2015 Conference invitation

INVITATION

The private sector – from small to medium scale and larger farmers, to processors and handlers, multinational, national and local input providers, to wholesalers and retailers – has a key role to play. But making all this work whilst maintaining ecosystem services and profitability along agricultural value chains is a shared responsibility of the public, not-for -profit and private sectors: sustainability, profitability and sound public policy are inextricably linked.

I am pleased to be able to say that the Crawford Fund has once again been successful in convening ‘world’s best’ leaders from all three sectors. Keynote speakers include:

• Mr Anthony Pratt, Executive Chairman, Visy Industries;
• Ms Gerda Verburg, Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Food and Nutrition Security, and
• Mr Chris Brett, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Olam International (by live video stream).

Our website has more information on all speakers and the full program.

We will hear authentic private, public and not-for-profit sector leaders on new directions in partnerships; research and sustainable sourcing already underway; the likely scale of private sector investment in sustainable intensification and ecosystem services; and assessments of the implications of all this for public policy.

Particular emphasis will be placed on the developing world with speakers from Syngenta and PisAgro in Indonesia, from the Asian regional leader for Elanco, and from the head of new business development at Bayer Crop Science Pty Ltd.

The program includes speakers from the not for profit Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture; the international NGO World Wildlife Fund, from the multi-stakeholder forum Grow Asia, and the newly appointed Director General of CIMMYT, who will also raise issues related to the university sector having just left his senior position at Wageningen University.

It is hoped that ideas for a new generation of public private partnerships will emerge from the Conference. To this end, the Conference includes two extended Q&A sessions facilitated by Ms Catherine Marriot, ACIAR Commissioner and Managing Director of Influential Women and Mr Jim Woodhill from the Agriculture and Food Branch of DFAT.

The Sir John Crawford Memorial Address will be delivered on the evening of 10 August by Dr Cary Fowler, biodiversity conservationist and former executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the inspiration behind the Svalbard Seed Storage Facility.

And once again we will provide Members of Parliament and Senators with an opportunity to hear key messages from speakers at our Parliamentary Breakfast on 12 August, prior to our special “Scholar Day,” which provides an opportunity for you to donate to our efforts at encouraging young people into international agricultural research.

I do hope you can join us and be part of our deliberations in Canberra to help frame a way forward in food security that draws on the best practice in sustainability, profitability and sound public policy.

The Hon Margaret Reid AO – Acting Chair
On behalf of The Hon John Kerin AO and the Board of Directors of the Crawford Fund