Profile
Jeff Bucknell is a seventh-generation Australian grazier with family land ties to the Desert Uplands area for five decades.
Following boarding school in Brisbane, he qualified as a Diesel and Heavy Earthmoving Equipment Fitter. During the early 1980s he was involved in dryland wheat and cotton enterprises in southern inland Queensland and northern New South Wales. After returning to the family property “Sarre” at Richmond he later worked on, leased and owned sheep and beef properties on the Darling Downs and at Corfield and Torrens Creek in northwest Queensland.
He and his wife Rayna, a former journalist, secondary school teacher and primary school Principal, settled their Freehold beef cattle property "Cheltenham" in 1990.
Jeff has participated in the vegetation management debate from its beginning in the early 1990s and retains a strong commitment to the local Landcare group and several producer organisations.
He is able to communicate effectively and develops a close and lasting rapport with landholders, pastoralists, primary producers, grazing industry associates (e.g. valuers and real estate agents), government agencies, departments and other professional bodies. He continues to upskill, attaining Level IV Certificates in both Agriculture and Agricultural Beef Production and completing all government training programs relevant to rural property planning.
Jeff strives constantly to enhance community involvement and recently developed and delivered a series of On-Farm GPS Training Workshops. He provides the mapping and reporting elements of funding applications facilitated by Wrestmont Pty Ltd, which specialises in the financial analysis of rural enterprises, development of strategies and options for clients, and negotiation and mediation with private and public sector entities.
Through Cosmic Desert Rural Property Planning and Design Services, Jeff offers on-property vegetation-related compliance, substantiation and liaison assistance with relevant authorities under the Vegetation Management Act.
Jeff provides clients one-on-one with the means, skills and awareness to see them through the medium- and long-term direction of Natural Resource Management Planning in areas of Spatial GIS & farm mapping, vegetation identification and recording, satellite imagery, groundtruthing using ATV, delineating areas for permits and creating comprehensive Resource Management Plans.
Since 2004, Jeff has completed more than 150 Property Management plans and Vegetation Management Plans for clients and continues to provide exemplary support to property owners to deliver on-ground Natural Resource Management. His input was crucial in providing the appropriate applications and rigorous mapping processes required by government bodies in the signing of the first historic Delbessie Agreement in October 2009.