Innovative Farming Australia conference 2005

Please note that if any of the PowerPoint presentations listed on this page are difficult to download they may be obtained on CD by contacting the Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars. Please be certain to state your requirements when doing so.

The 2005 Innovative Farming Australia conference was held in Melbourne at the Sofitel Melbourne, on October 6 & 7. This year’s conference ran over two days, incorporating the annual Nuffield New Scholar presentation luncheon.

Pre-conference Tour

The 2005 conference was preceded by a tour around the Geelong, south-west Victoria, region on Wednesday, October 5.

The tour firstly focused on grain marketing and aggregation for the milling trade at Riordon Grain Services. Next stop was Marcus Oldham Agricultural College for lunch and a brief update on the tertiary education of the next generation of farm leaders and managers. Marcus Oldham has record fee paying enrolments against the industry trend.

The group then visited "Murdeduke" to see the Wilson family farming business. This business comprises extensive raised bed cropping using precision agriculture technology; a large scale outdoor pig operation breeding and delivering approximately 300 finished pigs per week year round; raised bed Lucerne production; an Angus cattle stud and a significant fat lamb operation. Much of this property has had a significant stone problem with many stony rises, the management of which is enlightening. 

2005 Conference Program Highlights

This year’s conference was attended by around 130 delegates, which included Nuffield Scholars, farmers from around Australia, government and agribusiness industry representatives.

The conference was opened by the Victorian Treasurer, the Hon John Brumby, who is also the Minister for State & Regional Development and Innovation.

He was followed by two key note speakers, Mr Bill Casimaty, Director of Strathayr Turf, based in Tasmania, and Mr John Palmer, Chairman of Air New Zealand.

Bill Casimaty’s topic was how his business grew from a sheep and wheat growing farm, into one of the world’s leading turf businesses. Bill, a Nuffield Scholar himself, talked about the need for vision and determination to succeed in a global market. Also about ensuring quality assurance and customer satisfaction – and not being afraid to look outside the square.

John Palmer (149 k file), a NZ Nuffield Scholar, was inspirational as he discussed ‘The Art of Leadership’. John talked about the skills required to be a leader – and how his vast experience in the horticultural industry in New Zealand and running his own business, has given him the skills to manage boardroom challenges in a variety of business sectors.

The conference then introduced two sessions with the titles:

• Extracting and Adding Value
• Agriculture and the Environment

Guest speakers in the Extracting and Adding Value session were Irish based Gerard Keenan, Managing Director of Richard Keenan Pty Ltd, Neil Druce, Director of Green Grove Organics based at Junee in NSW, and Wendy Erhart, Director of Withcott Seedlings from Queensland.

Each proved to be a remarkable speaker, with a fascinating story to tell.

Gerard Keenan (2.5 MB file) outlined the immensely successful Keenan/KK Beef Club, which has resulted in now around 100 beef producers from Ireland and the UK form an alliance with a processors, nutritionists, unions and European retailers – to ensure a total ‘paddock to plate’ guaranteed beef product for consumers. The group now supplies around 70,000 head of beef per annum to specifications required by the retailer – attracting a premium price for the farmers for their efforts.

Neil Druce’s presentation was entitled ‘Why Liquorices’ – and focused on how the family farming business has diversified, largely through a belief that non-chemical farming was a better way for them, into producing organic liquorices. They now supply nationally and internationally a variety of organic products. Through research, investment in infrastructure and a vision, Green Grove Organics is hugely successful family business.

2005 Australian Business Woman of the Year, Wendy Erhart (1.5 MB file), left the conference audience exhausted – with her sheer energy and detail of what she and her husband have achieved in their business.

Withcott Seedlings is just one of their businesses, which now produces an extraordinary amount of seedlings for the horticultural industry (both locally and internationally). The key elements Wendy stressed as to the success of the business were commitment to research and innovation, staff training and empowerment, and an absolute customer focus.

In the Agriculture and the Environment session, Corey Watts from the Australian Conservation Foundation of Australia, joined the Birchip Cropping Group and Louise Adcock from Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia Inc., in discussing how farming and good environmental management can be a win-win situation.

Corey Watts (2.1 MB file) discussed the ACF’s Sustainable Rural Landscapes program, and his role on the Australian Landcare Council. His work focuses on policies, farming systems and land-uses that create healthy landscapes. Corey’s presentation generated significant discussion and debate with the farming audience.

Louise Adcock from Ricegrowers’ Association outlined the rice industry’s Environmental Champion program. This program focuses on the industry’s commitment to being good stewards on the land, managing water use and improving growing techniques to ensure sustainability.

Conference Breakfast - ‘Agriculture in 2050’

The conference Breakfast proved extremely successful with an intelligent and entertaining panel of business leaders, giving their predictions for agriculture in 2050. The panel comprised Mark Bennett from Rabobank; Lawrence Paratz, Telstra Country Wide; Simon Ramsay, Victorian Farmers Federation President; Peter Treloar, farmer and Nuffield Scholar; Gerard Keenan, Richard Keenan Pty Ltd; and Wendy Erhart from Withcott Seedlings.

Each of the panel members had five minutes or so to outline their view of the future for farming. Each one of them presented their views in a ‘look back’ and ‘look forward’ format – offering an interesting (often controversial, but also amusing) scenario.  Overwhelmingly, the common point was that each of them see farmers as a an exceptionally valuable ‘asset’ to the country and global economy by 2050 – as they will be charged with feeding a much bigger global population who will be seeking quality, clean food.  Innovation and research plays a major role in achieving the level of production that will be required.

Conference Education panel - Agriculture as a Career Path - Promoting the Positives

The second panel session for the conference focused on promoting agriculture as a career path for young people. The panel comprised representatives from a variety of agricultural career options including: Ben Jowett, Bayer CropScience; Brett Roberts, farmer and President of SAFF Grains Group; David Goodfellow, Corporate Property Manager with Mutual Trust; and Simon Livingstone, Principal of Marcus Oldham College.

Each of the panelists outlined how they ended up in their current roles – most of them having come from a farming background, or having at least worked at the grass roots of the agricultural sector. They outlined that there are many opportunities for young people to take up, perhaps before they return to the farm itself.

The session was interactive with the audience, and there was much discussion and debate about opportunities for younger people – and whether farming itself is a viable option as a career path.

2004 Nuffield Scholar presentations

Over the two day conference six 2004 newly returned Nuffield Scholars gave presentations on their study trips overseas. The presentations were given by: Andrew Johnson, Tintinara, SA (3 MB file); Mark Branson, Stockport, SA (2.6 MB pdf); Simon Turnbull, Quambone, NSW (1.1 MB file); Mark Modra, Port Lincoln, SA (2 MB pdf); Graham Clothier, Lucindale, SA (2.2 MB file); and David Cox, Esperence, WA (2.5 MB file).

2005 New Nuffield Scholar Luncheon

The conference concluded on the Friday with the annual New Nuffield Scholar announcements. This year 13 new scholars were announced and introduced to delegates and sponsors. Guest speaker at the luncheon was Senator Richard Colbeck, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Conference Dinner - Melbourne Club

The conference Dinner was an absolute highlight, being held at the prestigious Melbourne Club (thanks to Max Jelbart for organizing this venue). Special guest was ‘Sir Murray Rivers QC’ (aka political satirist Bryan Dawe), who enthralled and entertained dinner guests with his totally irreverent comments about virtually everything sacred!

The conference committee would like to thank Tim Lee, ABC Landline presenter, for being MC of the conference. Tim contributed enormously to the smooth flow and quality of the event.

The conference would also like to sincerely thank the conference sponsors:

• Australian Nuffield Farming Scholars’ Association
• Incitec Pivot
• Rabobank
• Bayer CropScience
• Monsanto
• Meat & Livestock Australia
• Australian Wool Innovation Inc.
• Department Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry