Regional advocate resigns
Founding figure at the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), and current chief executive officer, Jack Archer, is to finish up in February.
A new CEO is due to be announced early in the new year.
Chairman, Mal Peters, said Mr Archer had been “integral to everything the Regional Australia Institute has achieved”.
“Through his leadership, the RAI has become a significant player in national policy issues, has secured the support and collaboration of governments around Australia, put in place a new long term funding and research model and is positioned for even greater future success,” Mr Peters said.
Prior to becoming CEO in 2015, Mr Archer led the establishment of the RAI in 2011, serving as policy and research general manager from 2012.
“Good policy for regions has long been constrained by a lack of evidence and an uninformed debate,” Mr Archer said.
“The RAI is making a significant impact on both of these issues for the nearly 9 million Australians who call our regions home.”
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Temporary MLA boss
Meat and Livestock Australia has advised, Andrew Ferguson, will act as interim managing director while the recruitment process to replace outgoing boss, Richard Norton continues.
Until now Mr Ferguson, MLA’s corporate services general manager, has led the team providing operational support services across MLA activities and operations.
Mr Norton, who served more than four years at MLA, officially departed his role this month to join farm services business, Elders, in the new year, as its branch network general manager.
A further announcement from the peak red meat marketing and research body would be made once the managing director had been chosen.
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CRT raises drought funds
Farm merchandise retailers within the CRT’s Queensland network and the chemical company, FMC, have joined forces to raise $22,980 for rural communities through sales of FMC’s Graslan herbicide.
The promotion, which ran mid-year donated $50 each to Drought Angels and Heart of Australia for every tonne of Graslan sold in participating outlets.
The CRT initiative was made possible when FMC was approached with an idea to give back to regional areas.
The CRT member stores involved were Springsure Rural, Middlemount Rural, Alpha Merchandise, CQ Ag Services, Rolleston Rural, Countryco and Clermont Agencies.
Jaxon Morris from FMC Australia said it was important for FMC to work side-by-side with resellers such as CRT who shared the values of knowledge, experience and commitment to the communities in which they operate.
Costa offers scholarships
Horticultural company, Costa Group, has announced two new ongoing university scholarships to encourage students studying agriculture related degrees.
The Costa Berry Category scholarships, which target second year students, are worth $5000 each annually, through the University of New England and the University of Queensland.
They are in addition to the Costa North West Scholarship in Agricultural Science and the Costa Honours Scholarship in Agricultural Science, both at the University of Tasmania.
General Manager Costa’s berry category, Stuart Costa, said the company had a strong commitment to supporting the industry and the communities in which it operated.
Costa Berries has farms at Corindi on the NSW North Coast, Tumbarumba, in southern NSW, Far North Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands, Gingin in Western Australia, and North West Tasmania.
“A skilled workforce provides benefits to our business and the industry as a whole and also provides lasting employment opportunities for the people in our regions who wish to pursue a career in horticulture,” Mr Costa said.
Applications are open through the University of New England and University of Queensland.
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CropLogic in Sunraysia
New Zealand crop and climate sensor technology group CropLogic has made its first sale from Victoria’s Sunraysia region, following the Company’s recent opening of its first Australian office, in Mildura.
Regional sales manager, Cedric Geffen, and sales agronomist, Talitha Gollan were appointed last month.
The first order was for CropLogic’s agri-tech hardware and software solution, CropLogic realTime, for use in the horticulture sector.
Within the past month CropLogic has also accomplished a number of other strategic short-term goals including the opening of its regional office in Twin Falls, Idaho and appointment of advisors on the hemp market in Oregon, USA.
CropLogic’s Mildura office is ideally suited to take advantage of local crop trends such as the dried and table grape markets.
Chief executive officer, James Cooper-Jones, said the Sunraysia was also home to other “boom crops” such as 64 per cent of Australia’s almonds and 24pc of Australia’s citrus.
The company was also targeting other opportunities including avocados, apples and row crops such as potatoes.
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
