SA participants ‘Raise the Baa’ for WPA award
Livestock SA President Joe Keynes has congratulated the two South Australian recipients of WoolProducers Australia’s Raising the Baa program, SA Sheep Industry and Beef Industry Blueprint Manager Stephen Lee and Elders National Livestock Team E-Commerce Coordinator Samantha Neumann.
“We are very proud to see that two South Australians have been selected to participate in this program,” Mr Keynes said.
“In particular, we are very pleased to hear of Stephen’s acknowledgment as we have worked very closely with him for a number of years as part of his role in managing the SA Sheep Industry and Beef Industry Blueprints.
“He has played an integral part in the success of the Blueprints so we are very pleased to see him be selected to participate in the WPA program.
“The importance of developing leadership and governance skills cannot be understated. I think it’s terrific that the WPA program has attracted such a strong representation from people within the livestock industry, who are now being given the opportunity to develop and deliver these skills.”
Since the launch of the Sheep Blueprint in mid-2016, it has exceeded its overarching aim of delivering a 20 per cent increase in productivity and value in the state’s sheep industry by 2020.
Record prices had helped drive interest and progression of the SA sheep and wool industries.
The Beef Blueprint was launched in mid-2018 and is also well on track to deliver on its key aims.
Besides his work as Blueprint Manager, Mr Lee has extensive experience in applied research, technical extension and private sector work in product development and commercialisation.
His research scope includes sheep and beef genetics and genomics, improving livestock productivity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production, and increasing carcass compliance and eating quality.
The Sheep Blueprint is an initiative of Livestock SA and South Australian Sheep Advisory Group and is supported by Primary Industries and Regions SA and the University of Adelaide. The Beef Blueprint is an industry initiative of Livestock SA with funding support from the University of Adelaide through the Davies Research Centre, Primary Industries and Regions SA and the Australian Government through the Better Regions Fund.
Ms Neumann grew up on her family’s wheat and wool property, east of the Barossa ranges. Her passion for agriculture was formed here, and while she enjoys and maintains active involvement in the operations, it has been at Elders where that passion has been fostered and encouraged to grow.
She has also participated in a number of industry bodies, including the SA Sheep Expo and SA Agricultural Bureau.
As part of the Raising the Baa program participants will undertake a fully-funded Company Directors Course with the Australian Institute of Company Directors in mid-June.