Matthew Neumann

Nuffield Australia 2012 scholarship winner

Matthew Neumann, from Mundulla in South Australia, receives the 2012 Nuffield Scholarship sponsored by Rabobank.

He is planning to investigate how to iron out inefficiencies in the fresh food supply chain.

Matthew and his wife own 800 acres of reliable farming country, of which 300 acres is under centre‐pivot irrigation. Presently, they produce around 1000 tonnes of onions for the fresh market, crop 160 hectares of clover for certified seed, wheat, barley and canola and have 50 hectares of hay and seed lucerne under irrigation. They also currently have 650 Border Leicester Merino cross ewes that are mated to Poll Dorset rams.

Matthew is passionate about food supply chains and seeing primary producers eceiving a fair price for what they produce. He believes while every commodity needs a supply chain to meet the product with the end user, there is a lot of profit taking and inefficiencies along the chain.

"I would like to look and study the opportunities in the fresh market for producers of our size to work together to market our produce in a cooperative setup," Matthew says.

Matthew says he would also like to investigate vertical integration by meeting individuals who have made the next step through initiatives such as packing their own produce and using branding to differentiate their product.

RSD 1013,
MUNDULLA, SA 5268
0400 000 152
mjneumann@hotmail.com