Winner of the Island Award for Excellence in Tasmanian Agriculture

The winners of the inaugural Island Award are Alan and Rosie Davenport from Telita Dairy in Derby, north east Tasmania. The award, sponsored by Macquarie Franklin, was presented by Sid Sidebottom at the TFGA conference dinner on Wednesday night.

The judging panel had a tough task to select Alan and Rosie from the 5 finalists for the award, who would all have been deserving winners – highlighting the incredibly high standard of farm business management being set by many Tasmanian farmers. This includes environmental management, OH&S, animal welfare, and contributions to the broader community, as well as excellence in managing their farming systems. Tasmanian farmers are leaders and innovators, and are constantly adapting and planning for the future. The other finalists were the Archer family (Landfall, East Tamar), Richard and Emily Gardner (Annandale, Tunbridge), Stewart and Kerrie McGee (Brookdene, Bishopsbourne), and Grant and Melanie Rogers (Pindari Dairy, Ouse).

Alan and Rosie were nominated by Dairy Tas, as a high achieving example of excellence both in farming in general and the dairy industry in particular. Alan and Rosie stood out for the judging panel in a few key areas. Much of what Alan and Rosie do as standard practice are considered over and above what most other farmers would do (e.g. their focus on diversification). Long term planning was very strong, with a big focus on continuous improvement – stock, pastures, fencing, etc. Alan is a natural stockman, who looks after people the way he looks after his stock. The Davenports are a very strong couple with a family approach, and huge involvement in their community – both in farming and in other areas (e.g. school, NRM, Irrigation, dairy committees). Most of all, Alan and Rosie have demonstrated immense capacity for creating opportunities. They started out as sharefarmers and now own 555ha, employing 4 full time staff and 4 casual staff. Their main enterprise is dairy but they also have a diversity of vegetable and horticultural crops, and forestry. Alan and Rosie have an outstanding track record:

• 1991 Finalist Dairy Farmers of the Year Award (second year share farming)
• 1993 Dairy Farmer of the Year (share farming)
• 2003 Dairy Business of the Year, Finalist and Most Improved Winner.
• 2004 Dairy Business of the Year (joint winners)

And Macquarie Franklin and TFGA are pleased to add the Island Award to their list of achievements.
Jan Davis TFGA Chief Executive http://www.tfga.com.au/