At its annual general meeting held online on October 21, Murray Dairy welcomed three new directors to the board.
The new members are farmer director Hamish Crawford, specialist skills director Phil Candy and co-opted specialist skills director Jason Scott.
Directors Tony McCarthy and Chris Thomas, who had both completed six years on the board, were farewelled and thanked.
In his report, returning chair Andrew Tyler highlighted the importance of engagement with farmers across the region and, in particular, reflected on visiting north-east Victoria in April to talk with farmers affected by the fires about the recovery, their ongoing needs and future opportunities.
Mr Tyler also highlighted the importance of the forthcoming dairy levy poll, encouraging farmers to learn more about how their levy was invested, to seek more information via the dairy poll website or to contact Murray Dairy farmer directors.
Farmer director Rachael Napier took up the role of deputy chair and Andrew Mann was returned as treasurer.
Mr Mann highlighted Murray Dairy’s success in recent years in attracting additional funding.
“For every $1 of levy funds Murray Dairy attracts a further $4 of additional funding, which is invested across research, development and extension activities specifically for our region’s dairy farmers,” he said.
Chief executive officer Jenny Wilson provided a snapshot of the recently released Murray Region Trends Report 2021, which she said was a useful resource of facts and figures on the dairy industry in the Murray region.
She said the report highlighted land use, manufacturing, water resources, farm facts, feedbase systems, irrigation, farm physical performance and financial performance.
The trends report, along with this year’s annual report and achievements report, are available at: dairyaustralia.com.au/murray-dairy