KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Holger Gauger  has global experience in malting barley. He commenced his career as a trainee of Alfred C Toepfer in Hamburg, before moving to Franz Dauter in Germany and then to Continental Grain Co and Bunge Corp with offices in Germany, Rotterdam, Antwerp and San Francisco. Since 1978, Holger has worked as an independent, initially as Gerson SA and later as HM Gauger GmbH, in Brussels and now at Potsdam, Germany. Holger’s specialty has been malting barley, as both a trader and broker. Holger has been a consultant to companies all over the world and publishes market reports and statistical yearbooks.

Flavio Capettini is the barley breeder responsible for the Latin America Regional Program of ICARDA (the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas). The program, targeted for Latin America and based in Mexico, is part of the worldwide barley enhancement program of ICARDA, and for the region is carried out jointly with CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center). The program collaborates with all barley producing countries in the region and also develops germplasm and scientific research that is made available worldwide. Germplasm from the program has been useful also in Australia, having varieties released in the country. Flavio has built his lifetime career with barley, starting in 1988 as head of the barley breeding program at INIA in Uruguay, leaving later to pursue his MSc and PhD at the University of Minnesota, USA. His accomplishments as a barley breeder include the release of several varieties in different countries.

Idelet Meijering joined SAB (Research & Development) as hop chemist to study hop off flavours which then led to the development of QA systems for hop pellet production from farm to processing (SABHF).  R&D in brewing raw materials and auditing of malt and hops suppliers to SAB as well as yearly negotiation of malt specifications with SAB suppliers was followed by the coordination of specialised analyses to breweries and R&D, taste training and the development of new analytical methods and the implementation of DO measurement in Breweries. Moving to SAM, she was involved in structuring (streamlining) the breeding programmes, optimising laboratory services and the coordination of the implementation of management systems at SAM (ISO 9001,ISO 14001), development of QA systems for barley imports and laboratory integration. Currently she is accountable for quality across the value chain i.e. barley to malt.

Robbie Waugh cites his main research interests as developing and applying state of the art genomics technologies to investigate the genetic control key traits in barley and potatoes, two major Scottish crops.  Born in Glasgow in 1959, he obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Strathclyde in 1981 before moving to Dundee where, in 1986, he obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular genetics from Dundee University.  After a brief postdoc, in 1987 he took up a tenured position in the Cell and Tissue Culture Department at SCRI, transferring as Head of Unit to the Crop Genetics Department in 1997, Head of Program in 2001 and in 2005 became the leader of the Genetics Department.  He plays a significant role in national and international organisations that promote and co-ordinate global research on wheat BarleyGenomeNet, the International Triticeae Mapping Initiative and the European Triticeae Genomics Initiative.  He has published approaching 200 primary research articles in international peer reviewed journals. Sponsored by Agricultural Research WA

 

OTHER SPEAKERS

Dr Doug Abrecht has a Bachelor of Rural Science (Hons) degree from University of New England (1977), Armidale and a PhD in environmental biology from the Australian National University in Canberra (1985). He started his career (1977-1980) as a crop and pasture extension officer working for Queensland Department of Primary Industries at Rockhampton.  Following his PhD at the Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University, Doug joined a CSIRO team in Darwin-Townsville working on improving farming systems for the semi-arid tropics (1985-1990).  This time was a watershed for skills in simulation modelling, farming systems analysis and field research in crop establishment in hot, arid conditions.  He moved to Western Australian in 1990 to work on regional and national projects aimed at improving seasonal management in dryland farming systems in southern Australia.  Doug has been closely involved with development of decision support tools to assist in managing seasonal conditions- TACT, RAINMAN and the Climate Risk and Yield Information Service.  He was also instrumental in developing integrated research approaches using simulation and field research for investigating crop responses to seasonal conditions in low rainfall areas.

Dr David Bowran currently heads the Department of Agriculture and Food’s Centre for Cropping Systems Research and has recently been appointed Adjunct Professor of the Muresk Institute. He has a national reputation for research and management in the grain industry and in his role at the Centre is responsible for the Department’s statewide farming systems research programme. As Adjunct Professor at Muresk, David will assist with supervision of PhD student research. His extensive research knowledge and expertise will be invaluable to Muresk and its students, strengthening research output and the practical outcomes for the agricultural community.

Dr Andy Crane is the General Manager of Grain Pool responsible for marketing and operating activities. Andy joined the Grain Pool of WA in 2001 as Marketing Manager Barley and was promoted to General Manager Grain Pool Pty Ltd in 2003, after the merger with Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd. Prior to joining the company, Andy was Commercial Director of Pauls Malt, responsible for barley purchasing and malt sales to over sixty countries. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Studies, a PhD in Agriculture and has attended senior management programs in the UK and USA. Since joining Grain Pool, Andy has been instrumental in establishing Grain Australia, the strategic barley marketing alliance with ABB Grain Ltd, creating the largest single seller of malting barley in the world, supplying over 30 percent of the global trade in this premium grain. The alliance also holds a significant ten percent of the world trade in feed barley.

Ian Foster has worked as a climatologist with the Department of Agriculture (Western Australia) since 1989. His work covers the effects of climate on agriculture and pastoral production in WA, with emphasis on climate variability and change. He supervises a GRDC project aimed at assessing potential impacts of climate change on cropping in WA. Ian is part of a multi-agency climate research program investigating climate variability and change (the Indian Ocean Climate Initiative Panel). He also supervises the department’s network of automatic weather stations and their application to agricultural decision-making. Ian has been manager of the Climate Risks and Opportunities Project (CROP) since 2005. This project covers a wide range of agricultural and climate research and delivery, from seasonal prediction, crop modelling, the use of climate information in decision-making, weather monitoring, and impacts from climate change.

Peter Grace is an agroecosystems scientist, Professor of Global Change and Research Director of the Institute for Sustainable Resources at Queensland University of Technology. He was formerly Senior Soil Scientist at CIMMYT and Lead Scientist for Climate Change for the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) under the auspices of FAO and the World Bank coordinating climate adaptation strategies in the developing world. He currently works in both Australia and the USA, assessing impacts of climate change on grain production systems and developing adaptation strategies.

Jim Hettinger is the Global Manager of Barley R&D for the Molson Coors Brewing Company. The barley program at Coors has been in place since 1946, during which time has released nine proprietary varieties for production in the Western United States. The current focus of Jim’s program is development of 2-row malting barley for proprietary use in the Molson Coors vertically integrated barley supply chain to drive raw material value and agronomic research to support contracted production growers. Under Jim’s tenure, the program has incorporated lean thinking into the breeding program resulting in some of the lowest cycle times in industry while improving overall quality and cross-functional alignment with growers, agronomists, maltsters and brewers.

Matthew Kelley is the sole director and shareholder of Primary Energy Pty Limited which he privately owns. Primary Energy Pty Ltd, describes itself as ‘an Australian renewable energy company’. The company was specifically established to develop ethanol plants in Australia. Ethanol is an alcohol which can be used for a variety of purposes. In particular, ethanol can be blended with petrol to provide a fuel used for transport. It can be manufactured from a range of agricultural crops such as wheat and sugar cane. According to Primary Energy, the ethanol plant (or ‘bio-refinery’) will produce 120 million litres of fuel grade alcohol and 90,000 tonnes of high protein stock feed meal per annum.

Yebin Li currently works as deputy general manager of Brewery Materials Department of COFCO Ltd. (COFCO) who looks after the business of Dalian COFCO malt (annual capacity of 300000MT) and newly built Jiangyin COFCO malt (first stage annual capacity of 120000MT). Yebin started as a staff in trading wheat for two years in COFCO, then turned to malting barley business and has worked in this area for more than twelve years. As deputy general manager in charge of purchasing, his job focuses on purchasing malting barley from domestic and abroad for the two malt plants. With many years working experience in COFCO, Yebin is familiar with the grain trading business and gained good knowledge about the Chinese malting and brewing industry.

Dr Yan Lin (BScBio, MScAgri, PhD) is Brewing Raw Materials (BRM) Manager for Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. She completed a BScBio at the Normal University of Liaoning in 1990，MScBiochemistry at Shenyang Agricultural University in 1994 and PhD Molecular Biology at China Ocean University in 2006, in the area of malting barley and hop varieties identification by DNA markers. Yan Lin spent twelve years at Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd, where she was involved in BRM Analysis, Modern Instruments Analysis, BRM suppliers management, BRM new varieties evaluation and development, malting and brewing quality research at Center of Research and Development. Yan Lin has extensive experience with BRM quality assurance systems, laboratory operations, research and development.

Dr Matthew Morrell is currently Theme Leader, Advanced Genetics in the Food Futures Flagship in CSIRO where he leads a multi-disciplinary team across six CSIRO Divisions investigating the application of genetics to create differentiated grain, food and aquaculture products. These new food and products will deliver benefits for human health and provide increased returns to Australian agrifood industry. Matthew’s research is in characterising starch biosynthetic enzymes and their contributions to starch biosynthesis, understanding the roles of cereal grain constituents in grain-based foods and investigating the impact of novel starches on human health.

Francois Potgieter is Senior Barley Breeder at the South African Barley Breeding Institute (SABBI). He has been involved in the program since it started in 1985 as a joint venture between Sensako and Southern Associated Maltsters. Francois was responsible for the development of an experimental farm as headquarters for this program, and later also for Sensako’s Western Cape wheat program, near the small village of Napier in the Western Cape. At the beginning of 2003 the program was transferred to SA Breweries, and a non-profitable company, SABBI, was formed to continue with the development of malting barley cultivars for the South African market. Through the years the program extended, as the industry developed, and except for concentrating on the development of cultivars for the dry land area of the Western Cape, emphasis is now also on evaluating barley cultivars in the irrigation areas of the Northern Cape.

Peter Reading has been Managing Director of the GRDC since February 2004. He is currently also a Director of the Export Grains Centre, Enterprise Grains Australia and GrainGene III. Peter was previously the Managing Director of the Grain Pool Pty Ltd. Peter graduated from the University of Sydney with an honours degree in agricultural science. He commenced postgraduate studies in agronomy before leaving university to work for American Cyanamid in Australia, Asia and the United States; Incitec in Australia; and British Oxygen Group Asia and the Grain Pool in Western Australia.

Ingrid Richardson joined the Food and Agribusiness Research (FAR) team in August 2003 and is responsible for the grain and oilseed, sugar and farm input sectors (including biotechnology, seeds, agricultural chemicals and fertiliser). Ingrid graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2001 with an honours degree in Agricultural Science and Diploma of Modern Languages (Italian). Prior to joining FAR Ingrid worked for the federal department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) in Canberra. While at DAFF she worked variously on the establishment of Dairy Australia, wool and dairy trade policy and Foot & Mouth Disease and BSE management policy.

Doug Stewart (BScAgr, PhD) is Technical Manager for Joe White Maltings. Doug Stewart completed a BScAgr majoring in Environmental and Food Chemistry at the University of Sydney, before completing a PhD at the same institution, in the area of plant carbohydrate biochemistry.  He spent two years at Michigan State University as a Post Doctoral Fellow researching the area of carbohydrate biochemistry in cereals.  Following his return to Australia Doug was involved in malting and brewing quality research at the Waite Institute before joining Adelaide Malting, a subsidiary company of Coopers Brewery, as Quality Assurance Manager.  Doug has extensive experience with quality assurance systems and technical aspects of malting, and has been responsible for laboratory operations, research and development and malt production. His current Technical Manager role focuses on technical barley and production aspects, quality assurance and research and development requirements of the business for Joe White Maltings.

Dr Nguyen Van Viet is the General Director of Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (HABECO) and Chairman of the Vietnam Beer Alcohol and Beverage Association. He studied for his PhD in Chemicals in Moscow, Russian Federation from 1979-1983. From 1983-1996 he worked at the Institute of Food Industry and from 1996-2003 he worked at the Vietnam Beer Alcohol and Beverage Corporation, where he became Chairman. In 2003, he moved to his present position at HABECO. Dr Van Viet is also a Member of the Asia-Pacific Beer Association. Sponsored by Joe White

Neil Wandel was elected to the board of the CBH Group in 2002 and appointed as Deputy Chairman in 2005. Neil, his wife, two sons and daughters-in-law own and operate a 15,000 hectare farming operation at Scadden, 50km north of Esperance on WA’s south coast. The farms are a 100% grain operation with approximately 4,000 tonnes of barley grown each year. Total production from all grain averages 40,000 tonnes per year. He also owns and operates a grain cleaning and drying business in Esperance with a 3,000 tonne storage capacity and the ability to clean and dry grain at 200 tonnes per hour. Neil was an inaugural member and chairman of the Pulse Association of the South East (PASE) until 2002 and played an integral role in establishing it as one of the largest pulse co-operatives in Australia. He is still actively involved in PASE.

Professor Feibo Wu has been working in Agronomy Department of Zhejiang University since receiving a Master degree of Crop Science in 1990. She was a visiting scholar in Agriculture Centre of Egypt in 1997-8, a senior visiting scholar at John Innes Centre in 2000, and at the Institute of Biomedical & Life Science, University of Glasgow in 2002 and 2003, completing her PhD degree major in Plant Physiology and Ecology that year. Her main research interest is evaluation and identification of plant germplasm, mainly in barley, resistant to abiotic stresses and its molecular physiology, and phytoremediation of metal-contaminated environments and safe crop production, with 50 papers published. Currently she is responsible for five research programs granted by National Natural Science Foundation, Ministry of Sciences and Technology, and Ministry of Education of China, and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China.