Dion Woolford joins GPSA Board
Jun 04, 2017
The Board of Grain Producers SA has appointed Eyre Peninsula grain grower Dion Woolford as an independent director.
Dion farms with his wife Chelsea and his parents near Kimba, cropping 4500 hectares to mostly wheat, barley and vetch for feed and running 5000 sheep under the prefix Karawatha Park.
Dion, 29, says he is excited by the opportunity to work with the GPSA Board and grateful for the wide support he has received in taking on the new role – from the industry to his family. He will stand for election at the next Annual General Meeting.
“The issues that Grain Producers SA deals with through its policy and advocacy role affects me and everyone around me,” he said.
“For example, there’s a huge range of issues such as how supply chain cost affects many farmers on EP and all over the state because having a choice on where to deliver grain is important. Machinery movement is important in terms of what can be moved where and when, plus being able to operate road trains. Also, regulation around access to technology, such as genetically modified corps, will help boost our productivity.
“These issues are what GPSA deals with day in, day out and they affect us all every day. That makes the work that GPSA does really important to all of us, even though you might not think of it every day.
“GPSA is all about working to create a better environment for producers to operate in and it’s pretty exciting to be able to have an opportunity to be part of this work and to be part of finding solutions to these issues.”
Dion says he hopes to bring a younger perspective to the Board to focus on different issues, such as the increasing prevalence of social media.
“At present, the benefits of eating grains as part of a balanced diet are not widely recognised so we need to make sure the real facts around our industry are known, particularly by our city counterparts,” he said. “We produce clean, high quality grain in a way that’s efficient and environmentally sustainable. I don’t know a farmer who doesn’t worship their soil or know it’s their key profit driver. We do a great job so we need to let everyone know about it.”
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