Promoting thought leadership (2012)

Gardiner Dairy Foundation supports thought leadership and innovation in the dairy industry by funding eminent international agricultural leaders to visit Australia and speak with dairy farmers, politicians and decision-makers.

Gardiner Dairy Foundation has a tradition of promoting thought leadership and innovation amongst Victorian dairy farmers, the national industry, politicians and decision-makers. Gardiner brings high profile international leaders to Australia to speak about best practice in agriculture to facilitate long-term strategic decision-making in the industry.

In early 2015, internationally renowned agricultural and food authority Professor Aalt Dijkhuizen, challenged our approaches to global food supply issues in a tour of Australia funded and supported by Gardiner Dairy Foundation.

Professor Dijkhuizen is President of the Dutch Top Sector Agri&Food – a collaboration and innovation network between government, private industry and universities/research institutes in the Netherlands.

He spoke at the University of Melbourne, the National Press Club in Canberra, Rabobank in Sydney, and Gardiner Dairy Foundation’s Leader’s Luncheon, hosted by the Minister for Agriculture The Hon. Jaala Pulford.

He encouraged governments, private industry, universities and research institutes to work closely together to drive Australian agricultural and horticultural industries. Producing the quality and quantity of food required to feed the world will be a major challenge in coming decades. But Australia’s approach to food safety will be an advantage as food security becomes increasingly important in China and Asia.

Professor Alan Olmstead, a distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of California, and Professor Tim Carpenter, a Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at Massey University in New Zealand, brought infectious livestock diseases to the forefront at a series of events hosted by the Gardiner Dairy Foundation to discuss Australia’s preparedness to manage foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

The aim of the public and private forums was to lead conversations that recognise the significant and detrimental impact an outbreak could have on the Australian dairy and livestock industries, and to reinforce discussions between the agricultural industry and government to drive effective policies relating to highly infectious diseases.

Gardiner Dairy Foundation brought Mr Jack Bobo, Chief Communications Officer for Intrexon, a synthetic biology company working in food, energy and health to Melbourne in September. Earlier in 2015 he was named ‘one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology today’ by leading journal Scientific American. In two public fora at the University of Melbourne he examined the role of science, science communication and trust in addressing global challenges in food and agricultural production.