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Jim Wade has a Rural Science degree from the University of New England in Armidale, NSW. Jim works as a consulting nutritionist in his own Agricultural Consulting Company (WAC), which started in August 2003. He works with a wide range of feed and premix companies, some government departments like NQ Dry Tropics, Top Stock at Mareeba and individual farms. His role is to provide technical support which involves product development and diet formulation, staff training days, some assistance with marketing, presenting nutrition seminars to clients showing where the products fit into their feeding program. WAC is responsible for formulating diets for 9 small independent feed mills throughout the east coast of Australia. The area of increasing demand for technical support in Qld is the beef and sheep industry. Beef producers have limited money to spend on supplements and will pay for the correct supplement which addresses the requirements of their stock where there are deficiencies. They are looking for a wholistic approach and someone to help them implement and form a plan. Jim was true to his word with more detail on nitrates. Click here for more information on nitrates or visit Jim's website: http://www.wadeagriculture.com.au.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oli Le Lievre is the Content Marketing Manager at AuctionsPlus and the Founder of Humans of Agriculture. His career to date has seen him working in a variety of roles ranging from farm management, to fresh produce export, corporate agribusiness advisory to agtech startups. Oli is passionate about increasing consumer awareness, showcasing career opportunities in agriculture to the next generation and believes that innovative people and ideas will deliver solutions for businesses and communities to thrive. Oli takes on these tasks in his day to day role as well as through his initiative Humans of Agriculture, which is on a journey to share 10,000 stories of people influencing our food and fibre system. He is currently the Vice-Chair of The Future Farmers Network and a current participant in the Australian Rural Leadership Program, the flagship program run by the ARLF. In 2021 Oli was a Zanda McDonald Award finalist and in 2018 was selected in the inaugural National Farmers Federation ‘2030 Leaders Program’ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Garry and Leanne Hall are cattle producers from the Macquarie Marshes in north central NSW. Part of their property is Ramsar (International Convention on Wetlands) listed, which creates an extra level of responsibility and connection with their landscape. The Halls, with their two children, are passionate about the sustainability of their production system and their role as an ecosystem service provider, managing their land to ensure they have positive environmental outcomes. They are involved in water management at all levels on a daily basis and regularly host visits from political level to government agency staff. The Hall family have cared for their property for four generations and their families have had landholdings in the area for seven generations. With a strong interest in traditional land use practices and how they can learn from the ability of a culture to survive for 50,000 years prior to European settlement. Garry and Leanne are passionate about building strong business relationships and never lose sight of the fact that every kg of beef they produce is destined for human consumption. They live and work with their livestock on a daily basis and are well over 100km from the nearest town, as such, they are believers in a strong local community and surrounding themselves with positive people. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20 years ago, Doug embarked on a journey of change. Driven by the need to survive drought, it's been the most rewarding journey of his life. Writing the Resilient Farmer was Doug’s way of saying thank you to the people and processes that drove his change. Doug, his wife Wendy and their family, live in Eastern Marlborough, New Zealand. Bonavaree is a 2343 ha owned and 420 ha leased dry land farm. Over the last two decades, huge changes to pasture type and use, stock type and farming systems have seen a dramatic change in the fortunes of that farm and the Avery family. The changes achieved at Bonavaree are now being applied on many other properties across the country. A large part of the change was driven by Dr Derrick Moot of Lincoln University and his Lucerne (alfalfa) based pasture system. It was taken to its ultimate development by a New Zealand Land Care Trust facilitated project, the Starborough Soil Conservation Project which was funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund. This was a six pronged science effort which systemised a package of activities to make Bonavaree the amazing property it is today. Doug wrote The Resilient Farmer in 2017. He writes with great insight, romance for the land and people he loves, and is a genuine and skilled storyteller. He is working on his next book, which we eagerly await. To find out more about Doug or to order The Resilient Farmer, click here https://www.resilientfarmer.co.nz/ Should this episode cause distress, please contact your local crisis centre or in Aust. call lifeline on 13 11 14. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin Henke grew up in the South East of South Australia. He pursued a farming career by starting at the bottom as a jackaroo before purchasing his own land (courtesy of an initiative of the Rural Finance Corporation of Victoria targeting young farmers). By combining management of the family farm and running his own land, enabled the eventual purchase of a stand alone property in 1998 in South Western Victoria, which is being farmed by Colin and his wife Karen today. An initial 50 : 50 split between cattle and sheep has been transformed into a cattle only enterprise, encompassing a 1,000 cow, spring calving , Angus herd, producing feeder steers for the medium to long fed feeder steer market. Relatively high interest rates in the 1980’s and 90’s ( from 10 to 16% ) has ensured a pursuit of productivity and profitability along the way which continues to this day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Quality Meat Scotland podcast began in April 2020. With guests including Diana Rogers, author of the Sacred Cow and topics ranging from market trends, profitability and resilience, best practice and developments in the red meat sector. In this episode, Tom Gubbins, host of the RawAg podcast and Director of Te Mania Angus Australia, chats with Mark Stephen about the Te Mania Angus programme. Data is central to what we do, in this discussion Tom highlights that we first need to identify what drives profit, the requirements of the target market and how the animal fits in to the environment. From there, we can discover, collect and utilise the data to improve the genetics and increase profitability. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Robert Banks has been involved in developing and managing RDE projects with very high impact nationally. This includes the establishment and growth of LAMBPLAN and MERINOSELECT, the significant increase in the rate of genetic progress in beef cattle in Australia, and the development and implementation of the Information Nucleus concept to underpin implementation of genomic technologies in sheep and beef cattle. Together, these programs have helped make rates of genetic improvement in sheep in Australia as fast as or faster than in any other country in the world, and in beef the rates are close to those of our major competitors including the US. His contributions have been recognised via several awards from professional associations and the wider community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jason Trompf - Farmer Bahavourial Change. Jason Trompf from Lambs Alive has been working as an Agricultural Consultant for over 20 years. Jason has a strong background in understanding the drivers and motivators of sheep and beef producers and designing programs that support and enable practice change. Jason undertook his PhD research into farmer behavioral change and adoptive context. Jason has had significant input into the design, delivery and evaluation of programs such as the Triple P Program, Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM), Bred Well Fed Well (BWFW) and More Lambs More Often. Each of these programs are widely recognized for the industry leading impact they have had on changing knowledge, attitude, skills and aspiration (KASA) and practice, as well as lifting productivity, profitability and resilience. Jason has extensive experience in lamb survival, consulting with and educating producers on a national and international basis. LTEM is a national extension program using a small group extension model, for which Jason is the lead author and has had more than 4000 farmers involved. Participants have increased their whole-farm stocking rates by 10% and increased lamb marking percentages by 7% irrespective of enterprise type, which equates to almost a 20% increase in lambs weaned per hectare, while reducing ewe mortality by 33%. BWFW is a national 1-day workshop that Jason co-developed and has now been delivered to over 4000 sheep producers, that coaches producers to use genes, nutrition and best-practice husbandry to improve sheep reproduction rates. Jason also manages his family’s 3000 composite ewe and 250 Angus and Shorthorn cow enterprise. These self-replacing high productivity enterprises provide Jason with a strong practical background and a constant reality check of the challenges that producers face on a day-to-day basis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Carroll has more than 35 years experience in food and agribusiness with current directorships including Select Harvests, Paraway Pastoral Company, Viridis Ag and Rural Funds Management. Mike is also chair of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. Former board roles include Sunny Queen Farms, Tassal, Warrnambool Cheese & Butter, Queensland Sugar, Rural Finance Corporation, Elders, the Australian Farm Institute, the Gardiner Dairy Foundation and Meat and Livestock Australia. During his executive career, Mike held senior executive positions at the National Australia Bank (NAB) and was responsible for establishing and leading NAB’s Agribusiness division. Roles prior to this included several years as a senior advisor in NAB’s internal investment banking and corporate advisory department. Before joining NAB, Mr Carroll worked for companies involved in the agricultural sector including Monsanto Agricultural Products and a biotechnology venture capital company. He comes from a family who has been involved in farming for over 150 years and has his own property in western Victoria. Mike holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from La Trobe University and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Business School. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, Boston and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jack and Jen Roxburgh, from Coomete in Western Victoria, run one of Vic­toria’s longest continually held family farms. Coomete was selected in 1860 and has never been sold. The operation is fairly evenly split between beef cattle­, sheep and crops. This multifaceted business is only possible because they run it together as a team, with both of them playing different roles and tapping into their different skill sets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology at the University of California. Alison has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, a Masters in Animal Science, and a PhD in Genetics. The mission of her extension program is “to provide research and education on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems”. Alison has given over 700 presentations and is the recipient of many awards for her work. Determined to get the facts out there and understood, Alison is a passionate truth seeker, who uses a multitude of media to inform the general public about science and technology. In this episode, Alison explains the complexities and difficulties in the production of cultured meat. We already have the perfect system for producing meat - the cow! The rumen has a magical super power - taking inedible forage and turning it into a product suitable for human consumption. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. David Beggs has been a vet in Warrnambool for over 30 years. He is a senior lecturer in Cattle Medicine at Melbourne University, Editor in Chief of the Australian Veterinary Journal and has a Ph.D. in animal welfare. David is currently undertaking research into dairy cattle medicine, reproduction and animal welfare. A witty raconteur, he engages in all of these topics with a great deal of insight and understanding. The focus of episode 5 of RawAg is on animal welfare, we hope you enjoy listening. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.