ABIF Education Fund
The ABIF Education Fund is a Deductable Gift Recipient (DGR) fund approved by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the purpose of providing Scholarships for students to attend educational institutions providing approved agricultural courses at primary, secondary and tertiary level.
The corporate Trustee of the Fund is ABIF Education Fund Pty Ltd.
The fund welcomes corporate, personal or institutional donors to enable the training of young people to pursue rewarding careers in Australia’s important agricultural sector.
The Directors of ABIF Education Fund Pty Ltd are:
Bill Gurry, Chairman
For the past six years Bill has been Chairman of Rabobank Australia and New Zealand Group and has been a Director for more than ten years. Bill is also a Director of the Financial Markets Foundation for Children. Previously Bill has been Executive Chairman of UBS Australia, Managing Director of Potter Warburg and a Director of Coles until it was taken over by Wesfarmers. Bill also has extensive farming interests in Yea, Victoria.
J L (Lyn) Davies
Lyn is an experienced independent Director and Chairman. His experience is broad and covers a number of Companies – both Publicly listed and Private, Family Councils and Management Advisory Groups and he has highly developed Corporate Governance skills.
For 20 years Lyn operated his own company, Davies Business Services P/L, specialising in corporate advice. He finished operating this business in 2009 to concentrate full time on his Board appointments. Prior to operating his own business, his business experience had been at Chief Executive and NED level with EldersIXL Ltd., Wattie Industries Ltd., and Goodman Fielder Ltd.
Prof Jim Pratley
Jim is Research Professor of Agriculture at Charles Sturt University and Secretary of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture. He graduated with BSc and PhD degrees from the University of NSW and took up an academic position at Wagga Wagga where he has been since 1972. He was Foundation Dean of Science and Agriculture at Charles Sturt University from 1990 until 2006. Jim has taught courses in agronomy and related areas and has published widely in conservation farming, weed management, herbicide resistance, allelopathy and agricultural education. He is a former President of the Australian Society of Agronomy and former Vice President of the International Allelopathy Society. He has served on the Boards of the Cooperative Research Centres of Viticulture, Sustainable Rice Production, Weed Management Systems and Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity. He is a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Farm Institute, the NSW Primary Industries Ministerial Advisory Council and the National Council for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food iof the Australian Academy of Science. He completed a Ministerial Review into Agricultural Education and Training in NSW in 2013.
Simon Faulkiner
Don Lawson
ABIF Education Fund can be contacted:
PO Box 2506
KEW VIC 3101
education@abif.com.au