Townsville Regional Outlook conference

​​​​​27 July 2016

Metropole Hotel Townsville
81 Palmer Street
Townsville, QLD

Program

8.30 am Registration

Investing in rural industries - growing our future

CHAIR Craig Zonca, ABC Rural

9.00 am Welcome to Country
Opening address
9.30 am Lisa Elliston, ABARES – National and international issues affecting northern Australia
9.50 am Michael Growder, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – Agriculture, trade, foreign investment and FTAs – the Australian situation
10.10 am Questions and discussion
10.30 am Morning tea

Growing the northern beef industry

CHAIR Adam West, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries QLD

11.00 am Jeff Sabburg, Bureau of Meteorology – Climate information: it’s all in the timing
11.20 am Trish Gleeson, ABARES – Commodity outlook and issues
11.40 am Michael Lyons, Wambiana Station – Working with nature for sustainable profits
12.00 pm Emma Robinson, Caerphilly Station/2016 Queensland RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year – The beef co-op project: promoting cooperative agriculture in the beef industry
12.20 pm Questions and discussion
1.00 pm Lunch

Unlocking the production potential of the north

CHAIR Paul Woodhouse, Regional Development

2.00 pm Michael Kitchener, Office of Northern Australia – The role of the Office of Northern Australia in agriculture
2.20 pm Peter Stone, CSIRO – Land and water potentially available to irrigated agriculture in the north
2.40 pm Russell Ford, Rice Research Australia – Agricultural diversification in the north
3.00 pm Trent De Paoli, Austchilli – Value adding in horticulture to grow
3.20 pm Questions and discussion
4.00 pm Close and afternoon tea

Registration includes:

• conference entry
• access to ABARES recent publications
• morning and afternoon tea and lunch
• delegate directory
• profile data – about my region
• networking opportunities.