EVENT
2024 PROGRAM
Theme: The Power of purpose
Crown Promenade Conference Centre, Melbourne
Monday 12 February 2023
Welcome Events
5.30pm
Young farmers networking function sponsored by GEA
An exclusive social gathering before the official welcome for those here for the first time to give you the inside running on the VIP speaker list and provide the 101 of making the most of ADC.
6.30pm
Welcome function sponsored by Fonterra
The Fonterra Welcome Function is renowned for its high energy and buzz, with dairy farmers and industry supporters from across the country and around the world.
Tuesday 13 February
Session 1 Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable
8.30am
MC
Tom Newton has been part of the ADC team for many years. We bring him back for his final year as our much-loved MC to guide you through the next two days.
8.40am
Welcome to ADC 2024
Programming committee chair and Muswellbrook, NSW, dairy farmer Michael Rood explains our why … why we have brought the dairying globe to Melbourne and why you will get just so much out of this event.
8.50am
Farming on the front line
Andrii Pastuchenko, Ukranian dairy farmer. Imagine dairy farming under constant shelling, your 75-strong workforce having to deal daily with the challenges of war, while managing the normal farming routine. The Australian Dairy Conference is privileged to bring Andrii to Australia to share his story of resilience.
9.40am
Finding hope in the aftermath
Paul Weir, dairy farmer NSW. Many will have seen the horrific social media images of Paul Weir’s dairy herd being washed away in the 2022 Lismore, NSW, floods. Hear how this farmer found purpose in his journey of recovery.
10.20am
Break sponsored by Saputo Australia
Session 2 What’s coming and what are we going to do about it?
11.00am
Getting comfortable with what’s coming – and the opportunity it presents
Dr David Nation, Managing Director, Dairy Australia. Responsible for ensuring the country’s dairy industry is ready for the future. We ask David to set the scene for this session and challenge our preparedness for what’s coming.
11.15am
What happens when governments take charge of dairy’s future
Mike Brady, Irish Farm Consultant. European restrictions have prompted the Dutch government to mandate herd reductions and the Irish government to impose nitrate limits – all in response to climate change. Is the farmer rage in Europe warranted? Irish dairy farm consultant Mike Brady tells us what’s really happening in Europe.
11.50am
Connecting with the public
Dr Amy Jackson, specialist crisis communications consultant A passion for understanding what the UK public thinks about farming, Amy shares insight into public views that have influenced northern hemisphere government policies that are changing the face of farming.
12.20pm
Embracing the challenge of meeting what the public wants
Chris Falconer, dairy farmer New Zealand. Chris’s farm adjoins Whangamarino, a wetland of international importance in New Zealand’s North Island. He takes on all that Amy knows and doesn’t let what Mike’s seen worry him too much – as he goes about building a farming model based on his values.
12.45pm
Q&A with the speakers
1.00pm
Coles Luncheon Message
1.05pm
Lunch sponsored by Coles
Session 3 Artificial intelligence: ag’s next big revolution
2.10pm
Session sponsor Coopers Animal Health introduces this session
2.15pm
Get ready for where AI can take you
Conference MC Tom Newton tests his dog training skills as he introduces you to Roger, the Robotic Kelpie.
2.20pm
The mind-blowing potential of artificial intelligence
Professor Ben Hayes, University of Queensland The good, the bad and the just plain exciting – and how this may transform agriculture. from University Queensland, provides the lowdown.
2.55pm
The AI revolution in ag:
A rapid-fire look at some AI applications putting agriculture on the cusp of a revolution.
NZ-based sheep consultant Mark Ferguson is using AI to revolutionise sheep breeding and management. What he is doing is remarkable. How it could be applied to dairy is limited only by the imagination of those in the room.
Crazy-clever genetics student at the University of New England Zhi Kang Loh has created what he calls ‘Cinder for Cows’. He demonstrates the quantum leap AI can enable in breeding decisions.
3.20pm
Break sponsored by Bega Group
Session 4 The Young Dairy Scientists.
4.10pm
This year’s finalists
ADC science director Dr Richard Rawnsley is joined by guest speaker and communications expert Dr Amy Jackson to introduce this year’s finalists as they vie for this award for excellence in dairy science communication.
Award sponsored by Gardiner Foundation
5.00pm
Day 1 close
6.30pm
ADC Gala Dinner sponsored by Rabobank
Wednesday 14 February 2023
Session 5 Dairying beyond the comfort zone
9.00am
Welcome to day 2
Master MC Tom Newton refocuses our attention on the stage after a wonderful night of celebration.
9.05am
Forging great change to create a legacy
Dr John Penry, Dairy Australia . ADC mounted a global search to find three people who dared to go beyond their comfort zone to forge great change. Dairy Australia principal scientist introduces and hosts this session as we meet these remarkable entrepreneurs who were prepared to try something different and have fundamentally changed the way our industry thinks and operates.
9.10am
How Halter became a game-changer
Craig Piggott, Founder Halter Mechanical engineer and the son of a NZ dairy farmer, Craig was just 22 when he established Halter in 2016. Eight years later he has 150 staff and a technology changing the way dairy farmers think and operate.
9.30am
The moment sexed semen became the real game changer
Juan Moreno, Sexing Technologies, Colombia Former Colombian Brown Swiss dairy farmer turned entrepreneur explains what he saw would be the legacy of converting the science of flow cytometry into the world wide commercial adoption of sexed semen technology through his company Sexing Technologies.
9.50am
How to earn and keep a social licence with your community
Ben Loewith, Summit Station Dairy & Creamery, Canada. Located 40 minutes from the heart of Toronto, Ben, his family and their herd of 500 Holsteins are surrounded by nearly 3 million people. Ben shares how he has earned and kept the respect of his city neighbours and what we can take from this legacy and mindset.
10.10am
Q&A
This panel session brings Dr John Penry and our three international guests together to draw out a little more on what gave them the courage to forge legacy-creating change.
10.30am
Break sponsored by Alltech Lienert
Session 6 Supply chain evolution - what’s the future hold?
11.10am
Session introduction
Session sponsor Kemin introduces our session
11.15am
When your processor is a game-changer
Tom Rawson, dairy farmer, UK One night, after a solid sales pitch and on the last possible day to join, he signed up his first two farms to supply the ARLA cooperative. His ARLA milk supply journey has taken him to places he never thought possible, including an attitudinal change from the days of farmers protesting the power of the processor.
11.45am
What’s the future of Australia’s milk supply?
Michael Harvey, Rabobank Mick Harvey with a panel to discuss “why dairy, why here, now and in the future” and “what can we learn from the way other supply chains are evolving” with our three speakers giving their view of what our future milk supply will look like and where Australian dairy might fit in 2030.
The analyst: The FreshAgenda (now Ever.Ag) team was recently commissioned to examine Australia’s future milk supply and the changes to milk supply arrangements that might follow. Principal Jo Bills provides the top line summary.
The processor: Lactalis, a French multinational owned by the Besnier family, is the world’s largest dairy company. Its Australian business has a presence in every dairy region with a focus on high-value, fresh products and high-profile brands. Lactalis representative Frenchman Pascal Francisque explains where Australia fits for this leading global dairy company, now and into the future.
The investor: NZ expat and current advocate for and investor in Australian dairy farming Chris Procter is more than positive about our future milk supply arrangements with a portfolio of eight dairy farms from Mt Gambier, SA, to Gippsland, Victoria. As a savvy investor, he’s spread his risk with four free-range poultry farms north of Adelaide.
12:30
Lunch
Session 7 That moment in time
2.00pm
Climbing Everest – it’s not always a straight line to the top
Trent Thorne, Lawyer & adventurer. Trent embarked upon the adventure of a lifetime last year with the goal of conquering Everest. He came close – but missed the small window of opportunity. Trent shares how he felt in the moment he realised the summit was beyond him – and how that has spurred him on.
2.30pm
A moment in dairying time
We have asked three home-grown dairy heroes to share with us their ‘moment in time’ – to inspire us all as we head home to our farms.
Sarah Moore was an English backpacker who’d never been on a farm before she arrived in Australia. At age 26, in a snap decision, she decided dairy farming in South Australia was for her. What gave her the courage and inspiration in that sliding-door moment?
Teena Pearse is a dairy farmer and mother of Paralympic swimmer Col Pearse. Teena’s ‘moment’ in dairy farming sees her juggling the farm and travelling the world to cheer Col on as he swims on the international stage. But it wasn’t always this glamorous. As with everything, there was a lot of hard work before the reward.
Evan Nicholas lost 95 per cent of his farm in the Biggara Valley in the Black Summer fires. At the moment he was standing trying to protect his farm he said ‘thank God I’m a dairy farmer’. What made him express that thought at that time – and why as he worked to restore his farm, was he so happy he was a dairy farmer?
3.00pm
Have you been paying attention?
So we go out with a laugh, we have prepared a hilarious take-off of the hit show ‘Have you been Paying Attention’. Stand by as our MC Tom Newton does his best to channel his name-sake and hero Tom Gleisner as he puts some everyday delegates to the test with buzzer in hand.
3.15pm
Closing
3.30pm
Farewell drinks sponsored by DeLaval.