AFI Team
Key Staff
Richard Heath – Executive Director
Richard has been the AFI’s Executive Director since June 2018, previously serving as the General Manager – Research. Prior to joining the AFI, Richard was Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management at the University of Sydney and before that was involved in a large family farming business in North West NSW. Richard is a director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation and sits on the Advisory Committee for CSIRO Agriculture and Food. He is a Nuffield scholar and was a director of Nuffield Australia.
Katie McRobert – General Manager
Katie brought her expertise in editing, communications and project management to the AFI in late 2017. Prior to joining AFI, she worked as the global Content and Community Manager for Rabobank’s Global Farmers program and as the National Editor for the FarmOnline agricultural news service. Katie has an MBA from Griffith University specialising in Sustainable Business, participated in the 2020 Global Business Challenge finals, won the Most Innovative Business Project Award at the 2020 MBA Australasia Graduate Management Awards and participated in the inaugural National Farmers’ Federation 2030 Leadership Program. She is Chair of the CSIRO Drought Resilience Mission Advisory Group, and a member of the NSW Environmental Trust Biodiversity Technical Review Committee.
Teresa Fox – Research and Communications
Teresa grew up on her family’s sugarcane property in North Queensland near the Whitsundays which is where her passion for agriculture began. She studied a Bachelor of Agribusiness majoring in Economics at the University of New England. Prior to joining AFI, Teresa undertook a brief internship with a grain training firm in Sydney, then entered a supply chain graduate program with BE Campbell, a large pork manufacturing plant in Sydney, where she secured a permanent position as the Livestock Buyer. She also undertook an internship as an Agricultural Economist with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Teresa joined AFI as a Research Officer in early 2019 and is now responsible for undertaking research and assisting in coordination of projects, as well as managing the Institute’s communications activities. She was also a member of the inaugural AgForce Young Producers’ Council.
Kylie Smith – Events and Membership
Kylie joined the Institute in 2014 and currently looks after Events and Membership for AFI. As well as organising events, Kylie’s previous roles include Graphic Designer and Studio Coordinator. Kylie is passionate about working in the not-for-profit sector.
Sally Beech – Designer and Editor
Sally has worked at the Institute since 2008 and has over 20 years’ experience in editing, design and production. Sally’s previous roles include: Studio Coordinator at AGSM; Editorial Assistant at UTS; Designer/Illustrator at Science Press; and Scientific Illustrator at the Australian Museum.
Board
- Andrew Spencer – Chair
- Principal, Ancer Consulting Pty Ltd
- Chair, PorkScan Pty Ltd
- Non-Executive Director, GRDC
- Chair, Sheep Producers Australia
- Director, RMAC
- 35-year career in agribusiness, both in Australia and internationally
- Worked in Germany, South Africa and France, in the agricultural chemicals, biotechnology and seeds market
David Clarke – Director
- Former Treasurer, NSW Farmers’ Association
- Mr Clarke has worked in agriculture for over 30 years, the past 14 years managing partner of the family property ‘Mt Brace’ Rylstone district.
- Now specialising in beef production, formerly fine merino wool – also mixed farming enterprises, canola & grains.
Alexandra Gartmann – Director
- Alexandra is the Chair of the Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council, a Non Executive Director of Nufarm, a Director of the One Basin CRC, and a Trustee of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust.
- Most recently Alexandra was an Executive at the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Group responsible for the Group’s Partnerships, Marketing, Corporate Affairs, ESG and Climate Risk in addition to being CEO of Rural Bank, the agribusiness division.
- Prior to 2015 Alexandra was CEO of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), a charitable foundation based on a partnership between philanthropy, community, government and business supporting the economic prosperity of rural, regional and remote communities across Australia. Between 2001 and 2011 Ms Gartmann held the position of CEO of the Birchip Cropping Group, a not-for-profit agricultural research organisation based in the Mallee Wimmera region.
- Alexandra was previously a member of the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership, the Board of the Rural Finance Corporation of Victoria and was Chair of the CSIRO Agriculture Advisory Council. She continues to be a champion for rural and regional Australia.
Kristina Hermanson – Director
- Kristina Hermanson is the Head of APAC and Africa, at Nuveen Natural Capital.
- She is the former Managing Director for FMC’s ANZ and ASEAN business. FMC Corporation is a global agricultural sciences company dedicated to helping growers produce food, feed, fibre and fuel for an expanding world population while adapting to a changing environment.
- Kristina began her career as an engineer before transitioning to a commercial leader.
- She was raised on a dairy farm in the midwestern U.S. state of Wisconsin and has worked throughout her career in the agriculture and food industries.
Kristina is a board director of AFI and also served as a director of CropLife Australia, AgSafe Australia and the non-profit, Business for Development for multiple terms.
Caroline Rhodes – Director
- Caroline is CEO of Primary Producers SA and has more than two decades of agribusiness experience.
- She has held senior roles in both the public and private sector and with state and federal farmer representative bodies in Australia, including the former South Australian Farmers’ Federation, the Grains Council of Australia, and Grain Producers SA.
- Caroline’s other current board appointments include the South Australian Cricket Association, Foodbank South Australia and Rural Business Support.
- She is a Member of the South Australian Skills Commission, and Chairs the Agribusiness, Food & Wine/Beverages Industry Skills Council.
- Caroline holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Adelaide, a Master of Agribusiness from the University of Melbourne and a Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program.
Richard Heath – Executive Director
- Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute
- Director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation – former director Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars
- Previously Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management for the University of Sydney responsible for managing their North West Farms group
- Served for six years on the Northern Panel of the GRDC advising on research priorities for the Australian grains industry
- Owned a consulting business advising on the application of new technology in Australian agriculture.
- Travelled on a Nuffield Scholarship researching precision application of fertiliser
Research Advisory Committee
Roles:
- Make recommendations to the Executive Director and Board on the design of research projects
- Ensure that research project reports are rigorous and objective
- Act as an editorial panel for the Farm Policy Journal, and referee papers submitted to that journal for publication
Professor Les Copeland
- Emeritus Professor of Agriculture in the University of Sydney. He has taught and published extensively in the areas of agricultural, grain and food science, and he has been the primary mentor of 34 PhD students
- Director of the Australian Government Cotton Research and Development Corporation
- Editor-in-Chief of the journals Cereal Chemistry (Wiley) and Agriculture (MDPI)
- Former Dean of Agriculture and Foundation President of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture
- BSc (Hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors
- Held research positions in the US at Yale University, the University of Buffalo, and the University of California, Davis, as well as at the Australian National University
- Fulbright Alumnus and the recipient of an Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Association of Cereal Chemists-International
- Awarded a Membership of the Order of Australia (AM) in June 2019 for for significant service to agricultural science as an academic and researcher
Wayne Dunford
- Partner in a family partnership that operates a mixed farming business west of Parkes, producing prime lambs, wool and a winter cropping program as well as a beef cattle
- Mr Dunford has always had a strong interest in promoting agriculture as an important part of rural Australia and a keen desire to see it continue on as a viable industry for future generations
- Member of the NSW Farmers’ Association for 30 plus years and has held various positions at a local level for a number of those years. Former Vice President and Board member
Richard Eckard
- Richard is Professor and Director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre (www.piccc.org.au) in the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, the University of Melbourne
- His research focuses on sustainable livestock production, nitrogen cycling and loss in grazing systems, with a recent focus on carbon farming, managing extreme climate events and options for agriculture to respond to a changing climate
- He is a science advisor to the Australian, New Zealand and UK governments, and the UN FAO and EU, on climate change adaptation, mitigation and carbon policy development in agriculture
- Richard leads a network within the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gasses and a member of the Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture international science committee
- Published over 150 peer reviewed papers, with 80 peer-reviewed papers, 7 book chapters, and 140 conference papers on climate change, carbon farming and agriculture since 2010
Professor Ross Kingwell – Chairman
- Professor in the School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia
- Economics and Market Intelligence Team manager in the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
- Agricultural economist with over 35 years’ experience in research and provision of policy advice
Professor Jim Pratley
- Dean, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, Charles Sturt University
- Vice-President, International Allelopathy Society
Dr Michael Robertson
- Deputy Director of CSIRO’s Agriculture Flagship
- Member of the team that won the 2013 CSIRO Medal for Impact from Science
- Fellow of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (2012)
- A key player in the development of the APSIM farming systems model
- A national leader in the grains industry, on cropping systems, variable rate technology, simulation modelling, mixed crop-livestock farming, and water productivity
- Publications (ISI statistics, February 2015): 133 articles, career cites 2772, H-Index of 24
David Sackett
- Managing Director Growth Farms Australia
- Board member TA Field Estates
- 20+ years as an agricultural consultant
Professor Leanne Wiseman
- Professor, Griffith Law School, Griffith University
- Associate Director, Australian Centre of Intellectual Property in Agriculture
Richard Heath – Executive Director
- Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute
- Director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation – former director Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars
- Previously Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management for the University of Sydney responsible for managing their North West Farms group
- Served for six years on the Northern Panel of the GRDC advising on research priorities for the Australian grains industry
- Owned a consulting business advising on the application of new technology in Australian agriculture.
- Travelled on a Nuffield Scholarship researching precision application of fertiliser
Research Fellows
Claire Booth
Claire Booth is a Solicitor Director of C.O.Booth Law & Advisory a firm specialising in wills, succession planning, taxation and the transfer of wealth across the generations involved in farming and business. Claire and her husband are also first-generation farmers, having started their farm business in 2012 at age 28 after saving the deposit in their 20’s. Booth Ag produces irrigated and dryland horticulture, grains, pulses and livestock on the flood plains of the Macquarie River near Geurie and Dubbo. Recently Claire completed a Nuffield Scholarship focusing on land values, debt and financial literacy.
Matt Cawood
Matt Cawood grew up on a West Australian cattle property and worked in a range of occupations on the land, from Queensland’s Gulf country to Bass Strait and the WA wheatbelt, before taking up journalism. Over 30 years, he has written on agriculture and the environment for a range of publications in Australia and overseas. He was a national writer for Australia’s largest stable of specialist agricultural print media for 15 years, a role that exposed him first-hand to farming and its supply chains across Australia and the globe. He currently works in communications for the University of New England, Australia.
Fiona Dempster
Dr Fiona Dempster is an applied economist with The University of Western Australia and with her family operates a 5,200-hectare crop and livestock operation in Mingenew, Western Australia. Her expertise is in designing decision tools for environment and agricultural management, valuing ecosystem services and identifying the adoption drivers of management practices in agricultural landscapes. Fiona joined the GRDC Western Panel in August 2017. Fiona is an active member of Mingenew Irwin Group, the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and many other voluntary groups in her community.
Thom Goodwin
Dr Thom Goodwin is the Data and Analytics Manager of TasFoods Ltd. In this role he develops desktop productivity tools which enable better planning and supply chain visibility in the fast moving perishable goods environment. Thom has also developed financial and economic models for farm business management as a senior consultant with Macquarie Franklin and was a senior economic analyst with the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation. Thom has also worked as an agricultural economist in Papua New Guinea.
Emma Leonard
Emma has over 25 years’ experience communicating technical information to farmers in Australia and the UK. She is proprietor of AgriKnowHow, a business she runs from a farm in South Australia. Since 2006 she has edited Precision Ag News, the magazine of the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia. Emma is a Nuffield scholar and in 2017, she commenced a PhD from the University of New England looking at ‘How to overcome the barriers to the adoption of digital agriculture’.
Kelly Pearce
Dr Kelly Pearce has had a 20-year career in Agricultural Research with a focus on farming systems and continues to coordinate a number of regional science and innovation projects at present though her role as the Chief Executive Officer of The Facey Group. Kelly holds industry positions including: Grower Group Alliance Director, Advisory Committee member of the Biosecurity Council of WA, Director of the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority and an Advisory Committee member of the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee. Kelly is a 2012 Nuffield Scholar and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Kelly is also a Grain and Sheep Producer from Yealering in Western Australia with her family.
Oscar Pearse
Oscar Pearse is an experienced farm business manager from Moree in NSW where he is part of a family farming operation that has been in place since 1872. Oscar has a passion and extensive background in advocating for good agricultural policy and has held policy development positions with Cattle Council of Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Lot Feeders’ Association and AgForce Queensland. Oscar also sits on NSW Farmers’ Association committees and has completed the Australian Grain Farm Leaders program.
Ed Perrett
Ed Perrett works for goFARM Australia, an Australian-owned agricultural investor, property developer and manager, where he is responsible for leading the company’s in-house commercial research. Ed’s career has focused on the intersections of agricultural policy, research, and business. He has previously worked for the Australian Farm Institute and the Sheepmeat Council of Australia. In 2016 Ed completed a Masters of Agribusiness in the Netherlands. He also holds Master and Bachelor (Honours) degrees from the University of Melbourne, where his studies specialised in agricultural and environmental policy.
Sarah Sivyer
Sarah Sivyer is the Founder and Director of Just Been Laid Egg Subscription, the first egg subscription business in Australia. Sarah runs the pastured egg business in addition to the family’s fifth generation beef operation in Eccleston, NSW. Prior to moving back to the family farm Sarah worked for Rabobank as Head of Operational Excellence and a Senior Analyst, Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory. Sarah has also had roles with the International Finance Corporation, Syngenta and BHP Billiton. Sarah is a Nuffield Scholar and has an MBA from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford.