The Hon. Tony Burke MP

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Tony Burke is the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Federal Member for Watson.

From day one, Tony said he would not simply take advice from the department and peak industry groups, but also through meetings with people who work the land, on their land.

Since becoming minister he has travelled more than 100,000 km across Australia, meeting people working on farms, on fishing boats and in the forestry sector.

His achievements so far include major economic reforms to the bulk wheat export marketing system, tripling the funding for climate change research and concluding a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia to help tackle illegal logging.

In addition, Tony initiated the Beale Review into the nation’s biosecurity system, has invested in natural resource management including the $200 million Reef Rescue program and has committed funding to help research breeding problems in the iconic Western Rocklobster fishery.

Tony is also continuing to work with stakeholders to review the nation’s drought support system and better prepare farmers for future challenges.

He believes Australian farmers are world leaders in improving biodiversity and producing more with less water.

By investing in infrastructure and research and expanding market access, Tony believes the Rudd Government will help to secure a vibrant long-term future for our primary industries.

In previous roles, Tony was appointed directly to the front bench on entering Federal Parliament and served as Shadow Minister for Small Business and Shadow Minister for Immigration.

He has also served as a Member of the NSW Legislative Council.

Virginia Haussegger

ABC Canberra

Virginia Haussegger is the face of ABC TV News in Canberra and has presented the national broadcaster’s flagship 7pm News since 2001. A sought after speaker, Virginia is well known as a passionate polemicist, and a controversial columnist. Her views on women, gender politics, power and leadership continue to ignite broad public debate.

With more than 20 years’ experience in broadcast journalism, Virginia Haussegger’s work has taken her around the world reporting from the Middle East, Iraq, Europe, Washington and New York, for some of Australia’s leading news and current affairs programs including the 7 Network’s Witness, and channel 9’s A Current Affair.

For many years, Virginia was a senior reporter and host of the ABC’s 7.30 Report. Awards include a United Nations Association Media Peace Prize for her coverage of indigenous affairs (1996), and Communicator of the Year 2007 (Toastmasters ACT and Region). In 2009 Virginia added President of the Canberra International Film Festival to her many and varied roles.

In 2002 Virginia wrote an Opinion Editorial for Melbourne’s Age newspaper which opened a floodgate of debate about the issues of childlessness; fertility; feminism and the vexed area of career versus family. While one media commentator suggested that article attracted ‘more attention than George Bush’s invasion of Iraq’, it nevertheless became a catalyst for ongoing public and media discussion.

In 2005 Virginia’s book Wonder Woman: the myth of ‘having it all’ was launched at the National Press Club by Julia Gillard and telecast live on ABC TV. A weekly columnist for The Canberra Times since 2006, she has been widely published in Australian newspapers and magazines, and continues to provide social commentary on radio and commercial television. Virginia Haussegger is an experienced and highly respected keynote speaker, media commentator, journalist and author.

Phillip Glyde

ABARE

Phillip Glyde is Executive Director of ABARE, which provides economic policy analysis and forecasts to enhance the competitiveness of Australia’s agricultural, fishing, forestry, energy and minerals industries.

Phillip’s work with the Australian Government for the past 29 years has been in natural resource management, environment and industry issues in both the domestic and international spheres.

Phillip has a degree in Natural Resource Management with honours from the University of New England and a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University.

Murilo Portugal

International Monetary Fund

Murilo Portugal assumed the position of Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund on December 1, 2006.

Mr. Portugal, a Brazilian national, was until his current position, Deputy Minister of Finance of Brazil from 2005 to 2006. Between 1998 and 2005 he served as an Executive Director of the IMF, representing Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Haiti, Panama, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Between 1996-2000 Mr Portugal was an Executive Director at the World Bank Group. Before that he served in senior positions in Brazil, including as the Secretary of the National Treasury, in the Office of the President, and at the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning. He has also served as member of the board of the Banco do Brasil and on various corporate boards. Mr. Portugal, who holds degrees in law and economics, was educated at Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and at the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester in the United Kingdom.

Bill Evans

Westpac

William (Bill) Evans is currently Managing Director and Global Head of Economics and Research for Westpac Banking Corporation. He is the bank’s economic spokesman and is responsible for all of the bank’s economic and capital markets research, in addition to advising the Board on economic issues. Bill travels frequently, advising Westpac’s customers on the Australian economy and financial markets.

Bill joined Westpac in 1991 in the position of Chief Economist and Head of Research. He also spent two years in New Zealand as Head of the Institutional Bank with responsibility for Westpac’s corporate and financial markets businesses.

He has worked as a Research Manager for the Reserve Bank of Australia, Treasurer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and prior to joining Westpac in 1991, was Director and Head of Financial Markets at Schroders Australia Limited for eight years.

Bill holds a Bachelor of Economics (honours I and University Medal) from Sydney University. He also holds a Masters of Science from the London School of Economics. Bill is a life member of the Australian Business Economists. He was a delegate at the Rudd Government’s 2020 summit.

Leigh Radford

ABC Rural

Leigh Radford is the current National Editor of ABC Rural and joined the ABC as Rural Reporter in Melbourne in February 1988. He has worked at ABC regional stations in Horsham, Sale and Port Pirie and was the Executive Producer of ABC Rural programs in South Australia from 1997 until 2005.

Up until January 2005, Leigh had been the voice of the Country Hour in South Australia since the early 1990s and has broadcast programs from right across the state and into the outback.

Leigh is a multi-award winning broadcaster, winning a number of Dalgety Awards for Excellence in Rural Journalism, including the national award in 1992, several Landcare awards, and was the inaugural winner of the Telstra Rural Journalist of the year award in 1996.

Leigh’s background is in environmental sciences and he has an Honours degree in Biogeography. Leigh is passionate about the people and issues of rural Australia and has a great love of the environment.

Daryl Quinlivan

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Daryl Quinlivan is a Deputy Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. He is a member of the department's executive management team, which is responsible to the portfolio Minister for the efficient functioning of the organisation, including its strategic direction and priorities.

Daryl has oversight responsibility for the work of the Sustainable Resource Management, Climate Change and Corporate divisions.

Roly Nieper

Animal Health Australia

Roly Nieper AM is currently the Chairman of Animal Health Australia, a not for profit company with primary industry and government shareholders/members, formed for the purpose of enhancing the strategic direction of Australia’s animal health system.

Roly is a veterinarian and Director of a small agribusiness consulting business which he runs from Maleny, north of Brisbane. He has nearly 40 years experience in biosecurity related services to primary industries which was recognised by the awarding of an AM on Australia Day 2008. He is also Chairman of LiveCorp, the marketing and R&D service agency to the live animal export industry; and Deputy Chairman of the Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Roly was the Director General of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, which was the culmination of a 20 year career in the Department, during which he held senior executive positions in Animal Production and Agribusiness. Prior to his joining the QDPI he spent 10 years in private veterinary practice in Victoria, West Australia and Queensland.

He has served on many boards in Queensland including the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority, Queensland Livestock and Meat Authority, Queensland Dairy Industry Authority, and Grainco Limited.

John Lloyd

Horticulture Australia

John Lloyd is currently Chief Executive Officer, Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL). HAL is a not-for-profit, industry-owned company. It works in partnership with Australia’s horticulture industries to invest almost $90 million annually in research, development and marketing programs that provide benefits to industry and the wider community.

Up until his appointment as CEO of HAL in November 2009, John ran a management consultancy specialising in operational and strategic advice to agricultural clients. He has previously been the CEO/Vice president of CNH Australia/NZL, General Manager Commercial at Incitec Pivot, and General Manager Marketing at Wesfarmers Dalgety.

Bruce Bowen

ABARE

As head of the Agriculture Branch at ABARE, Bruce Bowen manages a team of economists who analyse and publish the findings of ABARE’s Australia-wide farm financial performance survey, forecast agricultural commodity production and prices, and research agricultural issues including the economics of pest and disease incursion management approaches. 

Bruce has previously held a number of senior management positions in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry which have mainly focused on trade and market access issues. As part of these roles, he has also worked on the agriculture negotiations as part of the WTO Doha Round and various bilateral free trade agreements.

Bruce holds a Masters Degree in the Economics of Development from the Australian National University.

Sinniah Mahendrarajah

ABARE

In 2008, Dr Sinniah Mahendrarajah joined ABARE as a Senior Economist, after a year with the Commonwealth Grants Commission, and now has management responsibility for the Forests and Land Use Section. He is also an adjunct visiting fellow at the Arndt-Corden Division of Economics of the Australian National University (ANU).

Sinniah has had a long academic career and has particular expertise in forestry and water resource economics. He has held appointments as a senior lecturer at the ANU’s School of Resource Management and Environmental Science and a research fellow in Economics at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Prior to this, he held a senior lectureship in economics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has also held visiting academic appointments in Europe.

Sinniah holds a PhD and Masters degree from the Australian National University following an honours degree from the University of Ceylon.

Tom Kompas

Australian National University

Tom Kompas is Director of the Crawford School of Economics and Government and Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics (AC BEE) at the Australian National University (ANU). He is also currently Editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 

Tom teaches Masters Microeconomics and a component of the Crawford School’s flagship course, Government, Markets and Global Change. He specialises in economic dynamics, agricultural economics, productivity, and natural resource and environmental economics. His bioeconomic modelling and biosecurity research has been published in the world’s leading international journals (including Science) and his current work focuses on the major biosecurity issues in both Australia and internationally.

Tom received his PhD in economics from the University of Toronto. He received the 2004 Crawford Award for Research from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement in 2009. In 2008, Tom also received the Award for Teaching Excellence from The College of Asia and the Pacific at the ANU, and in 2009 was a recipient of the Australian National Universities highest award for teaching, the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Alison Turnbull

Horticulture Australia

Alison Turnbull is the Natural Resources and Climate Manager responsible for delivery of Horticulture Australia Limited’s (HAL) Environment Research Portfolio.

Alison has extensive experience in designing and implementing horticulture environmental projects and programs, such as national across-industry programs, Horticulture for Tomorrow and the Horticulture Water Initiative. She also has extensive experience in climate research. She is the horticulture representative on the Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries (CCRSPI) Reference Stakeholder Group, the HAL representative to the Managing Climate Variability Program and has co-authored the Horticulture Climate Change Action Plan (2009) and Horticulture Climate Research, Development and Extension Climate Matrix (2010).

She holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Sydney and a Diploma of Project Management from the Australian Institute of Management.

Robert Kelly

Mt. William

Robert Kelly became full-time Manager of Mt William Agriculture in 2000, and has been in the primary industries his whole life. Mt William runs a superfine merino stud, a superfine self-replacing merino ewe flock and a beef cattle breeding/trading enterprise. In 2009, Robert changed the focus of the beef operation from breeding to trading to better suit the merino breeding enterprise.

Robert was a 2001 AFFA Rural Leadership Participant. He was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship in wool production, travelling overseas in 2006–07, and from 2003 to 2008 he was involved in on-farm trial work through MLA and UNE, looking into various research and commercial aspects of production (both economically and environmentally) in a self-replacing merino ewe flock. Robert is the co-author of several articles in The Land, MLA Prograzier and MLA feedback magazines.

Robert has a High Distinction Diploma in Applied Science (Pastoral production) from Longreach Agricultural College.

Mike Battaglia

CSIRO

Dr Michael Battaglia currently leads the ‘Greenhouse gas abatement and carbon storage in land use systems’ theme for CSIRO’s Sustainable Agriculture Flagship. CSIRO’s research in this arena focuses on reducing direct emissions of carbon, methane and nitrous oxide and investigating ways to increase carbon storage in the landscape. The flagship also provides science support for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme policy development and social science research into ways to increase the adoption of mitigation strategies.

Mike is an expert in the physiological and environmental basis for plant performance, form and function and capturing this information in process-based models. Using models, he has explored the consequences of climate change on production and the risk to Australia's plantation estate; how wood properties might change with management and climate; and the potential for changes in pest distribution and host–pest interactions to influence future yields.

Quin Scalzo

Scalzo Food Industries

Quin Scalzo is Managing Director of Scalzo Food Industries, one of Australia’s largest privately owned food ingredients suppliers with origins dating back 33 years. In 1997, the company built a dedicated facility for processing raw ingredients for supply to the major food manufacturers in Australasia. 2001 saw the commencement of selling packaged nut and fruit products directly to the retail industry. The business currently employs 200 people and has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland.

Quin is a past Chairman of the Confectionery Manufacturers Association Suppliers Committee and is the current President of the Food and Beverage Importers Association. As an outside passion, Quin is involved in the horse racing industry as an owner, breeder and keen follower.

Tony Russell

Apple & Pear Australia

Tony Russell is currently the General Manager of Apple & Pear Australia Limited (APAL) after joining the organisation in 2004. This role encompasses a range of activities, including industry strategic planning, coordination of research and development investments, generic industry market promotions, technical issues management and industry advocacy.

Tony has also been actively involved in a number of leadership roles in the horticulture industry, including the Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) Industry Management Committee, the HAL Members Representative Forum and the Horticulture Market Access Committee.

Originally from a grain-farming family background, Tony has had a long career in agribusiness, including more than 20 years in a range of activities in the grains industry.

Tony Eyres

Harvest Capital Partners

Tony Eyres is Executive Director of Harvest Capital Partners, which he co-founded in 2008. Harvest is an investment firm located in Sydney, specialising in the Australian food and agribusiness, for which Tony provides a necessary blend of strong industry knowledge and personal relationships together with commercial and financial skills.

Harvest works with agricultural asset owners and managers, from both Australia and overseas, to develop investment grade financial products that are attractive to investors. Harvest is currently mandated to raise approximately $400 million of equity capital by five major producers in the grains, sugar, horticulture, beef and dairy sectors, Australia’s most significant agricultural export industries, with each client seeking additional investment capital to allow them to achieve their growth potential.

Prior to establishing Harvest, Tony worked in several financial services firms, including Origin Capital Group, focusing on corporate advisory services to the Australian agribusiness sector and regional infrastructure businesses seeking capital for growth and to facilitate industry restructuring and rationalisation. He has more than 10 years’ senior management experience in the food and agribusiness sector in Australia including six years as Chief Executive Officer of Grain Growers Association, an industry body with A$150 million of assets including a controlling interest in ASX listed company, GrainCorp, a diversified agribusiness that operates key grains, malting and flour milling infrastructure in Australia and internationally.

Tony studied Agricultural Science at the University of WA with an emphasis on agricultural and resource economics and worked in various not-for-profit organisations before moving to the East Coast 10 years ago to take on senior roles in agriculture. Tony has attended the Harvard Business School Agribusiness Seminar and also successfully attained a Churchill Fellowship, both offering the opportunity to travel overseas and gain insight into global trends in the food and agribusiness sector.

Tony grew up on an 11 000 acre wheat and sheep farm in Wheatbelt WA and maintains a passion for rural and regional Australia and a sound understanding of the key drivers of change and opportunity within Australia’s agricultural sector.

Michael Ryan

VicForests

Michael Ryan is the ‘Forest Scientist’ for VicForests. Michael began his career as a silviculture forester managing native forests in East Gippsland, Victoria, before moving to a planning forester role in the Mountain Ash forests of Victoria’s Central Highlands. Michael's interest in native forest silviculture led him to Benalla in order to develop a set of silvicultural guidelines for managing the mixed species forests of north-east Victoria.

During the Regional Forest Agreement program, Michael moved to Canberra to work with the Bureau of Rural Sciences on Regional Forest Agreements and private native forest management. After a short stint in Rome with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, he moved back to Victoria as the Silviculture Manager with VicForests, the Government Business Enterprise responsible for the harvest and regeneration of public native forest in eastern Victoria.

Michael has a degree in Forest Science from Melbourne University and has recently completed his Masters in Forestry at the ANU. His Masters work examined the use of early colonial artwork in identifying the nature and structure of the pre-European forests of south-eastern Australia.

Rona Mellor

Biosecurity Services Group

Rona Mellor commenced her position as Deputy Secretary with responsibility for the Biosecurity Services Group on 4 February 2010.

Prior to taking this role, Rona was Deputy Chief Executive of Medicare Australia. In this position, Rona’s particular focus was on transforming Medicare’s electronic capability, including implementing electronic claiming.

Rona was appointed as a deputy secretary in 2006 in the Department of Human Services (DHS). Prior to joining DHS, Rona spent 20 years with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), 13 of them as a member of the senior executive, culminating in the position of First Assistant Commissioner of the Policy Management Division. Over this time her responsibilities included leading significant change management and the design and implementation of major business process reforms.

Rona has qualifications in law and experience in large-scale, operational environments, including in establishing the ATO complaints service, implementing new work arrangements under the GST and leading client interface design.

David Chenu

Horticulture Australia

David Chenu is General Manager, Marketing Services for Horticulture Australia Limited. David has been marketing in the food industry for more than 20 years, specialising in work with primary industries. Prior to working with horticulture he worked with industries including beef and lamb, Tasmanian salmon and in the 1990s he worked at CSR on the extremely successful Natural Part of Life campaign for the sugar industry. Iron and lean beef, Trim Lamb and Meat Standards Australia have been programs he has marketed which have made a fundamental difference to the future success of these industries.

David is also a chef and worked for several years at the celebrated restaurant Berowra Waters Inn.

Martin Parkinson

Department of Climate Change

Martin Parkinson was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Climate Change upon establishment of the department on 3 December 2007. His appointment follows six years as Deputy Secretary in Treasury with responsibility for domestic and international macroeconomic issues and as Deputy Secretary of the Climate Change Group in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet with responsibility for leading and coordinating implementation of the emissions trading scheme and coordinating climate change policy.

Martin was Australia’s G-20, IMFC and Development Committee Deputy and Co-chair of the G-20 Deputies process in 2006. He has also worked at the International Monetary Fund on the reform of international financial architecture. In the early 1990s Martin served as Senior Adviser to Treasurer Dawkins and has also worked for treasurers Kerin and Willis.

Martin holds a PhD from Princeton University, a Master of Economics from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from the University of Adelaide.

Chair: Peter Reading

Grains Research and Development Corporation

Peter Reading has been the Managing Director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation in Canberra since February 2004.

He commenced post graduate studies in agronomy before leaving university to work for American Cyanamid in Australia, Asia and the United States; Incitec in Australia; British Oxygen Group in Australia and Asia; and the Grain Pool in Western Australia.

Peter has an honours degree in agricultural science from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Leigh Radford

ABC Rural

Leigh Radford is the current National Editor of ABC Rural and joined the ABC as Rural Reporter in Melbourne in February 1988. He has worked at ABC regional stations in Horsham, Sale and Port Pirie and was the Executive Producer of ABC Rural programs in South Australia from 1997 until 2005.

Up until January 2005, Leigh had been the voice of the Country Hour in South Australia since the early 1990s and has broadcast programs from right across the state and into the outback.

Leigh is a multi-award winning broadcaster, winning a number of Dalgety Awards for Excellence in Rural Journalism, including the national award in 1992, several Landcare awards, and was the inaugural winner of the Telstra Rural Journalist of the year award in 1996.

Leigh’s background is in environmental sciences and he has an Honours degree in Biogeography. Leigh is passionate about the people and issues of rural Australia and has a great love of the environment.

Patrick Hone

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Patrick Hone is Executive Director of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, and has an extensive knowledge of all sectors of the fishing industry. He has played a key role in the planning, management and funding of fisheries-related research and development in Australia for over a decade.

Patrick holds a PhD in the development of aquaculture feed for abalone and has been involved in the development of some of the most significant aquaculture industry developments, including southern bluefin tuna, pacific oyster, abalone and mussel aquaculture.

Helal Ahammad

ABARE

Dr Helal Ahammad leads ABARE’s research program for the Climate Change and Environment branch. Helal joined ABARE in 2001, prior to which he held research and teaching positions at the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia.

His past research has spread across the economics of climate change, international trade and resources economics, involving applications of computable general equilibrium models and integrated assessment models. Helal has published in international refereed journals including Economic Modelling, Agricultural Economics, Resources Policy and Energy Economics. Recently, he acted as a lead author of the International Agricultural Assessment (IAAKSTD) Global Report Agriculture at a Crossroads.

His current research focus includes climate change impacts analysis, climate change response policies and land-use change modelling in an economy-wide framework.

Helal earned masters and PhD degrees in Economics from the Australian National University.

Terry Sheales

ABARE

Dr Terry Sheales is ABARE’s Chief Economist with responsibility for management of the organisation’s economic research. He has wide knowledge of the agricultural and resources sectors.

Until recently, Terry was responsible (as Deputy Executive Director) for ABARE’s overall operations. Prior to that he led its commodity market analysis and forecasting activities, and has also worked on domestic and international marketing and trade policy issues affecting Australia’s commodity industries.

In 2005, he headed up the secretariat that produced the ministerial commissioned Corish Report on agriculture and food policy for the next generation.

Terry holds a PhD and masters degree from Cornell University in the United States, where he specialised in industry policy and marketing research. He also holds an honours degree in agricultural economics from the University of New England, Armidale.

Jammie Penm

ABARE

As ABARE’s Chief Commodity Analyst, Jammie Penm’s professional expertise and achievements revolve around commodity analysis and economic research that are important to the Australian primary industries.

Jammie’s previous position was as General Manager, Agricultural Trade and Data Resources Branch at ABARE, which consisted of three sections: International Economics Analysis, Biosecurity/Biotechnology and Data Management. Jammie also managed ABARE’s program of farm surveys, including both survey collection and survey data analysis.

Jammie has a PhD in econometrics from the Australian National University and a master’s degree in economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Before joining ABARE, Jammie worked at the Australian National University, the former Industries Assistance Commission and the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the United States.

Robert Curtotti

ABARE

Robert Curtotti has been the Manager of ABARE’s Fisheries Section since May 2008. He has experience in commodity analysis and application of quantitative tools to analyse economic issues.

Robert joined ABARE in 1990. He is an author in many ABARE publications that focus on natural resource management issues and issues surrounding international energy trade. In 2007 and early 2008, Robert managed ABARE’s Biosecurity/Biotechnology Section.

Robert holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master’s degree in the Economics of Development, both from the Australian National University.

Richard Eckard

University of Melbourne

Dr Richard Eckard is an Associate Professor with the Melbourne School of Land and Environment, the University of Melbourne and the Principal Scientist for Greenhouse and Climate Change research for the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, based at the Ellinbank Dairy Research Centre in Victoria.

Richard is the Science Leader of a number of research programs, including:

• The “Greenhouse in Agriculture” program: a team of 10 scientists researching cost-effective options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture
• The Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program: a team of more than 20 scientists researching aspects of climate change adaptation for the agricultural industries

Climate Change Adaptation in the Southern Australian Livestock Industries: a research program that includes five states, CSIRO, TIAR and the University of Melbourne

Mark Tester

University of Adelaide

Mark Tester is Professor of Plant Physiology in the School of Agriculture, Food & Wine at the University of Adelaide, and is a member of the Executive Management Group of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics Pty Ltd.

Mark is Director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, a $52 million organisation established to develop and deliver cutting-edge phenotyping facilities for plant science, including the Plant Accelerator, an innovative 4500 m2 plant growth and analysis facility. He also leads a large academic research group ($7 million in the past five years) to understand salinity and drought tolerance, and how to improve this in crops such as wheat. An invited review on breeding technologies to increase crop production was published in the 12 February issue of Science.

Felicity McDonald

The Merino Company

Felicity is PR and Communications Manager for The Merino Company (TMC), managing public relations, media relations, event planning and management, and grower communications. TMC provides innovative natural fibre, textile and apparel solutions to the world’s leading retailers and brands with the aim to provide stable and sustainable returns to all participants in the supply chain, in particular woolgrowers. 

Before joining TMC in 2008, Felicity spent five years working in PR and marketing for the wine and food industries.

Felicity has a Bachelor Degree in Public Relations (Marketing) from Deakin University and comes from a rural background.

George Kailis

MG Kailis Group

George Kailis is Professor of Management at The University of Notre Dame, in Fremantle. He holds qualifications in law and management and has had extensive industry, government and community experience. From 1992-1999 he was Managing Director of the M.G. Kailis Group, one of Australia’s largest fishing and aquaculture businesses, and continues as a Director.

Special interests are held in the environment, fisheries law, fisheries management and strategy. He has been a Director of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority as well as other industry, research and government bodies.

Kim Ritman

Bureau of Rural Sciences

Dr Kim Ritman is currently Acting Executive Director of the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS), within the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Kim has lead and managed the provision of science based policy advice for DAFF in areas covering fisheries, forestry, land uses, feral animals and weeds, climate, water availability, salinity, agricultural biotechnology, spatial information and social sciences.

Kim has commercial experience having spent five years in the IT sector developing large defence geospatial projects and improving the company’s quality management systems. He has also worked in Victorian and NSW state governments as well as a short stint lecturing in computer science at Otago University in New Zealand. He was involved in Regional Forest Agreements in the mid-1990s and prior to that, mapping vegetation and old growth forest across the MDB and East Gippsland.

Tom Shenstone

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Tom Shenstone is Director-General, Research and Analysis in the Strategic Policy Branch of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, in effect the Department’s chief economist, and the head of the Canadian delegation to the Committee on Agriculture of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He has twice received the Deputy Minister’s commendation award recognising exceptional contributions to AAFC.

Tom has extensive experience in identifying, negotiating and implementing policy and program initiatives for the federal government. He has managed or overseen policy development across a broad range of departments, and of issues – in agriculture and economic development, in labour market policy, in trade policy, in regulatory affairs, and in land claims settlement.

Tom has provided strategic advice on policy development and implementation and developed solutions to pressing problems in the Department of Finance, the Privy Council Office, Inter-Governmental Affairs and the Treasury Board Secretariat, as well as in major line departments including Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC), Human Resource Development Canada, and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Tom’s accomplishments include the development and negotiation with provincial governments of the $3 billion/year Canadian agricultural policy framework now in place (“Growing Forward”), the design and implementation in 2008/09 of a $300 million transition assistance program for the declining tobacco growing sector, a $100 million economic renewal agreement with the four Atlantic provinces in the 1990s, contributions to fisheries adjustment policies in the early 1990s, and the development of the Special Import Measures Act in 1983, the basic legislation governing trade action by Canada against dumping, subsidies and import surges.

Tom has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science degree in economics from the London School of Economics.

Armelle Gruère

International Cotton Advisory Committee

Armelle Gruère holds the position of statistician at the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), located in Washington, DC. She compiles and analyses international cotton statistics, projects cotton supply and demand by country and investigates factors affecting cotton prices. She is also responsible for ICAC periodical publications on world cotton supply and use.

Before joining the ICAC in 2005, Armelle worked for two years in a private consulting firm conducting research into commodity-related issues in Berkeley, California.

Armelle has a Master of Science in Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor degree in Agricultural Science and Management from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon in France.

Frank Prokop

Recfishwest

Frank Prokop is the Executive Director of Recfishwest, the peak industry body representing the estimated 645 000 recreational fishers in Western Australia, and is Chairman of Recfish Australia, the national peak body.

Frank has had a long career in recreational and wider fisheries management, starting in 1984 at the Narrandera Fish Hatchery. He was the first dedicated recreational fisheries manager in Australia, and has worked in NSW and Western Australia.

Frank was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 for his services to fishing.  He has also been on the Board of the Perth Wildcats basketball team, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the WA Sports Federation. Frank has written 14 books on recreational fishing and has been lucky to fish in many parts of the world. Frank has long challenged many of the commonly accepted management practices for fisheries in this country and is widely regarded as innovative and passionate about the future of recreational fishing.

Frank has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Macquarie University with majors in zoology and ecology and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Australia.

Ewan Colquhoun

Ridge Partners

Ewan Colquhoun is Director of Ridge Partners, Brisbane. In 2009, Ewan worked with Australian and overseas experts to assess and report on the use and performance of Australia’s wild fisheries across the triple bottom line. The sustainability of wildcatch fisheries has been in focus for some years. The use and performance of these public resources is of growing interest to national and regional communities. In the future, their demands for reporting will be far greater.

Ewan has been advising the resource and agrifood industries on investment efficiency and business productivity for 20 years. He holds qualifications in business (Bachelor of Business majoring in Accounting, Master of Business Administration) and geology.

Conall O’Connell

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Dr Conall O’Connell was appointed Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on
7 May 2007.

Prior to his appointment, Conall was Deputy Secretary of the then Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEWR). His responsibilities in that department included overseeing policies and programs relating to natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, the marine environment and protected areas.

From 1991 until he joined DEWR in 1997, Conall held various positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet where he handled Australian Federal–State relations, primary industries and environment policy.

Conall has a PhD and a Bachelor of Arts (first class honours) from the Queen’s University of Belfast.

Leigh Radford

ABC Rural

Leigh Radford is the current National Editor of ABC Rural and joined the ABC as Rural Reporter in Melbourne in February 1988. He has worked at ABC regional stations in Horsham, Sale and Port Pirie and was the Executive Producer of ABC Rural programs in South Australia from 1997 until 2005.

Up until January 2005, Leigh had been the voice of the Country Hour in South Australia since the early 1990s and has broadcast programs from right across the state and into the outback.

Leigh is a multi-award winning broadcaster, winning a number of Dalgety Awards for Excellence in Rural Journalism, including the national award in 1992, several Landcare awards, and was the inaugural winner of the Telstra Rural Journalist of the year award in 1996.

Leigh’s background is in environmental sciences and he has an Honours degree in Biogeography. Leigh is passionate about the people and issues of rural Australia and has a great love of the environment.

Mary Harwood

Department of the Environment, Water,
Heritage and the Arts

Mary Harwood is First Assistant Secretary, Water Efficiency Division, DEWHA. She is responsible for two of the major planks of the government’s Water for the Future initiative: purchasing water entitlements from irrigators for environmental use; and delivering major infrastructure projects through state governments and private irrigation infrastructure operators to improve rural water use efficiency, helping Australia’s irrigation communities remain viable in a future with less water. 

Previously, Mary worked in DEWHA on urban environmental issues, including waste management, product stewardship, air quality, fuel standards, oil recycling, ozone protection, chemical assessment and the environmental impacts of biotechnology.

In 2004–05, Mary provided strategic advice on matters relating to agriculture, fisheries and trade policy in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Between 2001 and 2004, she was Executive Manager of Biosecurity Australia in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).  In the 1990s, Mary’s focus in DAFF was on fisheries management, including the development of international legal regimes for the management of high seas fishing and international tuna fisheries. Earlier in her career, Mary worked in agricultural research and as a classical musician in Australian orchestras.

Peter Gooday

ABARE

Peter Gooday is responsible for leading ABARE’s research on productivity, water and fisheries. ABARE’s work in this area is focused on providing analysis and policy advice across the areas of water reform, fisheries management and agricultural productivity growth.

Peter has been involved in a broad range of research and analysis, including: productivity analysis, fisheries management, water market reform; economic issues associated with native forestry; meeting environmental objectives cost effectively; as well issues affecting international and domestic mineral industries and commodity analysis.

He has a degree in Economics with honours from the Australian National University.

Caroline Gunning-Trant

ABARE

Caroline Gunning-Trant is an experienced economic researcher and commodity analyst. Previously with the federal department of agriculture in Canada where she worked as an economist, Caroline commenced with ABARE after finishing her doctorate.

Before recently taking on the responsibilities of wine analysis, Caroline was the principal wool analyst for ABARE’s quarterly wool forecast. She has also investigated the Australian livestock trade, the dairy import quota regime and the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union.

Caroline has a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Science in Agricultural and Business Economics from the University of Guelph, Canada.

Dale Ashton

ABARE

Dale Ashton joined ABARE in 1993 and has worked on a wide range of economic research projects covering most agricultural industries in Australia. At present he is involved with researching industry and policy issues affecting irrigators in the Murray-Darling Basin using ABARE farm survey data. This work includes analysis of adjustment pressures facing irrigators within the Basin, on-farm investment in irrigation infrastructure and new technologies, water use and productivity, and water trading.

Dale holds a bachelor degree in social sciences from the University of Canberra and a graduate diploma in agricultural economics from the University of New England.

Don Yule

CTF Solutions

Don Yule formed CTF Solutions in 2002 and applied high resolution spatial tools (GPS, imagery, sensors and topography) to identify and reduce paddock variability, and provide automated, digital records, on-farm R&D capability, and innovative practices to increase productivity. CTF Solutions aims to increase adoption of controlled traffic farming systems incorporating these spatial technologies and is a member of the CRC for Spatial Information.

Don has been an Executive Member of the Australian Controlled Traffic Farming Association since its founding in 2006.

Don worked for the Queensland Government for 34 years researching soil water relations, on-farm applications and catchment scale impacts, including four years in the United States and two years at ICRISAT in India. He led the project that developed on-farm controlled traffic systems with grower cooperators. These participatory research methods established farming systems incorporating controlled traffic, zero tillage and paddock layouts to control run-off, erosion and waterlogging. These systems provided guidance, accuracy, efficiencies, higher yields and supported improved practices—‘everything worked better with controlled traffic’.

Don holds degrees from the University of Queensland (agricultural science) and the University of Wisconsin (soil physics and maths).

Michael Dalbosco

North East Valleys Wine Group

Michael Dalbosco is viticulturalist/winemaker of Dalbosco Wines. Dalbosco Brothers have operated a mixed farming business in Porepunkah in north-east Victoria since 1930. It supports five families plus additional employees and includes a beef cattle business with approx 300 cow self replacing herd, hay and earthmoving contracting and 20 hectares of wine grapes. Michael’s role within the family business is to manage all facets of vineyard operations and to develop their newly emerging wine label.

Several years ago Dalbosco Wines was included with almost 50 other winegrowers in establishing North East Valleys, a company set up by growers to assist in the sales and marketing of fruit from the region. It is a grower driven company which aims to taylor service to meet the specific needs of quality driven small and medium sized wineries.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Wine Science.

Jason Size

Producer, South Australia

Jason Size and his father-in-law Tony have managed a 25 hectare stone fruit property in the Riverland of South Australia since 1994. The property produces 30 varieties of stone fruit, including peaches, nectarines, apricots, apriums, plums and pluots. The product is packed as part of a cooperative arrangement through the ‘Zest’ brand and is exported to over five countries, including in Europe and South East Asia.

Since 2005, irrigators in the Riverland of South Australia have faced extreme challenges in managing and maintaining their properties as a result of the most extreme drought in recorded history. Jason and Tony employ a number of management techniques to protect the viability of their business in these difficult times by making the most of available resources. Their techniques, which have enabled them to compete in a global market, include:

• detailed record keeping
• detailed water management, utilising the Irrigation Reporting and Evaluation Software (IRES) developed by Primary Industries and Resources South Australia
• uptake of on-farm technologies such as continuous soil moisture management and automatic control systems.
• market research.
• utilising the water market, critical water allocations and carry-over water.

Sally Marsh

University of Western Australia

Sally Marsh is Assistant Professor with the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Western Australia. Her main research interests are in socio-economic aspects of technology adoption; agricultural extension theory, practice and policy; and NRM policy analysis. Results from her research in these areas have been published in various journals, and as reports and book chapters.

Sally has 20 years research experience in Australia, Vietnam and the Philippines, and was a full-time farmer in Badgingarra WA for 16 years. In 2009, Sally was part of a team that won the Australian Research Council’s Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research by an Interdisciplinary Team.

James Wilson

Constellation Wines Australia

James Wilson is an Export Market Manager for Constellation Wines Australia, responsible for wine sales in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America.

James previously spent six years living in the UK. He worked for three years as Wine Development Manager with Constellation Europe and, prior to that, three years as UK Market Manager with the Petaluma Wine Group.

James has a degree in Management (Marketing) from the University of South Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Wine Business from the University of Adelaide.

Chris Bennett

Irrigation Australia

Chris Bennett is the CEO of Irrigation Australia. He has nearly 30 years experience in numerous facets of the irrigation industry, including nursery, tree crops, research and system design and management. Most recently, Chris managed the research program within the almond industry. One of the program’s most successful outcomes was the development of new management techniques which incorporated irrigation, nutrition, plant physiology and soil science into a holistic approach aimed at management optimisation. The result was a doubling of productivity above and beyond world’s best practice.

Chris holds qualifications in Applied Science (Agriculture) and Business (majoring in Management and Marketing).

The Hon. Anthony Byrne MP

Parliamentary Secretary for Trade;
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister

Anthony Byrne was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister upon the election of the Rudd Labor Government in December 2007. On 25 February 2009, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Trade in addition to his existing duties.

Appointed as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs in December 2006, Anthony is also Deputy Chair of the Joint Statutory Committee on Intelligence and Security. He was elected as the Federal Member for Holt in a by-election in 1999, and re-elected in 2001 and 2004.

Anthony is a member of the ALP Caucus Committee on Security and Defence. He has also served on several parliamentary committees, including the Joint Parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee.

Prior to entering Parliament, Anthony was Chief Executive Officer of a mental health foundation and an adviser to Senator Jacinta Collins.

Anthony was born in Adelaide and spent his early childhood in the Goldfields of Kalgoorlie, where he was educated at local schools and through the School of the Air. He later returned to Adelaide and attended Christian Brothers College.

Peter O’Brien

Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

Dr Peter O’Brien is Managing Director of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. He is a scientist with extensive experience as a chief executive and in providing scientific advice for policy. His career includes Executive Director of the Bureau of Rural Sciences and membership of the Executive Leadership Team of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

He is currently a director of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, a member of the Expert Advisory Board of the Agriculture Institute of the University of Western Australia, and the advisory board of the Institute of Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. He is a former Director of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and the Greenhouse Cooperative Research Centre.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Science degree (first class honours), a PhD and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

James Horne

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

James Horne is the Deputy Secretary responsible for the Water Group in the Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. He chairs the Basin Officials Committee, the officials' body oversighting intergovernmental water matters in the Murray-Darling Basin, and the inter-jurisdictional Water Reform Committee.

In September 2006, he was appointed Head of the newly established Office of Water Resources in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, moving to the Department when it was given whole of government responsibility for water.

Between May 2005 and May 2006 James was the Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. He was also Commissioner for Highways in South Australia during this period.

Between August 2000 and May 2005 he was First Assistant Secretary, Industry, Infrastructure and Environment Division, in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, with responsibility for advising the Prime Minister on a wide range of microeconomic policy issues. He played a central role in developing the 2004 National Water Initiative.

James worked in the Australian Treasury for 15 years between 1985 and 2000 where he held a number of senior executive positions, including General Manager, Macroeconomic Policy Division and Assistant Secretary, Budget Policy Branch. He also served as Minister (Economic) in the Australian Embassy, Tokyo (1994 -1996).

James holds a Phd from the Australian National University and is the author of ‘Japan's Financial Markets: Conflict and Consensus in Policymaking’. He has a continuing interest in the Japanese economy and economic policymaking. In 2002 he completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Leigh Radford

ABC Rural

Leigh Radford is the current National Editor of ABC Rural and joined the ABC as Rural Reporter in Melbourne in February 1988. He has worked at ABC regional stations in Horsham, Sale and Port Pirie and was the Executive Producer of ABC Rural programs in South Australia from 1997 until 2005.

Up until January 2005, Leigh had been the voice of the Country Hour in South Australia since the early 1990s and has broadcast programs from right across the state and into the outback.

Leigh is a multi-award winning broadcaster, winning a number of Dalgety Awards for Excellence in Rural Journalism, including the national award in 1992, several Landcare awards, and was the inaugural winner of the Telstra Rural Journalist of the year award in 1996.

Leigh’s background is in environmental sciences and he has an Honours degree in Biogeography. Leigh is passionate about the people and issues of rural Australia and has a great love of the environment.

Enzo Allara

Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations

Enzo Allara is currently the Chairman of Australian Pork Limited and Chair of the Chair’s Group of the Rural Research and Development Corporations (RRDC’s). He is also Chairman of Foodbank Australia and a Director of Swickers and Foodbank Victoria.

Enzo has been involved in the food and grocery industry both in Australia and internationally for more than 40 years with most of that time being with the Unilever Group of companies. His previous roles have included Chairman CPC/AJI Asia in Hong Kong and Chairman of Unilever Australasia. He has served on numerous industry and government bodies including the Prime Minister’s Supermarket to Asia Council, as well as Chairman of the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

Enzo is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Crawford Falconer

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade NZ

Crawford Falconer is Deputy Secretary for Trade and Economic Affairs (Programme 2). He was New Zealand Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva and served as Chair of the WTO Agriculture negotiations from 2005 to 2009.

His career has also included positions as MFAT Senior Official with responsibility for managing New Zealand's multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations (Free Trade Agreements and Closer Economic Partnerships) and WTO Negotiations, as Deputy Director of bilateral relations with the Americas Division, and as Director of the Trade Negotiations Division. He has also worked at the Ministries of Justice and Trade and Industry.

Crawford has previously worked for the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, first as Trade Directorate Division Head and latterly as its Deputy Director. He has been a visiting fellow at the New Zealand Institute of Policy Studies and has taught at Wellington's Victoria University. He has served as a board member for the New Zealand Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, and as a Chair of the former GATT Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, as well as Chair of the OECD Trade Committee.

Tim Goesch

ABARE

Tim Goesch is the Manager of ABARE's Water Section. Tim has worked extensively on agricultural and natural resource issues, including identifying the trade-offs between conservation and land and water use for agriculture. In 2003, Tim was a member of the Commonwealth's Water Reform Taskforce.

Prior to working at ABARE, Tim worked at the Commonwealth Treasury and the Industry Commission (now Productivity Commission).

Tim has an honours degree in economics from the University of New England.

Paul Morris

ABARE

Paul Morris is currently Deputy Executive Director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), in the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), a position he has held since February 2010. In this position he is responsible for the oversight of ABARE’s research and commodity forecasts into the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and resources sectors.

Paul has been a professional public servant in the agricultural, fisheries, forestry and natural resources areas for the past 25 years. During this time he has served in research, policy and senior management positions. Paul previously served as Executive Manager in the trade division of DAFF. He has also held positions as Executive Manager, Innovation and Operating Environment in the Department, various senior positions in ABARE, as well as positions on the secretariats of the Royal Commission into Grain Storage, Handling and Transport; the Vines review into the wool industry; and the Garnaut review into the wool industry. Paul served as Minister-Counsellor (Agriculture and Resources) at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC between 1996 and 1999.

Paul has economics qualifications from the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University.

Kate Grenot

Rural R&D Council

Dr Kate Grenot is Chair of the Australian Government’s Rural Research & Development Council, established in 2009 by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. She is a former director of the Industry Research & Development Board (Biological Committee), the Grape and Wine Research & Development Corporation (Chair, Audit Committee), the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust (Chair, Finance Audit & Risk Management Committee) and Wirra Wirra Vineyards. Kate is a former Associate Director of Coopers & Lybrand (Government Services) and has a research background in plant physiology (Sydney, Harvard).  

Kate has a PhD in science, a Masters degree in science and technology policy, and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Robert Thompson

University of Illinois

Professor Robert L. Thompson holds the Gardner Endowed Chair in Agricultural Policy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches courses in agricultural policy and international agricultural development. He serves on the USDA-USTR Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. He is also active in the current effort to get agriculture back onto the international development agenda.

Robert previously served as Director of Rural Development and Senior Advisor for Agricultural Trade Policy at the World Bank (1998-2002); President and CEO of the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development (1993-98); as Dean of Agriculture (1987-93) and Professor of Agricultural Economics (1974-93) at Purdue University; as Assistant Secretary for Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1985-87) and as Senior Staff Economist for Food and Agriculture at the President's Council of Economic Advisers (1983-85).

Robert was raised on a small family dairy farm in northern New York State. He has extensive international experience and has lectured, consulted, or conducted research in more than 90 countries worldwide, including extended periods in Denmark, Laos and Brazil. He is frequently interviewed by the media on international food and agricultural issues. He has served on several corporate boards and is a former president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.

Robert Thompson received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and his Masters in Science and PhD degrees from Purdue University, and holds honorary doctorates from the Pennsylvania State University and Dalhousie University (Canada). He is a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and of the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Michael Taylor

Murray-Darling Basin Authority

Mr Michael Taylor AO has been the Chair of the Murray–Darling Basin Authority since May 2009.

He was previously the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Services and Local Government (2004–2009), the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (2000–2004) and prior to that the Secretary for various Victorian Government Departments: the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (1996–2000), the Department of Agriculture, Energy and Minerals (1995–1996) and the Department of Agriculture (1992–1995).

Mike has a long association with rural and regional issues. He has been extensively involved in preparing and negotiating international, Commonwealth and State agreements and legislation, and in advising governments and Commonwealth/State Ministerial Councils on a wide range of agricultural, food, forestry, fisheries, energy, minerals, regional, water, environmental and sustainable natural resource management, policy, regulatory and operational issues. In recent years, Mike has played a national leadership role in improving quarantine policy arrangements to increase Australia’s protection from pests and diseases, the development of the National Food Industry Strategy, the establishment and implementation of the National Action Plan for Dryland Salinity and Water Quality, and the National Water Initiative.

Earlier in his career, Mike held the position of Chief Executive with the Australian Dairy Industry Council (1990–1992), and various positions within the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, including General Manager (Rural Policy and Marketing) and Director of Marketing.

Mike has been a member of the Australian Public Service Management Advisory Committee (APS-MAC) and chaired the APS-MAC Senior Executive Service Performance Management Sub-Committee. He is President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (ACT), a Fellow of both the Institute of Public Administration of Australia (Vic) and the Australian Institute of Management, and a member of the CEO Circle.

Mike completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne in 1970 and a Diploma in Agricultural Economics at the University of New England in 1972.

Jackie McArthur

McDonald's Australia

Jackie McArthur is Senior Vice President/Director of Supply Chain for McDonald’s Australia and New Zealand. Jackie moved to McDonald’s about seven years ago and at first ran the equipment department, then the futures team, before finding a job in Supply Chain. She was promoted to Director of Supply Chain two years ago.

Jackie started her career as an Aeronautical Engineer at Hawker de Havilland, where she worked on Boeing and Airbus projects. After leaving Hawker de Havilland, she began work at FJ Walker Foods (now McKey) in the area of distribution. She has since worked for the Mars Group (Uncle Ben’s in Albury) and Sun Microsystems, before moving on to the Havi Group, who manage all of McDonald's packaging and global logistics.

Kurt Lambeck

Academy of Science

Kurt Lambeck is President of the Australian Academy of Science, an independent body of the nation’s leading research scientists, and chairs the council that manages the academy’s affairs. His four year term as president will conclude in early May this year.

Kurt is a strong advocate for the inclusion of science in policymaking and he plays an important role in advising the government on science and technology issues that are important to Australia, such as climate change, and calling for changes in science education in Australian schools. As a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, he is able to help bring science and technology issues directly to the attention of the Prime Minister and government ministers and to respond to issues raised by them.

Kurt is an award-winning earth scientist and is currently Distinguished Professor of Geophysics at the Australian National University. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1994 and is also a member of several other national academies, most recently the US National Academy of Sciences. His strong international scientific links help ensure that Australia is alert to emerging technologies and new opportunities.

In 2009, Kurt was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the nation.

Andrew Stoler

Institute for International Trade

Andrew Stoler is the Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade and holds the title of adjunct Professor of International Trade at the University of Adelaide. In late 2009 he was appointed as Associate Commissioner of the Australian Productivity Commission in connection with the Commission’s review of bilateral and regional trade agreements. Andrew is a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia and sits on the Advisory Board of the European Centre for International Political Economy, the Advisory Board of Stanford University’s GATT Digital Library, and is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Centre and a Senior Advisor to the Shenzhen WTO Affairs Centre. He is also a founding member of the International Academic Advisory Committee of the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. In 2008, Andrew was a member of the Australian Trade Minister’s FTA Reference Group and from 2005 to 2007 he served on the Australian Foreign Minister’s Aid Advisory Council.

Andrew served as Deputy Director-General of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (1999-2002), with specific substantive responsibilities for legal affairs and dispute settlement, trade in services and market access issues for non-agricultural products. Prior to the WTO, he was the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the GATT and WTO (1989-1999). Previously, as a senior official of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President (Washington, DC) he also served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Mediterranean and as Director for Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Andrew Stoler holds an MBA in International Business from George Washington University and a BSFS in International Economic Affairs from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Colin Mues

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

Colin Mues is the Assistant Secretary of the Water Recovery Branch in the Water Efficiency Division of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. The Water Recovery Branch was created in November 2008 to implement the Australian Governments’ environmental water purchase program, which is part of the Water for the Future plan. The Branch forms part of the Water Efficiency Division, which also has the responsibility for implementing the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure program which aims to improve the efficiency of the delivery and use of water for irrigation.

Prior to joining the department in June 2007, Colin worked with ABARE managing the farm survey program. He was also extensively involved in ABARE’s natural resource management research program, including projects investigating water resource management and market based instruments.

He also has a background in irrigated farming growing up in the south-western Riverina.

Aaron Iori

Meat and Livestock Australia

Aaron Iori is the Regional Manager of South East Asia & Greater China at Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). In his current role, he travels extensively throughout the region implementing programs and overseeing these rapidly expanding markets and locally based MLA offices.

Aaron started work with the former NSW Meat Industry Authority and moved into the Livestock Reporting Service unit. He assisted in establishing a standardised National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) and managed this operation from 2004. Aaron most recently was responsible for the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) at MLA.

Aaron holds a degree in Agribusiness from the University of Sydney and has worked on mixed farming enterprises in the southern tablelands and central West NSW.

Beth Woods

Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation Qld

Prof Beth Woods is currently Group Executive, Strategy & Evaluation, in the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation. She has been on the Board of the International Rice Research Institute since 2005 and was elected Chair from January 2008. She is also currently President of the ACIAR Policy Advisory Council, and a member of the Australian Rural Research and Development Council.

Beth was Chair of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and ACIAR, and chaired the National Drought Review in 2004. She has served on committees of the Grains R&D Corporation, the Policy Advisory Council of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the CSIRO Board, the Gatton College Council, the Rural Adjustment Scheme Advisory Council and the Queensland Planning Group for FarmBis.

She worked with DPI as an agricultural extension officer in south-eastern Queensland and North Queensland in the dairy, broadacre cropping and potato industries, as Manager Farming Systems, and as Acting General Manager Horticulture. She was the inaugural director of the Rural Extension Centre (UQ) and became the Suncorp Metway Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Queensland Gatton Campus in late 1997. In May 2004 she took up a secondment as Executive Director R&D Strategy in the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

Beth worked in North Queensland before completing her Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Economics as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. Her academic interests include the concept of supply chain management as a tool to improve innovation and competitiveness of agribusiness, and the rapid change occurring in supply chains of developing countries with which Australia has major trade interests.

Mark Skewes

South Australian Research and Development Institute

Mark Skewes is currently a research scientist for the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). One of his key roles is conducting a drought response project, Enhancing the Resilience of Permanent Horticulture. Mark joined the then South Australian Department of Agriculture in 1986 and worked with the Irrigated Crop Management Service (ICMS) at Loxton from 1993 until August 2007.

Mark has many years’ experience in all aspects of irrigated crop management, in particular in the areas of irrigation system design, irrigation scheduling and soil water monitoring, as well as performance assessment through benchmarking.

Mark provides a resource to the South Australian Government in the area of crop water requirements, providing expert advice on irrigation requirements of a wide range of irrigated crops, as part of the statewide conversion of irrigation licences across all prescribed water resources in the state to volumetric allocations.

Mark has nine years’ experience in irrigation related training. He has presented the irrigation scheduling module for a number of irrigation training courses, including the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation’s ‘Research to Practice’, and Rural Solutions SA’s ‘RiverCare’, ‘Mallee Irrigators’ and ‘Northern Adelaide Plains Irrigators’ workshop series. He has also developed and presented a stand-alone workshop on interpretation of soil water data for irrigation scheduling purposes.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Graduate Diploma in Natural Resources. He is a Certified Irrigation Designer (Sprinkler) under the Irrigation Association of Australia’s CID program, and holds a Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training.

Bruce Kefford

Department of Primary Industries VIC

Dr Bruce Kefford is Deputy Secretary, Agriculture Research & Development, of the Victorian Department of Primary Industries. In this role, Bruce is responsible for strategic direction aimed at enhancing the performance of the agriculture and food sector in Victoria, in terms of productivity, competitiveness and sustainable use of natural resources. Bruce oversees the Office of Science, Technology and Commercialisation, Future Farming Systems and Biosciences Research divisions of the Department of Primary Industries (Victoria). 

Bruce’s previous experience has been in research and development, regulation, technology transfer and science management in agriculture, particularly the dairy industry. He has a passionate interest in management of science and science based organisations, program evaluation and the processes of improved community engagement.

At a national level, Bruce leads the National Primary Industries Research, Development & Extension Committee, reporting to the Standing Committee and Ministerial Council

Bruce is director of the Agriculture Victorian Services Pty Ltd (DPI’s commercial arm) and the Dairy Futures CRC. He lives on a small farm near Warragul.

Bruce holds a Bachelor of Science (honours) from LaTrobe University, a PhD in Microbiology from the University of New South Wales and a Graduate Management Qualification from the Australian Graduate School of Management. Bruce is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.

Alan Winney

Queensland Sugar

Alan Winney is Chairman of Queensland Sugar Limited, which exports 3 million tonnes of Australian sugar and manages Australia’s export sugar terminals. He is a Director of the Australian Sugar Alliance, Chairman and founder of Australian grain company Emerald Group and Chairman of Seashift Properties.

Alan has more than 30 years experience in agribusiness. In his 20-year executive career, he held CEO, senior management and trading roles with Elders, Louis Dreyfus and Al Ghurair Group, and was Head of Trading at the Australian Wheat Board.

Alan’s previous non-executive roles have included Deputy Chairman of Pulse Australia, Director of NETCO Co-operative and Director of fertiliser and agricultural chemical group United Farmers Co-operative.

Brian Keating

CSIRO

Brian Keating is the Director of CSIRO’s Sustainable Agriculture Flagship, which is addressing the critical challenges ahead for Australian agriculture and forestry in a carbon constrained world.  Research is focused on reducing the carbon footprint of Australia’s land use while achieving the productivity gains needed for prosperous agricultural and forest industries and global food security. The $65 million flagship research portfolio draws on the skills of multidisciplinary science teams and develops partnerships with a diverse range of research, industry and government institutions across Australia and internationally.

Brian’s personal research career, spanning 30 years, has focused on farming systems analysis, design and management. His research has addressed water, nutrient and climate risk management in a diverse range of farming systems in Australia and semi-arid Africa.

Brian is a graduate of the University of Queensland, with a background in agricultural science and a PhD in crop eco-physiology.

Leigh Radford

ABC Rural

Leigh Radford is the current National Editor of ABC Rural and joined the ABC as Rural Reporter in Melbourne in February 1988. He has worked at ABC regional stations in Horsham, Sale and Port Pirie and was the Executive Producer of ABC Rural programs in South Australia from 1997 until 2005.

Up until January 2005, Leigh had been the voice of the Country Hour in South Australia since the early 1990s and has broadcast programs from right across the state and into the outback.

Leigh is a multi-award winning broadcaster, winning a number of Dalgety Awards for Excellence in Rural Journalism, including the national award in 1992, several Landcare awards, and was the inaugural winner of the Telstra Rural Journalist of the year award in 1996.

Leigh’s background is in environmental sciences and he has an Honours degree in Biogeography. Leigh is passionate about the people and issues of rural Australia and has a great love of the environment.

Max Foster

ABARE

Max Foster is a research economist in the Agriculture Branch of ABARE, with 30 years experience in economic analysis of mainstream and emerging agricultural industries in Australia. He is currently ABARE’s analyst for the cotton, sugar and horticulture industries.

Apart from commodity analysis, Max’s research output in recent years has included a number of publications on the diverse issues relating to genetically modified (GM) crops; trade and industry development topics; and a compendium on emerging animal and plant industries in Australia (now in its second edition). Max was also the principal developer of ABARE’s annual Australian food statistics publication, which was first published in 2000.

Max brings to the conference a particular interest in price risk management, a topic that is assuming increasing importance in the deregulated marketing environment for agricultural commodities in Australia.

Brian Fisher

BAEconomics

Brian Fisher is the Managing Director of BAEconomics and is one of Australia's most respected advisers on climate change, emissions trading and the economic impact of current and future climate and energy policies. He is a well known commentator on Australian agricultural, minerals and energy commodities.

Brian previously held the position of Executive Director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) and held a senior position in the Federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy. Prior to heading up ABARE, Brian was Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney and became Dean of the university’s Faculty of Agriculture in 1987. He was appointed Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Resources Development in 2003. Brian was appointed one of the experts completing the socioeconomic assessment of climate change for the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Second Assessment Report. He was economic adviser to Australia’s negotiating team at the third Conference of the Parties in Kyoto, and at the fourth, fifth and sixth Conferences of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Brian has been the government board member on a number of statutory corporations. He has published more than 260 papers and monographs. In 2003 and 2004, he was an Associate Commissioner of the Productivity Commission and in 2005 the Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Exports and Infrastructure Taskforce. He received the Farrer Memorial Medal in August 1994, became a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in November 1995, was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2002 and received an Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2007.

Brian holds a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Sydney.

John Hogan

ABARE

John Hogan is currently responsible for leading the Agricultural Commodity Analysis team in ABARE.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in conducting and managing commodity analysis, forecasting and economic research in ABARE and the former Bureau of Agricultural Economics. This has covered a range of agricultural industries such as dairy, beef, sheep meat, pigs, poultry and crops. John has considerable involvement in a range of ABARE's regular publications such as Australian commodities, Australian crop report and Australian food statistics, which cover the main statistics for these industries and provide commodity outlooks and overviews on the contribution of the agricultural sector to the Australian economy.

John was responsible for managing ABARE’s minerals and energy commodity analysis work from 1990 to 2002, covering all of the major commodities such as aluminium, base metals, gold, coal, oil and gas, iron and steel, nickel and titanium minerals.

John has a degree in Agricultural Economics with honours from the University of New England.

Eduardo Leão de Sousa

Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA)

Eduardo Leão de Sousa has been the Executive-Director of UNICA (Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association) since September 2007. From 2003 to 2007, he was a Senior Economist for agriculture and rural development at the World Bank. Prior to that, he worked for the Brazilian government as the Head of Agricultural and Agroindustrial policies at the Ministry of Economics.

Eduardo is a member of the Commodity Advisory Group at the New York Stock Exchange’s Euronext, the World Sugar Committee at ICE Futures U.S., the Executive Committee of the World Sugar Research Organization, the High Council on Agribusiness at the São Paulo State Federation of Industries and the Executive Committee at the São Paulo chapter of the World Trade Center.

Former head of the Economic Department at the São Paulo State Federation of Agriculture (FAESP), Eduardo was also a Senior Researcher at the University of São Paulo’s Institute for Economic Research (FIPE). He holds a BA in Agronomic Engineering and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of São Paulo.

Nick Austin

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

Dr Nick Austin is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in Canberra. ACIAR, part of Australia's Aid Program, aims to achieve more productive and sustainable agricultural systems for the benefit of developing countries and Australia, through international agricultural research partnerships.

Nick previously held senior executive positions in science and research, agriculture and biosecurity in the NSW Department of Primary Industries, and has held senior positions in the Victorian public sector.

Nick is a hydrologist by training and has a broad background in agricultural and natural resource research and policy. Educated at the University of Melbourne and University of Sydney, Nick holds a Doctor of Philosophy, a Master of Sustainable Management and a Bachelor of Engineering (Agriculture) degree with Honours. He is a Certified Irrigation Designer and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Rural Leadership Foundation.

Max Roberts

Dairy Australia

Max Roberts was appointed as a director of Dairy Australia in July 2003 before his current role as Chairman in 2006. Dairy Australia’s head office is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and is the dairy industry’s national service company, owned by the industry and whose members are farmers and industry bodies.

Max has been dairy farming in the Bega Valley, NSW, since 1982 and is a Director and Deputy Chair of Bega Cheese. Max has also held several other board positions, including the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme, NSW Farmers, and the Australian Dairy Farmers Ltd.

Ian Glasson

CSR

Ian Glasson joined CSR as CEO of the Sugar Division in April 2006.

Ian was previously Managing Director of Gresham Rabo Management Limited, a company formed as a joint venture in private equity by Rabobank and Gresham Partners, which specialised in Food and Agribusiness investments. Ian also spent nine years with Goodman Fielder where he was most recently Managing Director of Goodman Fielders’ global Food Ingredients business, headquartered in Philadelphia, USA. In Ian’s career with Goodman Fielder he also served as General Manager of Leiner Davis Gelatin and was Group Manager Corporate Development responsible for the food group’s M&A activity.

Ian also has 18 years broad industry experience including a long career in the oil and gas industry with Esso Australia Ltd and its parent Exxon in the USA and has spent time in the building and construction sector with Kone Elevators.

Ian holds a degree in Materials Engineering (first class honours) from Monash University which he completed in 1975.

Kym Anderson

University of Adelaide

Kym Anderson is George Gollin Professor of Economics at the University of Adelaide. From 2004 to 2007 he was on extended leave at the World Bank’s Development Research Group as Lead Economist (Trade Policy). He also spent 1990-92 at the Research Division of the GATT (now WTO) Secretariat in Geneva.

He has published around 300 articles and 40 books, including The Political Economy of Agricultural Protection(with Yujiro Hayami and others), Disarray in World Food Markets (with Rod Tyers), and Agricultural Trade Reform and the Doha Development Agenda (with Will Martin). During 2006 to 2009, Kym directed a large empirical research project for the World Bank on Distortions to Agricultural Incentives, from which four regional books and a global overview book have been published and two more will appear in 2010. He is also directing a research project on prospects for the world’s wine markets to 2030.

Jane Bennett

Ashgrove Cheese

Jane Bennett is the Managing Director of Ashgrove Cheese Pty Ltd, a family owned and operated business located in Elizabeth Town in central Northern Tasmania. The Ashgrove brand is recognised as a leader in Australian specialty cheese focused on the production of award winning hard and semi hard cheeses. The business expanded in 2008 into a range of fresh milk products to enhance the tourism and retail experience of the Ashgrove site.

In addition to her work in the family business, Jane is involved with a number of state and Australian Government bodies. Jane is a member of the Brand Tasmania Council and immediate past Chair of the Tasmanian Food Industry Council. She has been a member of the National Food Industry Council and a member of the Trade Advisory Council to the previous Australian Government.

In 1997 Jane was named the ABC Radio Australian Rural Woman of the Year. In 1998 she was awarded the Regional Development category of the Young Australian of the Year Awards.

In 2008 Jane undertook a Nuffield Farming Scholarship looking at the role of regionality in the marketing and branding of food. The scholarship involved global travel with particular focus on looking at regional branding initiatives across North America and Europe.

David Brownhill

Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars

David Brownhill is currently Chairman of the Nuffield Board and Selection Panel. He also jointly manages Merrilong Pastoral Company, comprising five properties covering 4735 hectares, which focus on dryland and irrigated grain production. His key interests are no-till farming, controlled traffic farming systems and high value crops.

David is also a founding director of a grower group of 24 farms, AMPS Commercial Pty Ltd, which is committed to information dissemination, structured farming and returning profits to research. He is a director of Crop Optics Australia, which imports innovative farming equipment from the US, most notably the Weedseeker, which is radically changing no-till spraying practices in Australia. He also plays a role in the broader agricultural community through his involvement with AMPS Research.

An interest in no-till systems was cultivated in 1992during David’s time at Inverell in northern NSW and, in 1995, he co-developed the Ground Hound Zero till planter, which enabled crops to be planted in heavy residues from previous crops. This innovation led to David receiving his Nuffield Scholarship in 1998 to study spraying technology and business management.

David completed a Bachelor of Applied Science - Agriculture degree at Hawkesbury Agricultural College and graduated with awards in leadership and sportsmanship.

Paul Morris

ABARE

Paul Morris is currently Deputy Executive Director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), in the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), a position he has held since February 2010. In this position he is responsible for the oversight of ABARE’s research and commodity forecasts into the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and resources sectors.

Paul has been a professional public servant in the agricultural, fisheries, forestry and natural resources areas for the past 25 years. During this time he has served in research, policy and senior management positions. Paul previously served as Executive Manager in the trade division of DAFF. He has also held positions as Executive Manager, Innovation and Operating Environment in the Department, various senior positions in ABARE, as well as positions on the secretariats of the Royal Commission into Grain Storage, Handling and Transport; the Vines review into the wool industry; and the Garnaut review into the wool industry. Paul served as Minister-Counsellor (Agriculture and Resources) at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC between 1996 and 1999.

Paul has economics qualifications from the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University.

Sara Cowan

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Sara Cowan is the General Manager of the Multilateral Trade Branch in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The branch contributes to Australian Government policies affecting agricultural trade and international relations, including through participation in the WTO, FAO, OECD and APEC.

Sara joined the Australian Public Service in 1987, and her career has included positions in several government departments, including the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, the Department of Education, Science and Training and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Much of Sara’s career has been as a senior manager focused on international issues, particularly in the education, science and trade fields, but she has also worked on domestic and international fisheries policy and refugee policy.

Sara has represented the Australian Government in numerous international forums, including the International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the OECD Education Committee, the OECD Committee on Science and Technology Policy, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group and the APEC Industrial Science and Technology Working Group, as well as a large number of bilateral forums with partner countries.

Sara holds a Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology/Aboriginal Studies) from the Australian National University.

Lester Marshall

Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars

Lester Marshall is a South Australian oyster producer and travelled as a Nuffield Scholar in 2008, which helped him to develop a regional branding model for the Eyre Peninsula seafood industry. This added to his own initiative in establishing a premium brand for the Coffin Bay oysters he produces. The regional model has been developed so that other communities can use it in creating their own regional food branding.

Lester’s scholarship has also led him to propose the development of a new lexicon for Australian seafood to differentiate the taste, texture and aroma of different types of seafood, and regional influences, promoting Australian seafood as a premier product and adding value to the industry as whole. Lester also continues to serve as a member of the Eyre Regional Development Board.

The Hon. Gary Gray AO MP

Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia

Gary Gray is the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia and Federal Member for Brand. Gary lived and worked in the Northern Territory in the 1980s, was the National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party throughout the 1990s and worked in the resources sector for the biggest independent oil and gas company before being elected to Parliament in 2007.

Gary holds a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University.

Hsin Huang

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Hsin Huang is an economist in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate of the OECD, a Paris-based think tank. As the current desk officer for Australia, he is responsible for the annual Producer Support Estimates. Hsin’s research interests also include the economic implications of climate change and agriculture.

Prior to his current position, Hsin was in charge of the national agricultural forecasting model at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and the global agricultural model at the OECD in France. He is a former research fellow in the GTAP Consortium, the university-based organisation spearheading analysis of trade liberalisation using general equilibrium models.

Richard Heath

Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars

Richard is a partner in the family farming business at Pine Cliff, 40 kilometres south of Gunnedah on the Liverpool Plains of North West NSW. Pine Cliff is primarily a grain cropping enterprise as well as trading in beef cattle and value adding through an on-farm feedlot.

Richard is manager for cropping and has implemented a full controlled traffic, no till, precision agriculture program. One aspect of precision agriculture in use at Pine Cliff is optical sensing for fertiliser application. The use of this technology resulted from information gained during a Nuffield Scholarship undertaken in 2003 and has driven significant productivity gains.

Joe Ross

Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce

Joe Ross is the chairman of the Northern Land and Water Taskforce and has extensive policy experiences in the arena of remote community development. Joe is Chairman of the Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG) within the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA) and a member of the Bunuba people in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. He is also currently involved in the establishment of the RIRDC, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inaugural five year Rural Development R&D plan. The goal of this is to undertake research to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander success in Australian rural industries.

As Chairman of Northern Australia’s Indigenous Water Policy Group, Joe has been facilitating the group’s direction and objectives. The primary aims of the IWPG are to inform the Indigenous peoples of northern Australia about water reform under the National Water Initiative and to engage in research relating to Indigenous interests, rights, responsibilities and interest in water resources in the north of Australia.

Peter Notman

Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars

Peter Notman runs one of the larger dairy businesses in Australia, with one property in South Gippsland, Victoria, and another in New England, NSW. Peter was a Nuffield scholar in 1997, investigating large-scale dairies and intensive pasture management.

Using streamlined management systems Peter developed following his scholarship, he and his wife have built their business from a 60 cow dairy to milk more than 1500 cows. They have also established a pasture seed business to complement their dairy operations, and the combined operations directly employ 25 people.  Peter has been actively involved in development of the dairy industry, and he is currently a facilitator of the Victorian Department of Primary Industry's dairy Focus Farm program in Gippsland and the Western District.

Ned McCord

Bunuba Pastoral Company

Edward (Ned) McCord is the Director/Business Co-ordinator of Bunuba Cattle Company, Leopold Downs and Fairfield Station, Fitzroy Crossing, WA.

Ned has extensive experience in the management of broadacre cattle properties across northern Australia and the development of beef cattle herds suitable for the live export market. He is a former non-executive director of Livecorp and a member of the Live Export Research and Development Advisory Committee. Ned has worked collaboratively with Aboriginal pastoralists in both the Northern Territory and the Kimberleys. He has been involved with Bunuba Cattle Company since 2003 and is the current Chair of Kimberley TAFE. 

Ned holds a diploma of Business in Frontline Management and a Diploma of Agriculture in Beef Cattle Production. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, from which he holds a Diploma, and the Australian Rural Leadership Program.

Peter Stone

CSIRO

Dr Peter Stone is Deputy Chief of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, and is based in Brisbane. His most recent exploration in northern Australia involved managing the Northern Australia Land and Water Science Review for the Office of Northern Australia and the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce.

His work history includes farm management, consulting, grain trading and scientific research. For much of the past 10 years Peter has undertaken projects that tackle land use issues, drawing on a range of scientific, community and industry perspectives.

Peter has an academic background in economics and agricultural science.

Noeline Gross

Northern Gulf Resource Management Group

Noeline Gross is the Chief Executive Officer for the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group (NGRMG) and a lifelong resident of Northern Australia. NGRMG is a not-for-profit company made up of skilled local people with energy, passion and commitment to the region. Noeline is also a Councillor with Etheridge Shire and a member of the State Rural Leasehold Land Ministerial Advisory Committee. She has previously been a member of the State Crocodile Management Advisory Committee and Executive Member of numerous committees. Past employment includes the tourism industry as a Savannah Guide and Zoo Curator, scientist in the fields of Pathology and Geomorphology, and labourer in a variety of rural industries.