2020 Minutes

Christmas lunch, University House, 7 December 2020

Present OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Kwong Lee Dow, Larkins, Tija. White and Wood.

Sadly missed were OAFS Cousens, Hickey and Topp.

We are indebted to OAF Falvey who had the presence of mind to record these snippets (mentally) for the benefit of the archives. Your honorary secretary has added some thoughts.

The lunch was held in the Leather Room of University House where were treated to an introductory glass of sparkling shiraz and a table set out in impeccable style, graced by OAFish place mats (courtesy of OAF Falvey). No formal business was transacted but a lively round of conversations ensued when all were assembled. The following is a digest of these conversations, illustrated with images, with my edits.

Lunchtime catch-up conversations that quickly settled into one-to-one talk at a volume suited to declining aural capabilities were interrupted when OAF Wood loudly suggested that a discussion begin about opinions on the most significant developments related to agriculture through the year. This prompted wide-ranging discussion concerning the adoption of new technologies in agriculture, particularly robotics and big data, and led into specific discussions about no-till agriculture and the benefits that had accrued from its rapid uptake to now include around 80% of dryland cropping farmers in Australia. Discussion then shifted on to the sources of energy for such innovations, which quickly settled on some lessons about the cleanliness of hydrogen – and its production constraints since it relies on pure water for efficient electrolysis and solar or wind power.

Another major event was suggested to be the closing of the China market for various agricultural commodities and the prospect of further imposts; a positive outcome from this issue was suggested to be pressure to develop other markets in place of the Chinese option of the past. It did not take long for analogies with higher education to be noted! However, relevant to both cases was a comment that a major market closing while product is already produced is not the best negotiating position and is quite different from developing new markets in parallel with production increases.

A further opinion about the most significant development in agriculture for the year was the reduction in international development assistance from richer countries as they have become more inward looking in response to the pandemic, which coupled with European diversion of funds to immigration, had raised the probability of severe food security issues arising in certain countries, particularly in Africa.

Apart from such serious discussion as would be expected of such an esteemed group as The ‘Honourable’ Society of Old Agriculture Fellows, there was much conviviality and sharing of the Christmas fair served on OAFS table mats complete with bonbon crackers and a gift of wild-ferment shiraz from OAF Barlow of Baddaginnie Run, which complemented the earlier generosity of OAF Wood in the form of fresh truffles. Masked in OAFS masks from OAF Falvey, all present OAFs were duly photographed and then demasked – the collective noun for a group of masked OAFs having already been forgotten. OAF Larkins, as a member of the University House committee, suggested that perhaps the OAFS table mats could be stored there for regular meetings; this suggestion will be revived in such forms as an OAFS crest being hung when OAFS are in session in a manner similar to that of the Beefsteak Club, or a similar idea. The idea is to be carried forward to the next meeting.

It was also noted that at this event next year, the revamped OAFish TrOAFy is to be awarded as per the proposal of OAF Hickey passed at the previous meeting.

Your secretary notes that addition of the attribute ‘honorable’ to the Society of Old Agriculture Fellows is an issue that will also be carried forward to the next meeting, which will be scheduled for some time in February 2021.

The suggestion was also made that there could be an OAFish excursion to Baddaginnie Run in the new year, towards the end of summer, to view the vineyard and sample the wines.

————————————————–

Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held on Wednesday 7 October at 11 am by Zoom

1. Present. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Cousens, Kwong Lee Dow, Larkins, Tija, and White

2. Apologies. OAFs Falvey, Hickey, Wood

3. Minutes of the meeting of 14 August 2020 had been circulated previously – agreed unanimously as a true record.

4. Activities since last meeting

OAF Beard has continued living in Lorne while Melbourne languishes in stage 4 lockdown. She, Teresa and Liz Bare have been writing papers on employment issues in universities, published by the LH Martin Institute and picked up by Campus Mail; she has continued with board work for the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce and organizing leadership programs.

OAF Larkins continues to write articles on the funding of universities and is joining with Ian Marshman to write a paper on the future of research funding. He is also involved in local activities through his chairmanship of the Yea Wetlands Recovery Committee.

OAF Barlow’s work has now finished on an advisory panel for NSW Independent Planning Commission, examining the proposal by Santos to establish a coal-seam gas field in the Pillaga scrubland. The proposal was approved subject to conditions regarding groundwater reserves and fugitive emissions.

OAF Cousens was frustrated that during the pandemic because many of the people he wanted to converse with seemed to be too busy, while he had time on his hands. To illustrate his current interests and thinking, he alerted the OAFS to a Fenner conference he helped organize in February this year (https://wild-and-weedy.com/outcomes/) and to an Andina meeting to be held in Romania next July (https://andinaromania.com).

OAF Tija is working with Janet and Liz Bare as mentioned above. She is consulting in higher education via Zoom. Some websites relevant to her activities are

OAF Lee Dow has been caring for his wife while maintaining his regular commitments. In his 7th year on the Council of the University of Tasmania, he finds the factual data and analysis of university finances during and after the pandemic, as provided by Frank and others of the University of Melbourne, to be most valuable.

OAF White continues to set out the pros and cons of the government’s ERF strategy, recently released by the Energy Minister, and the reliance on soil carbon farming in particular. He has posted on his page in LinkedIn a list of misconceptions and misreporting about soil C farming, as espoused in a recent ABC Science Show and in a Rural News report. He and Brian Davidson are exchanging emails with the ABC about this.

5. Matters arising

There were no matters arising.

6. Other Business

OAF Wood continues to be preoccupied with his truffles. However, he was keen to initiate a discussion about short courses at university, utilizing the combined skills of the OAFs, and sent the following statement.

I had been keen to explore the possibility of a coursework PG unit utilising the combined talents of all of us – I think it’s an interesting opportunity (but I recognise that’s it may not be attractive to our more research focussed members). I envisage components including global food security (Lindsay), integrated/cross disciplinary studies (Janet), the importance of soils and climate (Robert & Snow), value adding and marketing ag & hort produce (Me), HEd teaching and research in ag and hort (Frank & Kwong), research examples (Malcolm), a “drawing it all together” contribution from Roger and also a spot for Jeff and Teresa (not exactly sure what – spotting trends and future supporters and funding?).

This could also become a coursework UG subject?

Teresa commented that it may be worth considering the short-course idea, which is being funded by the government in response to COVID-19, and funding for a further 50,000 places was announced in the 2020 Budget. She gave the website which promotes and lists these courses (currently available) as https://www.courseseeker.edu.au/

The secretary noted that OAF Falvey had recently been appointed a commissioner for ACIAR and that the OAFs’ congratulations should be minuted.

6. Date of next meeting (to be held at 11 am)

_________________________________________________________

Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held on Friday 14 August at 11 am by Zoom

1. Present. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Hickey, Kwong Lee Dow, Larkins Tija, Topp and White

2. Apologies. OAFs Cousens, Wood

3. Minutes of the meeting of 2 July 2020 had been circulated previously – agreed unanimously as a true record.

4. Activities since last meeting

OAF Beard has continued with house maintenance while sojourning safely in Lorne. She, Teresa and Liz Bare have been writing papers on the issues facing casual and professional staff in universities; she is continuing with board work for the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce.

OAF Topp finds that his prolonged exile to Maldon has placed a strain on his wardrobe. He continues to work on fundraising for the St Vincent’s Foundation and finds that at the time of this pandemic many organizations are willing to donate money to medical causes.

OAF Tija is working with Janet and Liz Bare as above. She has done some educational consulting via Zoom.

OAF Lee Dow has been maintaining his regular commitments. He recently had a hire car for six weeks during which time he travelled 190 km – evidence of observing the restrictions on movement.

OAF Larkins is enjoying the relative freedom of living in Yea. He has produced a number of articles with Ian Marshman on policy matters in higher education and is providing advice to the federal government through his membership of a research sustainability working group set up by Minister Tehan.

OAF Barlow is being kept very busy with his work for a panel of the NSW Independent Planning Commission. The issue that has sparked enormous public reaction is the proposal by Santos to establish a coal-seam gas field in the Pillaga scrubland, overlapping into agricultural land in central NSW. A decision on whether this proposal should proceed will be made in the near future.

OAF Hickey has continued his home improvement activities in Geelong as well as exploring the environment there. He is maintaining contact with grandchildren around the world by digital means.

OAF Falvey has needed to do a lot of woodcutting because they need fuel for heating. He is kept busy mainly at night with Zoom conferences for CGIAR and ILRI business. He has also attended the 3-minute PhD presentations of the University and advised that a candidate from the Faculty, Carmen Glanville, won both the judges and the popular vote.

OAF White has been trying to improve his fitness on an exercise bike. For recreation he has played a lot on online bridge as well as communicating with family overseas by Whats App. There are also many home chores. The Conversation has published a joint article with Brian Davidson on the shortcomings in government policy for significantly reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have not decreased consistently since 1990 (see https://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/NGGITrend.aspx). There has been a surprising amount of positive feedback, especially from scientists who understand the fallacy of relying in the short term on soil carbon increases, when much better opportunities for reducing emissions currently exist.

5. Matters arising

OAF Wood had circulated to the OAFs and email lamenting the ‘government’s disdain for higher education’. This stimulated a wide-ranging discussion about the Tehan policy and how the university sector might respond to the challenges of campus closures during the pandemic, the loss of graduates from research, the dramatic fall in overseas student numbers and the heavy reliance of many universities on students from China and India.

All OAFs had expressed their appreciation of the truffle samples that OAF Wood sent by post to each OAF. A number of enterprising recipes were trialled and exchanged.

6. Other Business

The awards ceremony of the ATSE at which the two ICM Agrifood awardees were announced – see one-minute videos: Dr Michelle Colgrave and Dr Gregory Falzon – was held on 30 July by Zoom. Subsequently, ATSE announced that they had nominated Michelle Colgrave as a candidate for an international Falling Walls award in the category Science Breakthrough in Life Sciences. Further information is available at https://falling-walls.com/conference/speakers/.

6. Date of next meeting (by Secretary’s poll, to be held at 11 am)

______________________________________

Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held on Thursday 2 July at 12 noon by Zoom

1. Present. OAFs Cousens, Beard, Falvey, Hickey, Tija, Topp and White

2. Apologies. OAFs Lee Dow, Larkins and Wood (owing to a technical hitch OAF Barlow tried to join the meeting but failed)

3. Minutes of the meeting of 6 May 2020 had been circulated previously – agreed unanimously as a true record.

4. Activities since last meeting

(The Secretary apologies for any shortcomings in these minutes because he had difficulty in hearing some of the comments – advancing age?)

OAF Beard continued with house renovations while sojourning safely in Lorne. She, Teresa and Liz Bare have been collecting data for a second paper they are writing on professional staff in universities. She has been pleasantly surprised by the number of enrolments to date (60) for the July intake in new programs offered by the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce.

OAF Tija has resigned from Victoria University and is now employed as an educational consultant. She has a daughter at Melbourne University who finds the restrictions imposed by the battle against CoVID-19 to be somewhat onerous.

OAF Topp (whom we were pleased to welcome after a prolonged absence) continues to work on fundraising for the St Vincent’s Foundation, which is now partnered with 11 organizations and institutions raising funds to support ACMD (the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery). He and his wife have recently escaped to Maldon to avoid possible lockdown in the Melbourne suburb of Kensington.

OAF Hickey has been living quietly at home in Geelong and has had to defer his usual round of cruising and overseas travel (including Canada where his son has a faculty position at McGill University).

OAF Cousens has been undergoing intensive therapy attending to his garden. He and his wife managed a short stay in the lightkeeper’s cottage at the Otway Lighthouse, which was very relaxing. He lamented the fact that, during the CoVID-19 pandemic, the University made no provision for supervisors and postgraduate students to get together for consultations in safe rooms. He also found that in his experience his faculty Biosciences made little recognition of emeritus professors.

OAF White has been collaborating with OAF Barlow and Prof Richard Eckard in making a submission to the review of the federal government’s Emissions Reduction Fund, pointing out deficiencies in the scheme for various components under agriculture. Following on from that, he has combined with Dr Brian Davidson to make a submission to the consultation paper on the federal government’s Technology Roadmap for emissions reduction nationally, in which there are several misconceptions as to what is possible under agriculture. An article in The Conversation may ensue. Beside that he has been struggling to get his medications for his heart condition under control.

OAF Falvey reported to the secretary after the meeting (he had difficulty in joining) that the international virtual meetings for the creation of One CGIAR continued to take up much of his free time. However, he is pleased to announce that he has been able, with the help of a neighbour, to install a new solar system with battery storage so that his energy requirements at the farm are now assured.

5. Matters arising

The issue of creating categories of honorary fellow, foreign fellow and visiting fellow for those who were not regularly in or around Melbourne was briefly raised, but it was agreed that no formal arrangement was necessary. Each case would be decided on an ad hoc basis.

6. Other Business

The ATSE is yet to announce the arrangements for formally awarding the ICM AgriFood Awards this year.

OAF Beard reminded fellow OAFs that OAF Wood had offered to send some truffle samples and would like confirmation of their currents addresses. He intends to send these within a few days.

6. Date of next meeting

Please see the calendar below

_______________________________

Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held on Wednesday 6 May at 12 noon by Zoom

1. Present. OAFs Cousens, Lee Dow, Larkins, Falvey, Beard and Barlow

2. Apologies. OAFs Wood, White, Topp, Tija and Hickey

It was agreed that OAF Beard would chair the meeting and OAF Falvey would take minutes.

3. Minutes of the meeting of 1 April 2020 had been circulated previously – agreed unanimously as a true record.

4. Activities since last meeting

OAF Beard has checked on colleagues experiencing difficulties in the current isolation period, begun writing with OAF Tija on casualization post-Covid, deliberated on timing for accepting students by the company of which she sits on the Board, ridden daily for 5km on the spot, all the while having a leaking house roof repaired and preparing for plastering and painting as well as visiting her granddaughter at an appropriate distance.

OAF Barlow reported a quiet time with ‘glorious’ weather that kept him outside between investigating, in his capacity on the Independent Planning Commission of NSW, groundwater flows into the Great Artesian Basin as part of a proposal by Santos to exploit coal-seam gas west of Narrabri.

OAF Cousens has been interacting with colleagues burdened by increased workloads and stress, and forging linkages to assist graduate students in negotiating regulations and information concerning their candidatures while the faculty (science) administration is constrained by work-from-home rules; he has also been working on finalising 4 or 5 papers.

OAF Falvey has been engaged in almost daily (actually nightly) international virtual meetings for the creation of One CGIAR as a member of the Unified Governance advisory group, and for the ILRI Board meeting. In the fine weather north of Divide he has been enjoying  such tasks as repairing electricity and water supplies for his rustic dwelling and cutting firewood.

OAF Larkins conveyed that he is ‘busier than ever’ writing papers with Ian Marshman, in particular a major work presenting the 38 universities on a ‘vulnerability index’. He has also been drafted by the Chief Scientist via the Academies into advising the National Cabinet on the impact of current measures on research. Apart from these, he has gardened and walked around Yea.

OAF Lee Dow  reported on a lead by UTas to base entrance on year 11 results and the implications for external entrance examination. He has continued his roles on boards and committees by phone and Zoom, and in most ways is just ‘rolling along’.

5. Matters arising

Issue carried forward awaiting OAF White’s inputs: creation of categories of honorary fellow, foreign fellow and visiting fellow for those who were not regularly in or around Melbourne – all restricted to staff who had occupied senior positions in an agriculture-related Faculty/School and who no longer worked in the University.

6. Other Business

OAF Falvey reported that the ICM AgriFood Award initiated by the OAFS has this year attracted some fine candidates with two outstanding ones selected. In addition, efforts to enhance the Award are expected to as an outcome of an ATSE review of it awards.

Other discussion ranged across Treasury Wines, University of Adelaide resignations, and humorous videos, some of which QAF Barlow offered to share.

The meeting concluded wishing OAF White all the best for his health.

6. Date of next meeting

To be determined by the Hon. Secretary.

_____________________

Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held on Wednesday 1 April at 12 noon by Zoom

1. Present. OAFs White, Tija, Larkins, Falvey, Beard and Barlow

2. Apologies. OAFs Wood, Topp, Lee Dow, Hickey and Cousens

3. Minutes of the meeting of 12 February 2020 had been circulated previously – agreed unanimously as a true record.

4. Thanks

The meeting thanked OAF Beard for coordinating OAFS use of the University’s Zoom service, which was gratefully accepted as a token of the University’s appreciation of the contributions that the OAFS make to the FVAS, agriculture, higher education etc.

5. Activities since last meeting

OAF Beard has self-isolated at Moonie Ponds, as a precaution for a compromised immune system, to the extent that her husband Kevin who had recently been travelling was living nearby for a fortnight. She is continuing in her role on the board of a private education provider and various university activities all conducted via Zoom.

OAF Tija is similarly at home with competing Zoom and internet demands from her partner and daughter proving a challenge to the NBN service in Carlton. OAF Tija advised that she has resigned from VU with her final day coinciding with declaration of the pandemic, which has dramatically shifted the environment for her seeking new roles.

OAF Barlow missed the last meeting and thus mentioned relief that neither fires not smoke had impacted greatly on his grapes. He also related that in his role as a NSW Commissioner a large solar array has been approved for development that alone will meet a quarter of the capacity of the soon to be decommissioned Liddell power plant. OAF Barlow advised that he was ensconced at the Baddaginnie farm making weekly trips to North Melbourne.

OAF Larkins had likewise opted to reside at his Yea property and make weekly trips to Carlton for mail and other matters. He relayed some details of his paper about the relatively greater impact of declining overseas student numbers for Australian educational institutions compared with other nations, suggesting that while government may be sympathetic to domestic students, this was unlikely to be the case for international students – one implication of which might be a reduction in research funding supported by those fees. His paper is available here.

OAF Falvey missed the February meeting being at Thaksin University for a regular input. He reported that he, and Simone, who had made a rushed trip for a funeral in France, returned separately and in time for the local implementation of isolations. His CGIAR meeting in Amsterdam and ILRI Board meetings had morphed into time-consuming virtual meetings complicated by involving multiple countries and cultures. He is staying at his ‘cave’ near Broadford for this period.

OAF White reported that he and Annette had partaken of the Taste of Rutherglen weekend before the boom on travel came down. In isolation in Ivanhoe he was writing, with Brian Davidson, on soil C sequestration and carbon credits for the Farm Policy Journal. He also intends to write a more comprehensive article on the effectiveness of Australia’s efforts to use soil carbon sequestration as a means of offsetting the national greenhouse gas emissions. He acknowledged with thanks on behalf of the OAFs Lindsay Falvey’s new book on Agriculture and Philosophy

6. Matters arising

OAF Larkins’ paper on the impact of declining international student numbers excited more discussion and encouragement to develop the subject further. He noted further that the University is in a reasonable position for such a decline, but some other universities will be in difficult financial positions.

OAF Falvey informed the OAFs of an idea to seek funding for sentinel animals (livestock) in hot spots for zoonotic diseases as an early warning system. He contrasted this with the current situation which has effectively assigned humans to be the sentinel animals at a later stage in the zoonotic transfer.

Issues carried forward: creation of categories of honorary fellow, foreign fellow and visiting fellow for those who were not regularly in or around Melbourne – all restricted to staff who had occupied senior positions in an agriculture-related Faculty/School and who no longer worked in the University.

6. Date of next meeting

To be determined by the Hon. Secretary (see calendar).

Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held on 12 February 2020 at noon at University House

1. Present. OAFs Beard, Cousens, Hickey, Larkins, Lee Dow and White.

2. Apologies. OAFs Barlow, Falvey, Tija, Topp and Wood

3. Minutes of the meeting of 18 December 2019 had been circulated previously.

4. Activities since last meeting

OAF Kwong Lee Dow said he had had a quiet time and was looking forward to discussing OAF Larkin’s paper on the finances of Australian universities, especially the big ‘five’.

OAF Cousens was welcomed to his first meeting. He is writing a philosophical book on ecology – how it is evolving as a discipline. He has been involved in organizing workshops with like-minded scientists around the world.

OAF Larkins is standing down from the Probus club he has presided over for the past year. He has been writing papers on higher education matters through the CSHE and is giving a lecture on the contentious topic of funding next Tuesday in the Old Arts (venue to be decided).

OAF Hickey had an extensive period in Canada and travelled regularly into the USA.. Subsequent to that he has been exploring the Kimberleys by sea, travelled from Perth to Melbourne by sea and has spent much time gardening at home.

OAF Beard has been busy with renovations to a family property at Lorne. She also sits on the board of a private education provider that is aiming to offer bachelors’ and masters’ courses for the digital age.

OAF White reported that the Ivanhoe Station Precinct Association had had a win in VCAT over a developer proposing to build an unacceptable apartment complex adjacent to Evergreen apartments. He also noted he had been engaged as an expert to comment on a water leakage incident in the city.

5. Matters arising

There were two related issues. One concerned whether we should have a category of honorary fellow; the other was whether we should have a category of foreign fellow. During the discussion it was pointed out that we are all honorary fellows. It was also affirmed that OAF membership should be restricted to staff who had occupied senior positions in an agriculture-related Faculty/School, and who no longer work in the University. Therefore, it was agreed we could recognize as visiting fellows people in the latter category who were not regularly in or around Melbourne, but who might visit from time to time. When their movements were known, they could be invited to join us at lunch (or dinner).

There was a lively discussion of OAF Larkin’s recent paper on the subject of University funding, particularly the statistics for the five universities that had current revenues of more than $2 billion a year. Trends in fee income, numbers of overseas students, numbers of students enrolled in master’s by course work compared with research students, effect of the Melbourne Model, countries of origin and changes in staff:student ratios were all discussed.

6. Date of next meeting

Please see the calendar below.

OAF White, Hon. Secretary