At the recent Annual General Meeting of the Australian Beef Industry Foundation (ABIF), the directors unanimously elected outgoing chairman Frank Archer to continue to lead the organisation.
In the only change to the board, Daryl Schipp (NSW), who has been assisting the board as treasurer, was elected as a director and treasurer following the retirement of Nick Sher.
In presenting his Chairman’s Report for the 2011 year, Mr Archer commented on the significance of the new initiatives that ABIF developed during the year under review, and he specifically mentioned: –
- Five scholarships to the Marcus Oldham Rural Leadership Program, including one for indigenous students.
- An annual scholarship to Lincoln University (NZ) Rural Leadership Program.
- An additional scholarship to Lincoln University (NZ) for an Australian student to study agriculture.
- The offer from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester (UK) for an Australian student to study agriculture, with a particular emphasis on marketing.
- The funding of two students from Calrossy School in Armidale NSW to participate in a northern NSW production study tour arranged by Angus Youth.
- The funding of a study tour for students from Murdoch University (WA) to visit all aspects of a beef supply chain.
- Positive discussions with Kansas State University, Colorado State University and Texas A&M University to develop scholarships for Australian students to study animal science.
“We are also pleased to announce the re-instatement of the Howard Yelland Award to be sponsored by Merial Australia. This generous sponsorship from Merial will cover the cost of one of the Marcus Oldham Leadership Program courses, and the Merial Howard Yelland Award will be presented at the Marcus Oldham Rural Leadership Program official dinner.” Mr Archer informed the meeting.
The Chairman’s Report also referred to the significance of the establishment, during the year under review, of the ABIF Education Fund as an Australian Taxation Office-approved deductable gift recipient (DGR) status fund that has already received a substantial and generous donation from the Thyne Reid Foundation.
Mr Archer acknowledged the role of Professor Bob Officer, Mr Richard Morgan AM, Mr Lyn Davies, Mr Greg Hunt and Mr Bill Gurry AO as trustees of the ABIF Education Fund.
The meeting acknowledged Mr Archer’s leadership during 2011 in which a new constitution was adopted and the board expanded to include nine directors covering a wide geographical spread throughout Australia.
In addition to Mr Archer’s appointment as Chairman and Mr Schipp as Treasurer, the meeting elected Mr John Gunthorpe as Deputy Chairman.
