Supporter Information:
William Buckland was a highly successful pastoralist who had a great love of the land and agriculture. His suggestion that his Trustees, in administering funds from the Foundation, “give preference to agriculture and related pursuits” has been instrumental in developing the Advancing Agriculture Program for the Foundation. The William Buckland Foundation, through its Advancing Agriculture Program, supports initiatives which focus on strengthening the resilience and capacity of regional and rural communities. This includes the support of innovative approaches to farming that increase yield and/or reduce damaging environmental impacts as well ensuring that rural leaders are equipped to inclusively address the challenges and embrace the opportunities that arise through change. www.williambucklandfoundation.org.au
Johnny Gardner
Nuffield Australia 2020 Scholarship winner
From Cavendish, Victoria, Johnny Gardner received a Nuffield Scholarship with support from the William Buckland Foundation to research sheep and goat animal management, price incentives, market access and environmental changes across the supply chain.
Managing his family’s 1,720-hectare farm in south west Victoria, Johnny runs a 12,000 head self-replacing Coopworth composite ewe flock. The business primarily produces lamb, turning off up to 12,000 lambs each year and selling around 240 bales of 28-micron wool.
With a large proportion of Australian sheep and goat meat exported overseas, Johnny has used his Nuffield Scholarship to research ways to future-proof these markets through a more in-depth understanding of consumers and environmental constraints on the industry.
“I want to explore what drives our largest consumers, including the impacts of animal management on eating quality, industry efforts to reduce emissions, aligning price incentives with consumer demands, and ensuring a diversity of market access for Australian producers,” Johnny said.
“It is an exciting time in the red meat sector, with major focus and investment on everything from objective carcass measurement technology to environmental sustainability, through initiatives like the red meat sector’s Carbon Neutral 2030 target.
“I believe there is an immense opportunity to learn from other red meat producing countries and from sectors beyond agriculture, and contribute to a more robust measurement and benchmarking process for industry to strengthen its quality and sustainability credentials.”
Travelling throughout North and South America, China, the Middle East and Europe, Johnny observed key export market trends firsthand.