The Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia (RGA) is very happy to announce the successful applicants for the 2017 - 2020 Rice Industry Leadership Program – Established Leaders, being Angela Urquhart, Warren Lang, Robert Massina, Antony Vagg and Jeremy Morton.
The Established Leaders program has been developed for rice growers and industry representatives who have experience and ambitions to take on a directorship position in the future. The exciting program consists of three major activities undertaken over a 6 month period.
The program begins with a 3 day Foundations of Directorship course lead by the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Following this, participants will travel to SunRice’s Sydney office to take part in a Governance in Action session led by Zoe Routh from Inner Compass. The program will then finish with a packed trip to Vietnam to gain a greater understanding of SunRice’s international business and supply chains.
A comprehensive selection process was undertaken to select the 5 successful candidates, and included a written and media application piece along with an interview. The RGA and funding partners were blown away by the number and quality of applications for this Program. This interest really highlighted that the Australian rice industry has so much potential going forward.
The Established Leaders program is one of three rice industry leadership programs supported by the Coalition Governments $5 million Leadership in Agricultural Industries Fund. Late last year, the RGA announced that it had successfully secured $367,960 for leadership development through this Fund. In addition, the key organisations servicing the rice industry, being the RGA, AgriFutures Australia, SunRice, The Rice Marketing Board for the State of NSW and Rice Extension, all agreed to contribute matching funds bringing the total rice industry leadership program funding to $662,760.
Angela Urquhart: Angela runs a mixed cropping farm with her husband south of Finley. Angela holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Computer Science and is a qualified Accountant and member of CPA Australia. Angela currently plays an active role in the rice industry as a delegate for the Berriquin Branch of the RGA, and has recently been elected onto the RGA Board.
Warren Lang: Warren runs a mixed farming business and transport business with his wife south of Finley. Warren served on the RGA central executive from 1993 to 2017, in that time he held the position as Berriquin Branch President for 12 years and as Senior Vice President of RGA for 8 years.
Robert Massina: Robert runs a mixed farming business with his wife and father and mother in-law west of Jerilderie. Robert holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics and prior to farming Robert
held senior executive roles with Elders Rural and Landpower Ltd. Robert is the current President of the Berriquin Branch RGA and current Senior Vice President of the RGA.
Antony Vagg: Antony runs a cropping business with his parents and two brothers at Bunaloo. Antony holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Bachelor of Agriculture Consulting. In 2013 Antony was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship which saw him travel the globe looking at rice farming systems and the value proposition of rice straw and hull. Antony is the current Vice Chair of the Deniboota Landholders Association and has previously held positions on the RGA central Executive.
Jeremy Morton: Jeremy with his wife run a mixed farming business at Moulamein. Jeremy is the current RGA President, where he represents the organisation at the National Farmers Federation and the National irrigators Council. Jeremy is also a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.