2015 Minutes

Minutes of the meeting on Thursday, 12 February 2015 from 12.15 pm

  1. Present: OAFs Falvey, Barlow and White. Apologies from OAFS Hickey and Wood.
  2. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting on 8 December 2014 passed without notice.
  3. Agenda items (including matters arising): (a) It was agreed that the ‘F’ in OAFS should stand from ‘Fellows’ – OAF Falvey to correct the heading above.

(b) With further information from OAF Wood on the price of a huge truffle recently auctioned in New York and the decline in the Australian dollar, it was agreed that everyone was right about the item on truffles in the previous minutes (approximately).

(c) It was agreed that the item on a ‘proposed history of the (old) faculty should be deferred indefinitely – to adopt a concept espoused in Oxonian Cornford’s ‘Principle of Unripe Time’, the time is not ripe (grateful acknowledgements to OAF Falvey).

(d) OAF Falvey had divined that OAF Barlow was enjoying a significant milestone in life, which turned out to be his 70th birthday. OAF Falvey had thoughtfully brought a cake, as shown here.

The celebrations were enlivened when Deli Chen arrived with three bottles of wine and two companions – Robert Edis who qualified as an OAF and was immediately admitted to membership, and Arvin Mosier from the USA. This was followed by a diverse discussion around the table (see below) about Bass Phillip wines, French champagne (excellent – thank you Deli), past Faculty events, ACIAR activities etc, little of which was recorded. The Secretary had to depart at 1.40 pm before the party had ended.

  1. Next meeting at a date to be decided. Action OAF White, Secretary.

Postscript image – the three OAFS in attendance at this meeting on day of Snow’s 70th.

 

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Minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 18 March 2015 from 12.10 pm

  1. Present: OAFs Falvey, Barlow, Hickey, White and Wood.
  2. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting on 12 February 2015 were passed without comment.
  3. Agenda items (including matters arising): (a) OAF White floated the idea that we should become known as the Society of OAFS. After some discussion, it was decided to defer this suggestion to the next meeting, or until the OAFS had achieved something of significance.

(b) OAF Falvey proposed that we adopt the document ‘Climate Change: Evidence and Causes’ as an OAF policy document. It was agreed that OAFs who had not seen the document should obtain and read a copy (downloaded from the internet) so that a decision could be taken at our next meeting.

(c) As part of a series of ‘thought bubbles’ about whether the Academic Board system of university governance was antiquated, the inequity of the imbalance between tenured and contract staff, comparisons with Federal governance and whether or not the Senate were truly ‘unrepresentative swill’, the value or otherwise of a written constitution, anachronisms enshrined in such constitutions (e.g. the gun laws in the USA, the electoral system in Australia), and the modelling of climate change, an analogy was drawn between the last mentioned and the 2015 Intergeneration Report ‘The Challenge of Change’. Since no OAF had actually read the report, all were urged to consult it for further discussion at the next meeting.

(d) Another idea floated was to identify significant inventions that had arisen out of agricultural science, which led on to the suggestion of an award for outstanding achievement in the profession; such an award was intended to raise the profile of the profession and emphasize the importance of education in the discipline. OAF Falvey undertook to obtain details of an engineering award – the Deans of Engineering Batterham Award – administered by the ATSE. This confidential document is attached to the email of these minutes. It was noted that the establishment of a Society of OAFS could facilitate the creation of such an award for agricultural science.

(e) A final suggestion was the inauguration of an annual OAFish incident award. This should be taken up at the next meeting to determine, if agreed to, how such an award may be decided.

  1. Next meeting at a date to be decided. Action OAF White, Secretary, after responses from fellow OAFs.

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Minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 13 May 2015 from 12 pm

  1. Present: OAFs Falvey, Barlow, Hickey, White and Wood. Deli Chen was invited to be an Honorary OAF for lunch (especially appropriate as he shared an excellent bottle of Chateau Pey la Tour)
  2. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting on 18 March 2015 were passed without comment, apart from matters arising below.
  3. Matters arising
  4. It was agreed we should name ourselves ‘The Society of Old Agriculture Fellows’ (OAFS). Action to change logo by OAF Falvey (see above).
  5. Adoption of the document ‘Climate Change: Evidence and Causes’, tabled at the meeting by OAF Falvey, was confirmed.

iii. No action was taken about the 2015 Intergeneration Report ‘Challenge of Change’.

  1. Re the idea of an award for outstanding achievement in agricultural science along the lines of the Batterham Award in engineering, it was agreed that, to be financially viable, such an award would need a sponsor and would need to be administered by a more formal body than the OAFS. It was agreed that OAFs Barlow and Falvey would explore the options through the Agriculture Forum of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
  2. OAF Wood spoke to his idea of informal colloquia for senior chefs and producers who were interested in obtaining more information about their food sources and the sustainability of production systems. The form of these colloquia could be a lunch at which an expert would give a brief discourse on a topic chosen by the interested chefs/producers, followed by an extended facilitated discussion. OAF Wood would explore further.
  3. A news release about Terry McCosker’s Carbon Link project apparently being successful in winning $50 million for soil carbon monitoring, without having an approved methodology, was discussed. OAF White undertook to follow this up with journalist Matthew Cawood, who wrote the article, to inject some soil science reality.

vii. OAF White was reminded that he had earned the inaugural OAFish Incident Award for 2014 by falling off his bike at speed. However, if the award was to be made on 1 April each year, as suggested by OAF Hickey, then OAF White’s award would have to be for 2015. This was not resolved. OAF Wood was a strong candidate for the next award.

viii. Under Any Other Business, OAF Falvey raised the issue of membership of the Society of OAFS. Janet Beard, formerly of the old Agriculture Faculty, had recently retired from the University and was therefore eligible to be a member. OAF White undertook to write to invite her to be a member.

University politics concerning the recent resignation of the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences were discussed, with input from Deli Chen.

  1. Next meeting to be held in June on a date to be decided after a calendar had been circulated.

OAF White Hon. Secretary

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Minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 1 July 2015 from 12 pm
1. Present: OAFs Falvey, Barlow, Hickey, White, Wood and Beard. OAF Beard was officially welcomed to the society.

  1. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting on 13 May 2015 were passed without comment, apart from matters arising below.
  2. Matters arising
  3. OAF Falvey had circulated for discussion a draft proposal for the establishment of a Batterham Award in engineering, which might form the template for an award in agriculture. A wide ranging discussion followed (subsuming much of what was considered for the second agenda item (the provenance of food items), in which it was affirmed that

(a) the purpose of such an award should be to raise the public profile of achievements in agriculture in the broadest sense (including food)

(b) that the form of the ‘award’ could be an annual lecture on a specific theme within agriculture and food, perhaps under the auspices of the ATSE, or the Committee of Agriculture Deans, or a university, or a very substantial sponsor in the industry, or specifically the Victorian government (emphasizing the importance of agriculture and food production in this state)

(c) whatever form the ‘award’ took it would be advertised as a national event to attract national and international high achievers

(d) the event could be run as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The matter was left to lie on the table to await further ideas and action.
ii. See item (i)
iii. See item (v)

  1. There was no further news on the position of Dean of FAVS, other than that an interim dean was to be appointed
  2. OAF Falvey’s suggestion that each OAF should give a 2.5 minute summary of significant activities since the last meeting was accepted and this occurred more or less at the start of the meeting. With specific reference to item iii on the agenda, OAF White reported that he had contacted journalist Matthew Cawood about Terry McCosker’s Carbon Link project, providing a critique of the project, but had received a non-committal response.
  3. The White Paper ‘Developing the North’ was briefly discussed and the question asked – how could the OAFS contribute to the objectives of the paper. One possibility was to offer expert advice through a review of past successes and failures of R and D activities in the north over the past 50-60 years. This raised the question as to who in government should be approached – Andrew Robb as an influential politician; a high level bureaucrat in Canberra (OAF Barlow to advise)?

vii. OAF Hickey was wished bon voyage for his visit to Canada. OAF Wood was thanked for his distribution of tickets to the Truffle Melbourne Festival on 11-12 July.

  1. Next meeting to be held late in July/early August on a date to be decided after the calendar had been circulated.

OAF White Hon. Secretary

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Minutes of a meeting of OAFS on 30 July 2015 around 12 noon at University House

  1. Present

OAFs Barlow, Beard and Falvey

  1. Apologies

OAFs Hickey (in Canada with kayaks?), White (in bed with lurgi) and Wood (in Adelaide with truffles)

  1. Activities since previous OAFs meeting

OAF Beard reported on her sometimes challenging consultancy at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji with particular respect to financial planning and management, as well as overall university leadership of an institution with 14 campuses across 10 countries and a lot of water and dealing in multiples currencies. The next phase includes Vanuatu from August 23.

OAF Barlow reported on a tiring invasion of visitors and grandchildren, his ongoing teaching involvement in the faculty’s wine courses, annoying administrative mistakes in a Ph.D. candidate’s enrolment, and a clever credit card scam. The meeting congratulated OAF Barlow on being a finalist for the CSIRO Eureka Award for Science Leadership, and received the inside information that he is tipped to be the leading male finalist.

OAF Falvey reported a visit to Singapore (dinner with son), Bangkok (animal husbandry meeting and book (ภูมิปััญญา วัฒนธรรม และ สำานวนไทยจากไร่่นา) launch, Songkhla (Thaksin University international Ph.D.), Chiang Mai (CMU’s international Highland Agriculture graduate programs). The aforementioned book was provided to OAFs present – ebook click.

  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 13 May 2015

No discussion ensued, which was taken as indicative of unanimous agreement.

  1. Matters arising
  2. An award for outstanding achievement in agricultural science along the lines of the Batterham Award in engineering: deferred to next meeting
  3. Draft letter to be sent to government re the Northern Development white paper: finalized and to be sent once all OAFs agree to their names being mentioned (see attached letters to Ministers Robb and Joyce for each OAFs to agree)

iii. An award ceremony (OAF Falvey): deferred to next meeting

  1. Other business
  2. FVAS: in the long tradition of the original meaning of OFs, Old Agriculture Fellows complained of the parlous state of the faculty, and the rumours of machinations that may fragment the old ag components further into disciplines in a Faculty of Science, with the university reorganised to be three major academic colleges by the time the forces behind the changes move on to their next career step.
  3. After a discussion of the high levels of pasture-based protein production from kangaroos, it was decided that the subject of legalizing kangaroo meat production in Victoria was a worthy subject for OAFs to promote, with market development to be considered in association with truffles.
  4. Next meeting

19 August 2015, if this suits the majority of OAFs

OAF Falvey on behalf of lurgi-affected OAF White, Hon Secretary

 

 

Unimelb letterhead

Hon Andrew Robb AO, MP

Minister for Trade

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Parliament House

Canberra, ACT

Developing Northern Australia

Dear Andrew,

We send this letter after some deliberation within our think-tank group of retired Professors, Deans, and Senior Managers from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, which includes Dookie. Our comments relate to the first of the five priority areas for northern development, food and agriculture – and in particular the proposed Cooperative Research Centre for Developing the North. We base our comments on our diverse experience over several decades in food technologies, tropical agriculture and animal production, and senior agricultural administration, including in northern Australia.

We are cognizant of the substantial work that has been conducted over past generations by researchers and others, and our objective is simply to avoid unnecessary repetition of that excellent work conducted by a range of institutions, including the older universities and in particular the CSIRO, old NTA and Queensland and WA departments and their research stations.

We propose that a comprehensive review of past research be conducted prior to formation of the CRC. This would include the work of such research centres as; Beatrice Hills, Tortilla Flats, Katherine Research Station, Douglas-Daly Experiment Station, Kimberley Research Station, Victoria River Research Station, Desert Sands Research Station, Berrimah Research Centre, Coastal Plains Research Station, Rockhampton Research Centre, Lansdown Research Station, Mareeba Research Station, Walkamin Research Station and others.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, sound work and extensive field experience has been generated, much of which is worthy of consolidation in a platform for planning future research in an efficient manner. Within our group we have some of this knowledge, probably most beneficially used to access old information and contacts for what should be an inexpensive initial activity that would complement inputs by groups seeking to form a CRC. We are not seeking to be part of the CRC.

We would welcome the opportunity of discussing this further with you or your office.

With kind regards from your alma mater.

Yours sincerely

Signed on behalf of: Snow Barlow, Janet Beard, Lindsay Falvey, Malcolm Hickey, Robert White and Nigel Wood

 

Unimelb letterhead

Hon Barnaby Joyce  MP

Minister for Agriculture

PO Box 6022

Parliament House

Canberra, ACT

Developing Northern Australia

 

Dear Minister Joyce,

We send this letter after some deliberation within our think-tank group of retired Professors, Deans, and Senior Managers from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science. Our comments relate to the first of the five priority areas for northern development, food and agriculture – and in particular the proposed Cooperative Research Centre for Developing the North. We base our comments on our diverse experience over several decades in food technologies, tropical agriculture and animal production, and senior agricultural administration, including in northern Australia.

We are cognizant of the substantial work that has been conducted over past generations by researchers and others, and our objective is simply to avoid unnecessary repetition of that excellent work conducted by a range of institutions, including the older universities and in particular the CSIRO, old NTA and Queensland and WA departments and their research stations.

We propose that a comprehensive review of past research be conducted prior to formation of the CRC. This would include the work of such research centres as; Beatrice Hills, Tortilla Flats, Katherine Research Station, Douglas-Daly Experiment Station, Kimberley Research Station, Victoria River Research Station, Desert Sands Research Station, Berrimah Research Centre, Coastal Plains Research Station, Rockhampton Research Centre, Lansdown Research Station, Mareeba Research Station, Walkamin Research Station and others.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, sound work and extensive field experience has been generated, much of which is worthy of consolidation in a platform for planning future research in an efficient manner. Within our group we have some of this knowledge, probably most beneficially used to access old information and contacts for what should be an inexpensive initial activity that would complement inputs by groups seeking to form a CRC. We are not seeking to be part of the CRC.

We would welcome the opportunity of discussing this further with you or your office.

Yours sincerely

 Signed on behalf of: Snow Barlow, Janet Beard, Lindsay Falvey, Malcolm Hickey, Robert White and Nigel Wood

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Minutes of meeting of the Society of OAFS on 19 August 2015 around 12 noon at University House

  1. Present: OAFs Barlow, Falvey, Hickey and Wood
  1. Apologies: OAFs White and Beard, each laid up with their respective lurgis
  1. Activities since previous OAFs meeting:

– OAF Wood reported that he was exhausted, which the meeting diagnosed as the ancient Perigord syndrome of Temporary Truffle Toxicity. He is considering the cure of a cruise in the Pacific.

– OAF Hickey reported that Canada included building a 350 ft2 deck for his son, wallowing with whales, visiting the 2nd largest of the early North American immigration and quarantine stations and learning of Quebec culture and history.

– OAF Falvey reported that the publisher of his next book ‘Understanding Southeast Asia’ expects it will be out next month. He offered OAFs free Councillors’ passes to the Royal Melbourne Show.

– OAF Barlow reported that he had learned more of FVAS chaos through his post-graduate teaching, that a Gateway Panel on which he serves may have a role in the Liverpool Plains controversy and physically demonstrated his contention for the 2016 OAFish Award.

  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 13 May 2015: unanimous agreement by silence
  1. Matters arising
  2. Outstanding Achievement Award: not discussed – assumed deferred to next meeting
  3. OAF letter re Northern Development on FVAS letterhead sent to two ministers; no reply yet.

iii. Conferring Ceremony of the 2015 OAFish Award: deferred again in the absence of the Awardee.

  1. Legalizing kangaroo meat production in Victoria: the subject was advanced by noting the likely interest of farmer and environmental groups as well as food purveyors up to large supermarkets. A draft letter to government to be copied to these groups is to circulated to OAFs by OAF Barlow.
  1. Other business

National Governance: ‘can we recall a worse government?’ stimulated discussions about conservative governments being likely to be common across the Anglo-Saxon world. Australia’s poor leadership was seen as devoid of Machiavellian plots with current issues being simply a sign of incompetence. Chinese funds flowing into the country have contributed to a general laziness.

OAFish Award: OAF Barlow’s altercation with a vine-pruning machine was deemed to qualify him as a contender in the 2016 season.

 

  1. Next meeting: to be decided – click here for calendar on OAFdoddle.

OAF Falvey on behalf of lurgi-affected OAF White, Hon Secretary

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Minutes of meeting of the Society of OAFS on 5 October 2015 around 12 noon at University House

  1. Present: OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Hickey, Wood and White

At the conclusion of our meeting, we met with former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Frank Larkins, who, having been Dean of the Faculty on an earlier occasion, was eligible to join the OAFs. This was mutually agreed so Frank Larkins becomes an OAF. Welcome Frank!

  1. Activities since previous OAFs meeting

OAF Wood spoke to his idea, advanced at previous meetings, that the OAFs could make a contribution to the quest by some top chefs in Melbourne (e.g. Grossi of Florentinos) for more advice/information on the provenance of food and fresh produce in general: what’s good and not as good as it is claimed to be. He also expressed his optimism for the forthcoming truffle season and introduced the interesting term ‘truffle burns’, otherwise known as truffle brulé. There was speculation as to what was the cause of this effect – any further ideas?

OAF Barlow has recovered from his finger-severing, OAFish accident. He spoke about the contentious practice of ‘fracking’ and noted that this was probably not going to be a big issue in Victoria because only about 7 percent of the Australian reserves of coal seam and shale gas were in this state. He expressed concern about the effect that the ERA emphasis on publications in high-impact journals was having on the publication preferences of young staff, especially in the general discipline of agriculture where there are few such journals.

OAF Beard reported that she had completed her consultancy report on the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

OAF White has continued his consultancy work in viticulture and has contributed to soil management and related topics on the website of Future Directions International. He also assisted Deli Chen to prepare a University of Melbourne application to the then (early September) Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research for an Australia-China Joint Research Centre focused on soil, water and food security.

OAF Falvey spoke enthusiastically about his three week sojourn exploring the historical treasures of Polish cities such as Krakow and Warsaw. He introduced the OAFs to the global consultancy company NIRAS offering ‘holist’ services in a wide range of fields’ of which ‘environmental and natural resources, climate change and energy, planning and development’ would be of most interest to the OAFs. He distributed brochures advertising the first World Prize for International Integrated Development.

OAF Hickey reported that since returning from Canada he had been immersed in family affairs, mainly involving grandchildren. He and Suzanne are planning to escape on another cruise in the new year. He had joined a similar group to the OAFs associated with Food Science Australia.

  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 19 August 2015: These would have been considered at the meeting on 21 September that was postponed. Any significant matters are taken up below.
  1. Matters arising

Replies had been received from both the Honorable Barnaby Joyce and the Honorable Andrew Robb expressing thanks for the OAFs’ offer to provide information on past research and development achievements in northern Australia. The names were given of senior staff in Agriculture and Austrade who could be contacted further. Subsequent to the meeting, OAF Larkins suggested that the Honorable Josh Frydenberg, who was the new Minister for Resources, Science and Northern Australia, could be approached to be informed of the OAFs offer. OAF Falvey has already revised the original letter and sent it to the new Minister (circulated).

Outstanding Achievement Award: The intention of this award was discussed with OAF Larkins, who advised that we should set out the broad area of interest of the award, its value, frequency of offer and who the intended recipients might be. Once this was done, he could suggest the names of successful businessmen who could be approached to sponsor the award. OAF Falvey undertook to draft a statement along the lines of that used for the Batterham Award.

iii. Conferring Ceremony of the 2015 OAFish Award: this was carried out by OAF Falvey at the home of OAF White (photograph previously circulated).

  1. Legalizing kangaroo meat production in Victoria: No further action on this until OAF Barlow has drafted a letter to government, to be copied to interested parties.
  2. Other business

There was no other business

  1. Next meeting: to be decided – see the calendar below.

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Minutes of meeting of the Society of OAFs held on 25 November 2015 at 12 noon in University House

  1. Present: OAFs Falvey, Hickey, White and Larkins (part time)
  2. Apologies: OAFs Beard, Wood and Barlow
  3. Activities since previous OAFs meeting

OAF Falvey had attended meetings in Washington DC to do with the CGIAR network. Rationalization of activities and reorganization need to be effected within the network of institutes because the European countries are cutting back on their financial support.

OAF Hickey continued to be involved in family activities such as helping his son set up business in Perth and cruising on Holland America Line from Perth to Melbourne.

OAF White has continued his consultancy work in viticulture, speaking at a workshop run by the Australian Wine Research Institute in the Yarra Valley. He has also been working with Brian Davidson to analyse the cost-effectiveness of the Australian government’s paying for carbon storage in soil.

  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2015: These minutes passed without comment. Any significant matters are taken up below.
  2. Matters arising

(a) OAF Falvey had not received a reply from the Honorable Josh Frydenberg, Minister for Resources, Science and Northern Australia, to his letter about northern Australia. It was therefore agreed to write to the senior staff in Agriculture and Austrade, suggested in previous replies received from the Honorables Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Robb, respectively, with a copy to Mr David Crombie who is the chair of the implementation committee for the ‘CRC Northern Australia’. The intent was to draw attention to the substantial body of research results, reported in the archives of various State and Commonwealth agencies and elsewhere, which could be used to guide the formulation of strategy for the putative CRC. OAF Falvey to action.

(b) Food and Agriculture Award: The draft paper outlining the purpose of the Award, criteria for selection, nomination process and promotion was agreed with minor modifications, including the introduction of a sunset clause (see attached). Two possible lines for engaging a sponsor for the award were discussed – either an outright benefaction of a capital sum, or an annual donation to cover the cost of the award for a specified period. Philanthropist Mr Frank Costa was considered a possibility and OAF Falvey agreed to consider other possibilities.

(c) OAF Barlow was unable to report on any progress concerning the production of kangaroo meat from legalized shooting (culling) in Victoria.

  1. Other business

The question was asked as to what was happening to agricultural education and research in the University of Melbourne, and more widely in tertiary institutions in Victoria. Little was known about progress in appointing a new dean to FVAS. Teaching in agriculture at La Trobe University appears to rely heavily on contributions from staff in other faculties, and integration with the state government’s new AgriBio facility on that campus appears to involve postgraduate teaching only. OAF Hickey pointed out that it is 20 years since the last major changes were made in the delivery of agricultural education in Victoria and the time is right for a strategic review – how well is this education coordinated among tertiary institutions, and with the state Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources; what is the interface with TAFE providers? This topic could be a permanent agenda item for the OAFs, who collectively have much experience in this area.
7. Next meeting: It was agreed that a propitious time would be to meet at say 3 pm for coffee before Jeff Topp’s send-off on Wednesday, 16 December.

OAF White

Hon Secretary