More frontline staff to help agriculture thrive

The Queensland Government has appointed ten new frontline agriculture staff to ensure the state’s rural industries continue to grow and help supercharge the Queensland economy.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry John McVeigh said the Government was committed to providing the agriculture sector with the resources it needed to thrive.

“Agriculture is a key pillar of Queensland’s economy and these new frontline staff will include industry development officers, agronomists, horticulturists and agriculture graduates,” Mr McVeigh said.

“Under the Labor Government, the agriculture sector was totally dismissed and didn’t even have a dedicated Department.

“When we came to Government we set about re-establishing a dedicated department for Agriculture and revitalising our frontline agriculture positions.

“This began in 2012 when we appointed the first of 15 new positions, mainly in the biosecurity area with new wild dog and crop protection officers.

“As part of our ongoing renewal to grow agriculture and achieve our goal of doubling agriculture by 2040 we are strengthening our industry development and horticultural services with new skilled appointees.”

New positions include: 

• Industry Development Officer Justin Heaven based in Applethorpe
• Industry Development Officer soon to be confirmed in the Lockyer
• Two graduates Thomas Callaghan in Toowoomba and Emily Barbi in Rockhampton
• Senior Industry Development Officer Tom Mullins in Bowen
• Two agronomists – Bec Raymond in Goondiwindi and Doug Sands in Emerald. We aim to recruit another four agronomists in partnership with the Grains Research Development Corporation.
• Technical officer Jarrad Griffin and horticulturist Helen Hofman in Bundaberg, as part of the Small Tree High Productivity initiative
• A technical officer in Mareeba.

Mr McVeigh said the Government would continue to revitalise frontline services by recruiting talented, passionate people.

“These new officers will work closely with industry to support our farmers to optimise their operations, establish new markets and help us to reach our goal of doubling agricultural production by 2040.”

[ENDS] 6 May 2014

Media Contact: Lachlan Millar 0407 394 580

New positions include: 

• Senior Industry Development Officer Justin Heaven is based in Applethorpe and will work in a role focused on the horticultural industry, working across the value chain to identify opportunities for improved efficiencies, increased performance and resilience to generate value for the sector and local communities. The position will cover the Darling Downs and South West Region, with a strong focus on the Southern Downs area including the Granite Belt, working across the region to capitalise on any significant and emerging opportunities to assist grow value to agriculture as a key pillar for regional economies. Justin is currently developing potential projects to assist industry capitalise on new export and domestic market opportunities and delivering an innovation workshops to assist producers implement change within their business.
• Similarly, Senior Agri-Business Development Officer Bronwyn Ford will work with local growers and industry groups across all areas of horticulture in the Lockyer region. Bronwyn’s role will be identifying opportunities in the vegetable supply chain for greater efficiencies as well as trade and export opportunities. 
• Based in Toowoomba, graduate Thomas Callaghan will work in the intensive beef industry (feedlots) across south region and also in the area of drought support.  He will also work with other members of the south region industry development group to assist in a collaborative research project with UQ regarding the Coal Seam Gas Industry and the effects of CSG on above-ground farm productivity.  For feedlots, Thomas is currently investigating potential projects to aid the industry in overcoming challenges and capitalising on opportunities. He is also investigating a project design for industry benchmarking which considers Animal health, Nutrition, Feedlot management, Animal performance, and Business operational benchmarking. 
• Based in Rockhampton, graduate policy officer Emily Barbi is working across a range of policy development areas for the department. With a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree majoring in Production Animal Science at the University of Queensland Gatton, Emily is particularly interested in beef cattle production.She also gained a Pregnancy testing and AI certificate and has spent time with producers undertaking different breeding programs.
• Senior Industry Development Officer Tom Mullins in Bowen will support agribusinesses development across the Whitsundays and Central Queensland. Tom has a background in science and extension and specialises in agri-finance and financial analysis. He is involved in a number of projects including financial modelling to assist agribusinesses at both farm and supply chain level. He is especially looking at existing impediments to local agribusinesses and how to achieve greater efficiencies to overcome those barriers.
• Two agronomists – Bec Raymond in Goondiwindi and Doug Sands in Emerald. We aim to recruit another four agronomists in partnership with the Grains Research Development Corporation. 
• Technical officer Jarrad Griffin and horticulturist Helen Hofman are based in Bundaberg, as part of the Small Tree High Productivity initiative, along with another technical officer in Mareeba. They will be responsible to the day to day running and maintenance of field and glasshouse experiments, coordinating, irrigation scheduling, pest and disease management and trellis maintenance.