Paul Roderick, Roseanne Healy and Tania Luckin were appointed to Dairy Australia's board of directors.
Six candidates stood for election for three vacant board director positions at the organisation's 2020 AGM on November 27.
Tania Luckin and Roseanne Healy were re-elected respectively as a milk producer director and an agribusiness, innovation and change management director, while Paul Roderick was elected to the board for the first time as a milk producer director.
For the past 23 years, Mrs Luckin has owned and operated dairy enterprises ranging in size from 180 to 1500 cows in south-west Victoria and South Australia.
As a director, Mrs Luckin will be focused on ensuring DA delivers on the priorities in the new strategic plan for FY20-25, which has been developed to align with the key commitments of the Australian Dairy Plan.
"I would also like to see us continue to focus on the attraction and retention of people in the industry, to support businesses towards long-term profitability, enhance our farmer communications, and build upon the strong community support for dairy," she said.
Mrs Luckin believes the dairy industry should be aiming to be inclusive, respectful and supportive so young people choose dairy as their career of choice.
"We need to build a culture that encourages success and where success is celebrated; where learning and development of skills is encouraged, where the adoption of new technologies, business planning, risk management strategies and labour management are seen as key to a profitable and sustainable business," she said.
"With our greatest challenges come our greatest opportunities.
"We as an industry are in the unique position to benefit from collective investments in innovation, people capability and on-farm and whole of supply chain initiatives that will drive long-term profitability, encourage new entrants into the industry, enable our businesses to adapt and thrive in a changing environment and foster a positive culture and strong leadership."
Harrisville, Queensland dairy farmer Paul Roderick was previously involved in regional development programs, before putting his hand up for the vacant position left by retiring director Graeme Nicoll.
"The natural progression was to move to a national level," he said.
"There was a genuine vacancy on the board and I saw it as a good opportunity.
"My family has been very supportive and while there's never the perfect time there's always the right time, so I thought I would give it a crack."
Mr Roderick has seen the benefits that come when farmers are engaged and investing in technology that contributes to the profitability of their farm businesses.
It is something he would like to see more of in his new role.
"If you develop a better understanding of the situations facing farmers, then you get a better outcome for them," he said.
"I'm always impressed by people who get out to farmers ad engage with them.
"I would like to see better engagement with farmers that leads to better uptake and subsequently more satisfaction with the levies they're paying."
Another main priority for Mr Roderick is regional diversity.
"There's a number of farmers who are struggling and we need to find out what the keys are for those farms in those regions and to ultimately stabilise our national milk production," he said.
"We also need to look at innovative ways to use the resources we have, i.e. turn water into milk, it may not be a traditional system, but we need to look outside the square."
Mr Roderick believes technology and innovation is a big part of the dairy industry's future.
"The genomic revolution is coming, we are seeing it now," he said.
"However, we need to be positive and productive to invest in it, that's one of the challenges.
"We have to take hundreds of ideas and opinions, distil them forward and look at ways to take the whole industry forward."
Dairy Australia chair James Mann said all three directors brought "significant farming and business experience to assist us best deliver for the dairy industry".
Graeme Nicoll was appointed to the board in January 2017 and retired at this year's AGM.
"I would like to recognise Graeme's commitment to the industry over many years in roles with both GippsDairy and Dairy Australia," Mr Mann said.
"Graeme has brought an intelligence and sharp analysis to the work of the board and we wish him well.
"I would like to acknowledge Carlie Barry, Phil Ryan and David Beca for their interest in standing as candidates in our director elections.
"There has been an unprecedented level of interest from people wanting to become a director of Dairy Australia and support our organisation in being the best it can be in the service of dairy farmers."
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