Mr John Woods, BAppSc, MAICD, Chair of the Grains Research & Development Corporation, will be our special guest speaker at the Awards Gala Dinner. John is partner and manager of a broadacre agribusiness based in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. He is also Chair of R&R Hire Services in Queensland, and immediate past Chair of the Council of Rural Research & Development Corporations 2019-2022. John has a history of working collaboratively with a range of public and private organisations in the investment, development, extension and adoption of new technology and innovation.
Other speakers:
- Simon Stead, Chair, CBH Group
- Simon was appointed as a Director of CBH in 2015, appointed Deputy Chair in April 2019, and Chair in April 2020. Simon runs a mixed sheep, cattle and cropping operation in Cascade and Dalyup in the Esperance port zone.
- Stefan Vogel, General Manager – RaboResearch
- Stefan's almost most 20-year career has been focused on the food, agribusiness, and trade industries. Prior to Rabobank, Stefan worked for more than a decade in strategy and market research positions with Archer Daniels Midland.
- Kristina Hermanson, Head of APAC and Africa Nuveen Natural Capital
- Kristina targets growth in the region in farmland, timber and nature-based investments across Nuveen. With proud roots on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, Kristina has more than 25 years of international leadership experience, most recently as Managing Director of ANZ & ASEAN at FMC Corporation.
- Dr Ben Trevaskis, Research Director for the Systems Program at CSIRO Agriculture and Food
- Prior to CSIRO, Ben completed a PhD through the Australian National University. He then travelled to Germany for three years for a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam.
- Stuart Watt, Director, Communities and National Drought Agreement
- Stuart is an Future Drought Fund (FDF) Director based in WA. The Communities and National Drought Agreement team is responsible for delivery of the FDF’s 'Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Resilience' Initiative.
- Dr Gaus Azam, Research Scientist – Reengineering Soil, DPIRD.
- Gaus leads Reengineering Soils project, to address multiple interacting soil constraints in the crop root zone through combining innovative soil amelioration techniques and soil profile reengineering