Master of Ceremonies - Benjamin Vagg

Benjamin Vagg is a founding member of Dairy Farmers Victoria and chair of the subcommittee organising the Dairy Farmers Victoria Forum. Benjamin comes from an intergenerational dairy farming family in Leongatha South and has a passion for personal knowledge development and growth. As the MC and organising chair, he hopes everyone will gain ideas from the forum and help shape Dairy Farmers Victoria for the future.

Session 1 | Milk Price Discussion

What’s the new milk price paradigm driving Australian milk production and price? Are imports a threat? How have global events affected the dairy price over the past
few years, and how will they impact the next twelve months?

Scott Briggs
Over the last twenty years, Scott has worked in various roles in global agricultural markets, including in Europe, the USA, Latin America, and Australia. He has also spent the last ten years working closely with Australian and global dairy market participants, giving him unique
insights into the commercial and strategic issues industry participants face across the value chain.

Session 2 | Enhancing Fertiliser Efficiency

Advances in fertiliser technologies offer farmers the tools to improve the efficiency of applied nutrients and increase their pasture production, particularly during periods where fertiliser efficiency is compromised. An Agronomist (Jim Colquhoun) and a Milk Producer (Benn Thexton) will present a case study from one of Benn’s farms in Gippsland. The case study will demonstrate positive trends in overall production and improved nutrient use efficiency by successfully incorporating these strategies within the farm’s fertiliser programme.

Michael Darling
Originally from a dairy farming family in Gippsland, Mick Darling now works within Nutrien’s Crop Nutrition team. His role involves working closely with staff and farmers across Victoria and Tasmania with fertiliser support, training, emerging technologies & field trials in a variety of cropping & pasture segments.

Benn Thexton
Benn Thexton and his wife, Peta, operate Thexton Farm Group. TFG is a growing dairy business operating over four sites milking, 2000 cows with a land footprint of 1540ha. Our key pillars for business success are: 1. Intense simplicity, 2. People relationships over profit, and 3. Replicatable systems.

Jim Colquhoun
Jim is an Agronomist with 26 years of experience in high-rainfall and irrigated pasture systems. He focuses on livestock production and has a passion for plant nutrition, focusing on the key profit drivers of his client’s grazing systems. Jim also has a keen interest in the future of
plant nutrition technologies.

Session 3 | Industry Advocacy | Building Statewide Connections

Keynote Presentation
The Hon. Jeffrey Kennett AC
Jeffrey Kennett will address the forum about the importance of advocacy and how to be effective within our community.

This keynote presentation will be followed by a facilitated session with Adam Jenkins, during which members will be asked to discuss the structure of the branches, the regions for growth, membership options, and the connection between members on issues and policy development.