At the recent Growcom annual general meeting we celebrated the contributions of two fantastic, long-serving leaders of the Queensland horticulture industry.
Colin Jeacocke, a mango and dragonfruit grower from Gin Gin, has made significant contributions in governance roles at regional and state levels over a number of decades.
Les Williams, a pineapple grower beneath the Glass House Mountains at Wamuran, as a past chair of Growcom is recognised across the industry and among our key stakeholders as a persuasive and invaluable advocate for horticulture.
Both Les and Colin have served their maximum terms of eight years on the Growcom board, and in this time have together helped guide Growcom and the broader industry through some very challenging times. We are sincerely grateful for these contributions.
In their place we are welcoming to the board Andrew Moon from Moonrocks in St George.
Andrew farms alongside his brother David, specialising today in onions, garlic, and pumpkins, and brings to the table experience in industry governance and a wealth of expertise in all aspects of farming, including marketing and logistics.
At the same time, Growcom is excited to be working with a team of current and emerging industry leaders as we develop Future Fields, a new 10-year strategic plan for the Queensland fresh produce sector and supply chain.
In parallel with developing the content of Future Fields, we are also developing the capability of a network of key people, able to work together, for the long-term success of the fresh produce sector and supply chain, as outlined in the strategy.
The Future Fields Leaders are a diverse group of a dozen doers from the across the supply chain, who will be reaching out to key stakeholders, leading engagement, and seeking agreement on actions to be taken as part of the plan.
This week the Future Fields Leaders came together for the first time for an energetic and lively discussion about plotting a way forward for the sector.
Through our Future Fields engagement activities to date, including a number of regional workshops, we have continued to hear about the value and importance for our industry of strong and decisive leadership to take us forward.
So Growcom is proud to be bringing such a talented group of individuals together, who are committed to our collective future prosperity, and want to register our thanks to the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for their investment in our leadership capacity.
For more information about Future Fields visit www.futurefields.info.