State Committee Members
New South Wales:
Stuart Tait – Chair (2017 Scholar)
Stuart from Mandurama, received a 2017 scholarship supported by MLA. He researched integrated beef and cropping systems, encompassing all facets of a farming operation combining beef cattle and broad-acre cropping; including dual-purpose grazing crops, soil and nutrient management, productivity optimisation, grazing management and the specific role, selection and management of annual and perennial pastures. Read Stuart’s report
Andrew Watson – Vice Chair and Treasurer (2006 Scholar)
Andrew Watson is a fifth-generation mixed cropping and cattle producer from Boggabri. Andrew studied ‘water use efficiency in irrigation’ as part of his scholarship in 2006. In 2008, Andrew was named ‘Australian Cotton Grower of the Year’. In 2014 the farm business won The Brownhill Cup and in 2016, they were a finalist in the Landcare Sustainable Farming awards. Andrew is also a past chairman of the board of Cotton Australia. Read Andrew’s report
Daniel Kahl – Secretary (2017 Scholar)
Daniel Kahl was supported by Cotton Australia and the CRDC to investigate where the next generation of farm managers will come from and how quality candidates can be attracted to a career in farming. Daniel is employed as Business Manager of his family owned and operated
company, Merced Farming covering 7,500 hectares. In 2019, Merced Farming was announced as the winner in the cropping category of the Weekly Times Coles Farmer of the Year awards. Read Daniel’s report
Northern Territory:
Daniel Richards – Chair (2016 Scholar)
Daniel owns family business, Humpty Doo Barramundi, Australia’s largest farmed Barramundi producer. With support from Woolworths, he used his scholarship to test the legitimacy of industry claims that Barramundi can become the ‘next Atlantic Salmon’, and chart a path for these claims to become a reality. Dan's report shows that in Australia, market differentiation of Barramundi based on its attributes, country of origin labelling and point of difference is lacking. Read Daniel's report.
Camilla Phillip – Secretary (2007 Scholar)
Camilla is a 2007 scholar and the primary focus of her study was to research supply chain efficiencies, particularly the growth of category management in the horticultural industry. She aimed to develop a clearer understanding of the theory behind category management and the benefits that could be derived from this theory by the horticultural industry and retailing sector. Read Camilla’s report
Ashley Severin – Treasurer (1987 Scholar)
Ashley is married to Lyndee and they are based at Curtin Springs Station, via Alice Springs where they manage a cattle station and Wayside Inn. Ashley is a life member of Nuffield Australia and was the first Northern Territory Nuffield Farming Scholar. He studied embryo transfer and saline irrigation, travelling to the UK, France and Israel. Read Ashley’s report
Queensland:
James Walker – Chair (2012 Scholar)
James is a 2012 Scholar from Longreach who studied how to manage livestock through the variances of seasons. James has developed a Farmecco financial literacy app and hosted a number of CEO outback business summits. He has brought a 15MW solar farm to Longreach and helped build international tourism visibility for his region with the launch of the ‘Outback Yacht Club’. Read James’s report
NOT CURRENTLY FILLED – Vice Chair
William Harrington – Secretary (2018 Scholar)
William Harrington is a 2016 scholar and Chief Executive Officer of Wi-Sky Queensland. He is also a JCU PHD Candidate and a 2021 Fulbright Scholar. As a cattle producer and he is familiar with the benefits that technologies like remote water monitoring and unmanned livestock weighing and drafting can have for cattle producing businesses and researched change in agricultural industries around the world. Read William's report.
Tamara Uebergang – Treasurer (2019 Scholar)
If Australian cotton were spun into a single origin yarn, it could capture added value as an environmental and socially responsibly produced fabric. That’s according to 2019 scholar Tamara Uebergang, who travelled the world to understand fashion’s global supply chain, its impacts and more sustainable alternatives. With her family, Tamara grows cotton, cereals and pulses in Miles, in the Western Downs. Read Tamara's report
South Australia:
Andrew Baldock – Chair (2015 Scholar)
Andrew used his scholarship to identify the best approaches for building farm enterprises to accommodate growing families in a changing business environment. He visited successful multi-generational family farms in North America, Brazil, Eastern Europe and Africa. The Baldock family runs a mixed farming operation comprising 2000 breeding ewes and 6000 hectares of cropping across 7400ha of owned and leased land. Read Andrew's report
James Stacey – Vice Chair (2018 Scholar)
Operating a mixed dryland grain, lucerne and beef enterprise only an hour from Adelaide, James was motivated to undertake his research into challenges and opportunities for agriculture in peri-urban zones, having experienced first hand the pressures placed on productive agriculture land by urban development. James travelled to 11 countries investigating how different jurisdictions are managing land use with growing populations. Read James's report
Derek Tiller – Secretary/Treasurer (2015 Scholar)
Derek manages a 4000-hectare property that produces wheat, barley and lentils at Pinery, on the Adelaide Plains of South Australia, together with his brother Clinton and parents, John and Christine. Derek's scholarship took him around the world, visiting 12 countries over eight months investigating the structures, resources and benefits of sound decision-making on family farms. Read Derek’s Report
Tasmania:
Tim Napier – Chair (2005 Scholar)
Tim is a 2005 Nuffield Scholar who studied sustainable farming systems. Tim is based in Launceston, his previous roles include Executive Officer of Border Rivers Food and Fibre, Director and Vice Chairman of the NSW Irrigators’ Council and QLD Director of the National Irrigators’ Council. Tim is passionate about driving positive change in the agriculture industry and is active in mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Read Tim’s report
Robin Tait – Secretary (2018 Scholar)
Robin is a 2018 scholar and soil health consultant in Tasmania. She studied regenerative agriculture principles in high-value cropping rotation and concluded that the five principles for healthy soil management, underpinning regenerative agriculture are to keep the soil covered, minimise soil disturbance, diversity, a living plant all year around and livestock integration. Read Robin’s report
Robert Henry – Treasurer (1991 Scholar)
Rob is married to Kathy and they farm an irrigated cropping and livestock enterprise near Cressy in Tasmania. Rob travelled on his Scholarship in 1991 and studied sustainable agricultural systems on light sandy soils with irrigation. He travelled to the UK, France, USA and Canada. Read Rob’s report
Victoria:
Damien Murphy – Chair (2012 Scholar)
Damien is a dairy farmers based in Victoria. He investigated what young farmer finance schemes exist around the world particularly in places where land is more tightly held than in Australia. “I’ve seen people come into the industry and they’ve just found it so hard to get finance for things that would allow them to grow their asset and progress in the industry – it is becoming a real hurdle, and almost exclusive". Read Damien’s report
Daniel Meade – Vice Chair (2017 Scholar)
Victorian dairy farmer Daniel Meade received a 2017 scholarship from the William Buckland Foundation to investigate the world’s most powerful and effective agricultural organisations. Daniel farms at Garvoc, where he lives with his wife Michaela, and three children. Daniel has strong ties to the local community, and is Deputy Mayor of Moyne Shire Council. He studied Agriculture at Glenormiston College and has previously worked as an agronomist. Read Daniel's report
Aubrey Pellet – Secretary (2014 Scholar)
Aubrey believes robotics – beyond anything currently seen in Australia – can improve the productivity, profitability and lifestyle of dairy farmers across Australia. In addressing agriculture’s perennial question of how to make more from less, he says technology, data and research need to be given priority. His scholarship allowed him to investigate how to improve productivity for Australian pasture based dairy farming. Read Aubrey’s report
Andrew Nagorcka – Treasurer (2006 Scholar)
Andrew is based at Yatchaw with his wife Kylie and family. The family property is a mixed cropping and grazing enterprise of 1,500 hectares and a relatively reliable average rainfall of 700mm. Andrew studied improving a high rainfall cropping system using a more biological and sustainable approach. He also had a focus on government policies in agriculture. Read Andrew’s report
Western Australia:
Andrew Slade – Chair (2018 Scholar)
Andrew has always been passionate about farming and growing up was normal to be working on the farm with his parents when not at school. The farming operations has grown considerably since that time, primarily off the back of prime lamb and beef production, during a period where these were considered the poor cousins to broadacre cropping. Much of this was due to their focus on productivity, with the emphasis on efficient system design and engineering solution that reduced labour inputs. Read Andrew's report
Dudley Mitchell – Vice Chair (2018 Scholar)
Based in Bunbury, Dudley Mitchell’s company HCMS Pty Ltd manages Avonova Farms, a 50-hectare avocado orchard that produces approximately 800 tonnes of fruit per year. travelled to avocado growing regions in South Africa, Chile, North America, and New Zealand, seeking to identify practices that could be adopted or adapted in Australia to successfully manage intensified production. Read Dudley's report
Johanna Tomlinson – Secretary (2019 Scholar)
Johanna Tomlinson from Kalgan, Western Australia together with her husband Wayne run a third generation family business, Tomlinson Agricultural, on 4,000 hectares situated on the south coast of Western Australia. The enterprise produces prime lambs, wool, beef and broadacre crops such as barley, wheat, lupins and canola. Read Johanna's report
Dylan Hirsch – Treasurer (2018 Scholar)
While many grain growers have traditionally managed revenue volatility by ensuring they have sufficient cash and unleveraged assets to cope with successive poor seasons, increased profit margin pressure means the opportunity cost of this can hamper the competitiveness of family farms. That’s according to a report by 2018 Scholar Dylan Hirsch, who has been supported by GRDC. Mr Hirsch travelled throughout North America, Europe and the UK, meeting with farmers, agricultural lenders, insurers, reinsurers and farm lobby groups to better understand global approaches to managing seasonal weather risk. Read Dylan’s report