Dairy Australia AGM goes online

By Geoff Adams

Nov 25, 2022

Andrew Maughan, who grew up in the Goulburn Valley, was elected to the Dairy Australia board on November 23.

Dairy Australia conducted a brief annual general meeting on November 23 in an online format with pre-recorded videos.

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The 45-minute meeting, broadcast from Melbourne, heard from managing director David Nation and chairman James Mann.

Dr Nation outlined the long and short-term strategies of Dairy Australia, the focus on research, promotion of the industry, the partnerships with other related organisations, the support for dairy-related education and referenced the ‘Raising the Roof’ field day based at Echuca in May as an example of services to industry.

There were no questions submitted online prior to the meeting but several were sent during the meeting, including one about the format of the annual general meetings and a previous suggestion that meetings would be held in the regions.

Mr Mann said both he and Dr Nation had moved around the eight regions this year and he expected some future meetings would be held in the regions.

Dr Nation noted the success of the meeting that had been held at Lardner Park in Gippsland.

Professor Allan Bell and Andrew Maughan were elected to fill two vacant board positions.

Mr Maughan grew up on a family farm in the Goulburn Valley which he says influenced much of his professional life.

He is managing director of corporate advisory and investment firm Somerset Capital, chair of AgLink Australia, AGnVET Services and Langdon Group. He has also been Gardiner Dairy Foundation director.

He holds a Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Science and has completed MBAs in Strategy and Finance from the University of Chicago and the University of Melbourne.

Prof Bell grew up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland.

He was educated at the University of New England and the University of Glasgow and has held research and teaching positions in Australia, Scotland and the United States.

He was chairman and extension leader of the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University from 1997 to 2007, with responsibilities for teaching, research and extension in livestock biology and management.

From 2007 until his retirement in 2012 he was CSIRO Livestock Industries Australia chief, with responsibility for research operations in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, and Western Australia.