problems together.”

That passion to learn and to improve the way vegetables are grown has led to Yumeng being awarded one of two Nuffield Scholarships supported by Hort Innovation, with the other going to Jackson Boardman who works in the avocado industry in Queensland.

When announcing the Hort Innovation supported scholars, Chief Executive Brett Fifield said: “The Nuffield Scholarship is a powerful way to build capability and encourage fresh thinking in horticulture. By supporting emerging leaders, we’re investing in the future of our sector.”

Yumeng’s scholarship will explore how virtual modelling can optimise production systems and decision-making in vegetable growing.

“The project aims to produce a virtual replica of the farming operations,” said Yumeng.

“It can be smaller scale focusing in one area or a much larger scale to cover the whole produce supply chain. For example, if we just look at one produce category, iceberg lettuce, we can forecast the amount of iceberg (around 550,000 units) that is required for next year, based on historical data from our sales and operations planning system. We can also build a virtual replica of the farms, monitor crop growth and forecast how much lettuce will be ready in certain time periods.

“It helps us reverse thinking from final demand, to work out how many seeds we need to put in the ground and monitor the crop readiness in-between.”

The Australian scholars formally began their travels for their projects in March with a gathering in Canberra, before heading to Japan where 110 scholars from 16 countries across the globe had the opportunity to meet each other. In late January Yumeng also travelled to Dubai as part of the AUSVEG trade mission to Gulfood, where she met with other scholars.

Over the year ahead, the Nuffield program will take her to the Philippines, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, the USA, Argentina, China, and other countries to learn about agricultural applications globally.

“I feel that my topic is broad, but I believe it is beneficial to keep it like that at the start, as I’m confident that through the experience and lessons I’ll learn during the scholarship period I can narrow it down and produce something tangible in the end.”

The Nuffield Scholars have a deadline for their final report to be submitted by the end of July 2027.

“I’m trying to do a lot of reading and researching for background. But, as previous scholars keep telling me, ‘just keep yourself open minded, because there are so many people you haven’t met yet, so many businesses you haven’t visited yet. You’ll have better ideas once you’ve done all the visits.”

Watch our interview with Yumeng here.