More than 600 delegates from around Australia and the world were in Melbourne for this year’s Australian Dairy Conference, from February 12 to 14.
This year was the 20th conference, with attendees from every Australian state and the ACT.
Dairy farmers were well represented among the crowd, as well as delegates from milk processors, banks, universities, other research organisations and service industries for the dairy sector.
Then there were the international attendees. Among many others were a Danish dairy farmer representing the European Dairy Federation, its chairman, Sjoerd Ydema; Andriy Dykun, president of the Milk Producers of Ukraine and chair of the Ukrainian Agri Council; Nuffield Scholar from Scotland, Claire Taylor; New Zealand dairy farmer Chris Falconer; and Canadian dairy farmers Jennifer Howe and Ben Loewith.
There were presentations from local and international speakers, with topics as varied as breeding values, genomic selection including Cinder (think Tinder) for Cows, artificial intelligence, finding hope in the aftermath of disasters, the impact of government regulation on the dairy industry, nitrogen and methane emissions, and forging great change to create a legacy.
Conference delegates heard from five finalists in the Young Dairy Scientists Communication Award. The awardee was announced at the conference dinner (see page 10).
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘The Power of Purpose’.
“Purpose drives everything we do. As dairy farmers, our purpose lays at the core of why we do what we do, and why we love what we do,” conference programming committee chair Michael Rood said.
He challenged attendees to be open to listening to and willing to learn from other people and be involved in creating change in their industry.
“We want dairy farmers to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, challenging ourselves and defining what we really want to achieve,” Michael said.
“This could be a small purpose-related farm goal, or a larger purpose-driven ambition to change your dairy landscape.”
At the conference dinner, there was acknowledgement of the origins of ADC, from a small group of dairy farmers in the Shepparton region (home of Dairy News Australia), who wanted to hold an event that challenged and inspired those working in the industry.
“They were visionaries who wanted to lift the bar in the industry,” said Andrew Tyler, a dairy farmer from Tongala, who chaired the 2013 conference organising committee.
Dairy Australia managing director David Nation said the challenges felt by dairy farmers were not unique to Australia, but shared around the world.
He said this was a key reason why ADC was such a pivotal event, bringing international speakers to Australia.
“We need to identify early stage innovations that will advantage our industry,” David said.
Australia’s dairy farming sector was unique because of the scale of production, size of herds and farmers’ pasture-based management systems.
“In Australia, we focus on how to grow grass with less inputs,” David said.
“We have a lot of technical proficiency, making the most of what we have.”
He said the challenges for the industry continued to be proving to consumers and government that dairy farmers care for the environment and care about animal welfare.
David encouraged attendees to engage with Dairy Australia to understand the levy-funded group’s “helicopter view of the industry”.
Outgoing ADC cair, Tom Acocks, who is also a dairy farmer at Rochester, in northern Victoria, singled out dairy farmers Andrew Tyler (Tongala, Victoria) and Liza Fahey (Terang, Victoria) at the conference dinner.
He presented Andrew and Liza with mementos celebrating 10 years of their involvement with the Australian Dairy Conference Board of Directors.