As the primary governance body of Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF), the Board’s principle responsibility is to oversee, approve and monitor the strategic direction of the organisation.
Seeking strategy direction from the National Council – ADF’s state representative body – and ADF’s Policy Advisory Groups (PAGs), the Board ensures activities undertaken by ADF meet the shared national priorities of dairy farmers across Australia, and the views of key stakeholder groups are taken into account.
The ADF Board plays a crucial role in electing the President and National Council members, and selecting the ADF Independent Director and the Chair of each PAG. The Board is also responsible for monitoring the integrity of financial reporting, overseeing risk management and legal compliance, and providing guardianship of corporate values.
The president of ADF, Ben Bennett is an agricultural professional with decades of corporate, industry and on-farm experience. He is dedicated to representing Australian dairy farmers from the ground up.
Ben grew up in a dairy community in New Zealand and spent 13 years in meat processing businesses in New Zealand, India and Australia. He gained experience on the factory floor right through to executive management, in areas as diverse as procurement to international marketing exposure and quality control to whole-of-business consulting.Â
Ben has been farming in Australia for more than 15 years, having established a dairy farming enterprise in south-west Victoria that has given him first-hand insights into the opportunities and challenges facing Australian dairy farmers. Ben has a Bachelor of Technology, Biotechnology and Bio Process Engineering from Massey University in New Zealand, as well as post graduate qualifications in agriculture and financial management.
Heath was elected to the Australian Dairy Farmers Board of Directors in 2021 for his passion towards creating a profitable and sustainable dairy industry.
Heath entered the dairy industry 17 years ago following his career as Process Superintendent of then Australia’s largest goldmine. He purchased in the picturesque hills of Dorrigo and established Misery Mountain Dairy, which currently milks 350 cows. As an advocate for youth in dairy, he is proud to have recently adopted a share farming model with a young local family.
Throughout his career, Heath has sat on numerous boards and committees which has given him critical insight into good governance. He has strived to further his understanding and representation since entering the dairy industry.
Ian Noakes is President of the WAFarmers Dairy Council.
Ian and his wife Helen milk 600 cows on their farm at Forest Grove, south of Margaret River, which they took over in 1988.
Four generations of the Noakes family live on the farm and Ian and Helen now share farm decision-making with their sons Brad and Steve.
Ian is passionate about the cost-effectiveness of home-grown pasture for milk production, and breeding appropriate cows for Australian conditions.
He also has a strong interest in natural resource management issues and believes dairy farmers have many opportunities to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.
Ian was previously a Director of Western Dairy. He also works part time for Genetics Australia.
Matthew Trace has a strong passion for dairy farming and dairy advocacy. Dairying on the Sunshine Coast in QLD with his family and a share farmer, he runs a pasture based operation across two properties reliant on irrigation.
He has a served on a range of dairy industry boards and committees including QDO, Subtropical Dairy and the Dairy Levy Poll advisory committee. He was also a key player in the formation of eastAUSmilk.
With a focus on outcomes and the determination to make the tough decisions, he is committed to strong representation for dairy farmers and aspires to see a growing and prosperous Australian dairy industry.
David has over 30 years experience acting as a non-executive or executive director in small, medium and large agricultural businesses, including in a cooperative dairy processing business and a publicly listed dairy farming business. He has hands-on practical farming experience in dairy, beef, and sheep production, and corporate management experience in dairy, beef, and crop production. David also has experience in agribusiness software development and marketing, on-farm and business consultancy, and animal feed procurement and sales. He has completed a range of benchmarking projects in Australia and published papers on farm production systems and business profitability.
In addition to his experience of working in a number of states in Australia, David has also been in leadership positions or overseen agribusiness operations in New Zealand, Uruguay, Chile, Romania, Poland, and Russia. His particular area of interest is the identification of key drivers of business performance and the development of merit-based organisational culture.
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