Now Mr Dudley has been named as an awardee of an OAM for service to the NSW agricultural society movement.

Mr Dudley has successfully fielded an executive career with various national entities while working for the betterment of the agricultural show movement.

He and wife Jenny "loved the idea of living and working in the country", and continue to run a working beef farm in Robertson.

They began with "a great interest and wanting to learn. You've got to pick it up yourself, do things a little bit differently each year, based on your experience of the past years. I couldn't have done it without Jenny."

Whether leading cattle or boardrooms, "they've both got their challenges, from time to time!" he said with a laugh.

He is grateful to be nominated, and "grateful to my colleagues in the agricultural society movement generally".

Mr Dudley is pleased the local and Royal shows now collaborate: "We're all part of the same thing, the same thinking."

If his work has a legacy, he says, it's the encouragement of women and youth into the agricultural movement, "particularly the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW" as its president from 2008 to 2014.

"It has a reputation, not necessarily correctly, as an old man's club," Mr Dudley said.

"The traditional thinking is that you need to be strong and muscly to be in agriculture - you don't.

"We've got a rising number of women involved, getting the balance right, and a very strong youth group.

"That's the best contribution I could make, encouraging that - future proofing the show movement.

"It's important the show movement continues because the competitions encourage excellence in agriculture."