June 20, 2014
AgForce delegates and members from throughout south-east Queensland converged on Kingaroy this week for a regional general meeting.
The group began their stay with a tour of Belvedere Farm near Kumbia on Thursday morning.
Famous for its peanuts, Belvedere also grows avocados and other fruit trees and operates as a tourism business.
On Thursday night, the group gathered at the Booie Bello Vista for a regional dinner to showcase local produce and to listen to guest speaker, Wooroolin peanut grower and former Test cricketer, Carl Rackemann.
A highlight of the night was the announcement of the 2014 McMaster’s Bell winner. The bell, which was inaugurated in 1989, is presented in recognition to someone who has worked hard at a grass roots level in AgForce.
This year’s winner was Erin Lawless, from Booubyjan.
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On Friday, the AgForce delegates got down to the serious business of a regional meeting.
They gathered at the Kingaroy Town Common Hall to listen to a range of guest speakers who covered everything from weeds to best management practices in cattle.
AgForce staff also provided updates on a number of policy initiatives.
CEO Charles Burke told southburnett.com.au he was pleased with the roll-up for the meeting.
“It is an opportunity for AgForce staff to brief members and for members to feed information back up through the same channels,” Mr Burke said.
Mr Burke said the major issues facing AgForce members at present in the south-east region were the interaction between agriculture and CSG / mining, vegetation management, profitability and cattle prices.
Mr Burke said the State Government’s new Regional Planning Interests Act, which aims to restore balance between the competing interests of the resources industry and primary producers, had some positive aspects as well as “a few issues” that were yet to be resolved.
He said cattle prices were down because the market was over-supplied with cattle coming out of drought-stricken western Queensland, however despite this – and a reasonably high Australian dollar – demand was still good.
Mr Burke said AgForce was working with cattle producers to adopt best management practices which would help to lower their cost base as well as have positive environmental benefits.
