Fightback against Dieback

David is a veterinarian with a PhD and background in agriculture research. Since 2009 David has worked across various roles with Meat & Livestock, first as a Live Export R&D Manager and then a stint in the Middle East as Livestock Services Manager and MENA Regional Manager.

Now based in Western Australia, David’s extensive role focuses on delivering research and development across on farm programs including beef, sheep and goat productivity, animal health and welfare, feedbase, feedlot and live export.

With over 35 years’ international experience in tropical crop protection and research, including 20 years in Australian IPM systems, Caroline’s research studies focus on the interactions between insects, microorganisms and plants, and the commercial development and use of practical, sustainable pest management tools. Her QUT Pasture Dieback research focuses on the mealybug, Heliococcus summervillei: its biology, natural enemies, and management.

Stuart has over 25 years of research, development and extension experience in crop and pasture agronomy and is currently coordinating the Department’s (DAF) Queensland pasture dieback program. Stuart also specialises in supporting graziers to improve productivity of sown pasture systems through legume augmentation, fertiliser use, or other renovation techniques. Stuart has developed close working relationships with grain producers and graziers in central Queensland, along with successful consultancy, industry group and government collaborations nationally.

Gordon led part on an emergency response to Pasture Dieback in 2017/18, and now leads an MLA pasture dieback project that assesses the effectiveness of management practices to provide feed and pasture species tolerance to dieback. Gordon’s focus is on extension and research, with a passion for communicating research results to end-users so they can take these results into practice in a profitable and sustainable method. Gordon has a degree in production horticulture and a PhD in plant physiology (crop nutrition).

Working in a beef extension and advisory role for over 10 years, Nathan is also involved in the family beef business with his own small seed stock herd near Casino. Often known for his mantra of Profit comes from Pasture, he has considerable expertise in tropical pasture agronomy and beef breeding. Nathan was involved in the selection of a new kikuyu cultivar with improved disease resistance, due for release later this year, along with having identified the first case of Pasture Dieback in Autumn 2020 in the Tweed Valley of NSW. More recently Nathan initiated a drench trial with NSW DPI to determine the effectiveness of key cattle drenches used on the NSW north coast.

Nicholas is currently employed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) as a pasture agronomist. He is an integral member of the DAF pasture dieback program team and works across DAF-MLA co-funded projects pasture research and extension projects undertaken in central Queensland. Nicholas specialises in using technology to enhance research data collection and outcomes.

Overseeing the family’s Central Qld commercial beef operation Owen is focused on securing premium markets and high returns. The family business produces organic beef and is currently best management practice certified through Grazing BMP. More recently Owen has been involved in the DAF ‘From Method to Market’ project that aims to work with grazing businesses to identify potential methods to demonstrate carbon neutrality and access other ecosystem markets, whilst producing livestock. Owen is an advocate for utilising industry knowledge to improve agricultural practices, business efficiencies and on ground productivity gains.

John is a 5th generation Beef Cattle producer from the Middlemount area of CQ and the 3rd generation on the home property Booroondarra purchased by John’s grandfather in 1925.
In partnership with his wife and daughters the business presently runs a predominantly Droughtmaster herd of around 5,500 head across five properties fattening bullocks, cull cows and trade heifers on a combination of improved pasture, leucaena and forage crops.
John has been involved in AgForce since it started and is the current President AgForce CQ and Vice President AgForce Qld. Like many others in CQ impacted by pasture dieback, John actively advocates for assistance to the State’s pasture dieback challenges and is involved in two separate trials, the first installed by Gordon Rodgers’ team from AHR three years ago and another by QDAF in 2021.

2019 Nuffield Scholar Alistair Corr has been employed with MacTaggart Pastoral for the past decade managing an aggregration of properties located between Moura and Bauhinia, totalling 12,000ha. The aggregation is generally used for trading and backgrounding dry cattle, with some breeders on the less productive areas. The grazing management is conducted using graze/rest techniques with varying degrees of intensity relative to the land type. The presence of Dieback was first noticed in the summer of 2016/17, and has since spread comprehensively throughout the properties, across all facets of land and pasture species.