The Gardiner Dairy Foundation will bring together the country’s industry leaders for the Australian Dairy Leadership Alumni (ADLA) Summit, an immersive two-day meeting in Melbourne focusing on global megatrends and setting a path to adapt to future challenges.

The fourth annual ADLA Summit, on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 December, invites 80 high-level graduates to an intensive program to address megatrends from the CSIRO Global Futures Report including climatic, demographic, digital and social changes of tomorrow.

Centred on the theme, “Our world is changing – Are we?”, ADLA alumni will question some of the major issues that will shape the dairy industry and its future.

Gardiner Dairy Foundation Chief Executive, Mary Harney, outlines that this year’s summit will harness the collective minds of dairy leaders across Australia and cross- pollinate their knowledge with various globally-recognised experts.

“The summit aims to challenge and empower future dairy leaders to explore new and emerging trends such as digital technology, social and climate change and demonstrate how they will impact the dairy industry.

“The speakers we have engaged for the summit will provide new insights into how we can be agile, innovative and adaptive to increasing pressures facing the dairy industry,” said Mary Harney.

Key-note speaker and international climate change expert, Professor Mark Howden from the Australian National University, will open the summit and showcase the innovative adaptation options across key topics including:

  • Agriculture and food security
  • Natural resource base
  • Ecosystems and biodiversity
  • Energy, water and urban systemsThe meeting will then be joined by experts in their respective fields of disease, robotics and technology including; Professor Sean Grimmond, Director and the Bertalli Chair in Cancer Medicine from the University of Melbourne, Marita Cheng, 2012 Young Australian of the Year and leading female robotic engineer, and Robert Southward, Product Development leader of internationally renowned hearing implant supplier, Cochlear.ADLA is a joint initiative of Gardiner Dairy Foundation, Dairy Australia and Agriculture Victoria and represents some of the brightest and most innovative leaders of the Australian dairy industry.