2016 Annual Forum
The highly valued 2016 Ag Excellence Annual Awards was held Thursday night at the Grand Chancellor on Hindley Street. An enthusiastic crowd from various agricultural sectors enjoyed the chance to celebrate the importance of Grower Groups to the sustainability of our vital agricultural industry.
Officially awarded by the Hon Ian Hunter MLC, the PIRSA Sustainable Farming Award was presented to the Hart Field Site for their hard work towards long-term organisational sustainability.
Ag Excellence Chairman, Trent Potter reverberated the enthusiasm in the room, praising the Hart Field-Site Group for showing leadership and innovation. Mr Potter described the win, “as well deserved acknowledgment for providing a valuable research and extension service to the broader Ag sector”.
The Awards are open to Grower Groups throughout the State in the pursuit of promoting excellence in Agriculture. “Our Grower Group representatives are at the coalface of the industry and they provide the essential portal to really understand the daily challenges facing our farmers today”, said Mr Potter.
Hart Field-Site Group vice-chairman, Justin Wundke, accepted the award on behalf of the group and thanked “the great team we have at Hart and all of our grower and industry members for continuing to support the group”. Mr Wundke thanked PIRSA and Ag Excellence for providing the opportunity to showcase how grower groups are evolving to tackle long-term organisational challenges. “Ag Ex provides Grower Groups with tools and platforms needed for a cohesive Grower Group network. It brings positive linkages to further promote the importance of sustainable farming”, he stated.
Following close behind to take out the AGBYTE Encouragement Award was the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA). Executive Officer, Nicole Dimos graciously accepted the award, expressing her enthusiasm for the awards process. “I would like to thank Ag Ex and the SPAA group for their unrelenting passion in promoting the sustaining benefits of precision agriculture in Australia.
Keynote Dinner Speaker, Neville Crook from Swarmfarm Robotics, further endorsed these philosophies, citing their company mantra ‘Big is not always Smarter’. Mr Crook and his team, based in QLD, have spent many years researching and developing robotic technology to enable the industry to move forward from its ‘bigger is better’ mentality. “It is not possible to withstand the continuing rise of input costs and remain viable. We know that this technology is going to advance our farmers quest for sustainability exponentially,” Mr Crook said.
Delegates praised the diverse two-day program with speakers covering topics such as Safety in Ag; Farm4Prohet; Climate Updates and the SA Sheep Blueprint. The Annual Forum and Awards will be held on the first Thursday and Friday of April each year.