Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has appointed northern beef property manager, George Scott, as its general manager of agriculture operations, and Nippon Meat’s, Christopher Fenwicke, as general manager of feedlots, livestock procurement and logistics.
Mr Scott’s extensive pastoral experience includes past senior management roles with Georgina Pastoral Company and Stanbroke in northern Australia, where he integrated growing property portfolios.
He will work closely with Hancock’s station managers to optimise the performance of the mining giant’s expanding beef operations which now run about 330,000 cattle.
Mr Fenwicke moves from NH Food group’s Whyalla Beef business, based at Texas in southern Queensland, where he was responsible for the strategic management of a supply chain involving 175,000 head of cattle a year.
Whyalla, one of Australia’s most advanced feedlots, is part of Japanese giant, Nipponham’s beef production, processing and marketing operations Australia.
He has previously managed feedlots for Australian Country Choice, responsible for the design, construction and refurbishment of facilities.
Mr Fenwicke will head up Hancock’s existing feedlot operations and play a key role in developing the supply chain for Hancock’s plan to export live cattle to China.
Mrs Rinehart said having both cattle production specialists on the executive team would increase the strength and depth of Hancock’s agricultural business as it grew and adapted to the changing nature of agribusiness.
Former Atron Enterprises boss, David Larkin, was recently appointed as chief executive officer of the agricultural business to help lead its growth in the wake of a run of acquisitions in the past 18 months.
“George and Chris are excellent additions to the Hancock agriculture team and I look forward to utilising their extensive industry knowledge and forward thinking,” he said.