The Australia China Agribusiness Association Annual Forum took place on Aug 16th, 2018 at The Novotel Hotel, Glen Waverley, Melbourne.
This Forum provided an overview to all participants around the Australia and China’s Agricultural industry. Nearly 100 delegates including government officers, academic professionals abd investors gathered together for this event to discuss challenges and opportunities around hot topics like agricultural investment, livestock production, and the development of Australian wine industry..
After an opening address by Mr Leon Ye, the Secretary General of Australia China Agribusiness Association, Mr Jacky Jiang, the President of Australia China Agribusiness Association made a welcome speech with addressingall important guests.
The Board Members of the Association introduced themselves accordingly. From farming to processing, over 40 board members and members shared their knowledge and experiences on new technologies, new products, new business development and management strategies covering almost all agribusiness sectors.
Mr. Tim Burrow, the CEO of Agribusiness Australia delivered his speech about “Agribusiness, The Multiplier”.
In his speech, he mentioned, ‘Australia is striving to provide food for the hungry planet, that’s the tough situation for our industry. There are several reasons why we do it. From the point of Australia, we have three important reasons. Firstly, the ethical aspect. Australia being a big country, is ethically responsible to provide food for more people. Secondly, the influential factor. Being the eleventh largest economy in the world, we want to have more international influence. And the third factor is finance. Australia has lots of financial power.’ At the meantime, he also mentioned, ‘We support the use of fertilisers and some ag chemicals. We encourage people to take innovations, interact and develop opportunities. Our organization support industry development like local and international investment. We very much value innovation to bring changes to the practice, research to promote sustainability, and most importantly, professionals which is the important factor to keep the industry going.’
After a short Tea Break, Dr. Chan, the managing Director of Kingland, gave a talk on Sheep and Lamb industry’s overview and investment options. His topic focused on how to use embryo transfer technology y to maximize profitability. By generating cost-return analysis on wool and lamb productions. Dr Chan brought invaluable advice to the guests who interested in livestock investment.
Many people think wine industry asa battle-selling battle. A panel discussion together with Helen Xu, the Director of Helen & Joey Estate Yarra Valley, Jianchu Jiang, the Marketing Director of Swan Estate, Mark O’Callaghan, the Director of Wine Network Consulting and Robert Luo, the CEO of Barmah Park Wine provided comprehensive views on doing wine business in Australia. They talked about risk management and brand building. All guests had their chance to taste some top quality Australian wine during the lunch session.
Jason Hellyer from Ray White Rural Victoria, shared his experience in agricultural investments by providing cases studies and professional advice.
Following that, Hal Zhou from Union Australia gave a talk on Farm Management in Australia.
At the end of the Forum, Jacky Jiang, the President of ACABA appreciated the participation of all delegates. . ACABA is looking forward to hearing feedbacks and advice from the guests to provide better service to her members . ACABA is committed to act as a transparent platform to agricultural businesses, entrepreneurs and professionals to communicate in the future.
After the forum, Stephen Blair from Tas Asia Dairy said to the press: ‘As a member of ACABA, I am honoured to be able to participate in this Forum. I can feel the dedication of ACABA management team which made this Forum so informative and meaningful. I admire those Chinese agribusiness professionals for their proactiveness in research, development and technology innovation.
(Pictures/Original text credit: Di Zhang & Zongya Xu)
Appendix:
Guest list of the ACABA 2018 Forum:
Mr. Wei Dai, Vice Consul of the Consulate-General of The People’s Republic of China in Melbourne
Ms. Bing Liu, Senior Trade and Investment Lead – Asia of Austrade
Ms. Green Yang, Senior Adviser- Agri & Food of Austrade
Cr. Peter Kostos, Councilor of Baw Baw Shire and Markets Analyst of Stock and Land
Mr. Tim Burrow, CEO of Agribusiness Australia
Mr. Paul Li, President of Chinese Chamber of Commerce o fAustralia, Victoria Division, and GM of The Commercial and Industrial Bank ofChina, Melbourne
Mr. Alex Arbuthnot, Deputy Chair of Victorian Agribusiness Council Inc., Former President of VFF
Mrs. Bronwyn Debenham, CEO of VictorianA gribusiness Council Inc.
Mr. Yatong Wang, Executive President of Australia Jiangsu Business Council and Australia Jiangsu UnitedAssociation
Mr. Yebing Li, Co-Head of COFCOAgri Australia
Mr. Xiaochun Wang, Executive Director of Burra Food Australia
Mr. Haha Liu, Founder and President of Australian Emergency Assistance Association
Mr. Harry Ma, President of Australia China Entrepreneur’s dialogue
Mr. Jun Xu, President of Australian Taizhou Business Association Inc