Notes from the Christmas lunch meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 9 December 2021
1. Present. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Hickey, Larkins, Kwong Lee Dow, Taylor, Tija, Topp and White.
2. Apologies. OAFs Cousens, Davidson, Leury and Wood.
3. Business The Society members lunched in the Regency Room and chose from the a la carte Christmas menu. The first item to be agreed was that there would be no ‘organ recitals’ today.
We were very pleased when Professor Deli Chen made a surprise visit and offered the company two bottles of champagne, which was much appreciated by all – many thanks Deli.
For one reason or another, the original OAFish award seems to have lost its currency. Noting that at our November meeting, it had been agreed to replace this award with a new award called the OAFish TrOAFy, to be presented at the end of the year and which was intended to recognize some significant contribution that an OAF had made to the Society or in a wider field in the community. OAFs Falvey and Hickey had collaborated in designing this award, which OAF Hickey commissioned into a a handsome medal suitably inscribed. The citation for the inaugural conferring of the TrOAFy read: Insofar as the awards is to be conferred for meritorious deeds that enhance the OAFS, the Faculty or agricultural science in general, OAF White is nominated on the basis of his: outstanding contributions to the OAFS as Honorary Secretary through the majority of the Society’s existence and continuing into the next epoch, and his tireless contributions to the fraught official and other discussions concerning soil carbon. OAF Hickey, the ‘keeper’ of the award, duly presented this inaugural award to the Hon Secretary who displayed it with pride.
Following on from previous suggestions, OAF Larkins offered to hold a BBQ at his home in Yea for one of our gatherings in the New Year, while we in Melbourne are free to travel unrestricted. A weekend would seem to be most suitable. I shall liaise with OAF Larkins and circulate possible dates later.
I have been informed that Waseem Ashfaq, one of the recipients of this year’s travel award, has returned from Pakistan and completed his quarantine period. He is now able to take up his award and he will be invited to attend one of our lunches in the New Year.
_________________________
Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 5 November
1. Present. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Kwong Lee Dow, Taylor and White.
2. Apologies. OAFs Cousens, Davidson, Hickey, Larkins, Leury, Tija, Topp and Wood.
3. Minutes of the meeting of 9 September had been circulated previously.
4. Activities since last meeting
OAF Beard, together with Liz Baré and Teresa Tija, has been working on an article dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on staff and students in universities, focusing on lessons to be learnt for the future. She has also been providing OAF Tija special assistance for her work with the Australian Film and TV School. She attended a successful LH Martin conference and continued in her role as chairperson of the Board of the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce. In her spare time she has joined a group monitoring platypuses in the St George River.
OAF Falvey and wife Simone took advantage of their ability to travel in rural Victoria by taking a holiday at Port Fairy, where they were joined for a couple of days with OAF Hickey and wife Suzanne. He also attended by zoom a conference held by the Malaysian Academy of Science on climate change. His work on the ACIAR Commission and the Kilmore Hospital Board continues. Copies of his book Governance in International Livestock Research arenow available and were presented to Fellows. Thank you Lindsay!
OAF Taylor recently published an article on the appearance of new species of a fungus causing disease in citrus, which raised the ire of Citrus Australia, who claimed that this information could damage their export industry. It was subsequently reported from Western Australia that the disease was causing considerable damage in their citrus orchards. As a member of University House’s committee, he wrote an article recording his research on the history of Matthai glass collection. We congratulate him on being elected Vice President of the House committee.
OAF Barlow, as chairperson of the Agriculture Forum in ATSE, has been coordinating the preparation of a Soil Carbon Explainer, and the preparation of webinars on the topic of Towards Net Zero Emissions 2050. The Soil Carbon Explainer is nearing completion
OAF Lee Dow has been preoccupied with personal issues since the last meeting. However, his services continue to be valued by the Victorian government as an ‘honest broker’ between government and Catholic school sectors. He also advises William Angliss Institute on regulation matters that can affect its operations. He continues as chairperson of the Australian Multicultural Foundation.
OAF White has been one of the group working with OAF Barlow on the Soil Carbon Explainer. He has also been interviewed by journalists in the press and radio asking for comments on how farmers might benefit from earning carbon credits, and what soil carbon farming may contribute by way of offsets for Australia’s GHG emissions, given that this practice is promoted as a very important mechanism in the Australian government’s Technology Roadmap (technology not taxes is the mantra).
(Secretary’s note – we acknowledge the event of this date in 1605)
5. Matters arising and other business
OAF Hickey’s argument for changing the conditions of the OAFish Award was discussed and the suggested changes to the guidelines were agreed. These are that the award be renamed the OAFish TrOAFy, to be awardedon the basis of such meritorious deeds as:
- Contributions to the Faculty
- Ideas that leaven lunchtime OAFS meetings
- Outlandish accomplishments of an OAF in any field
- Recognition of a potential future OAF who has done something akin to the above
- Any other reason agreed by those present at an OAFS meeting
The award would in future be made at the Christmas function for the current year, so Fellows were urged to make suggestions to OAF Hickey as to whom should earn the trophy this year.
OAF Beard reminded fellows of the forthcoming Past Players’ Event on 16 November. Places were limited.
The Secretary was asked to organize a date for a Christmas lunch as soon as possible as available dates may be limited.
Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 13 September by zoom
1. Present. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Hickey, Larkins, Kwong Lee Dow and White.
2. Apologies. OAFs Cousens, Davidson, Leury, Taylor, Tija, Topp and Wood.
3. Minutes of the meeting of 8 August had been circulated previously.
4. Activities since last meeting
OAF Beard has had a relatively quiet time during the current lockdown. With Liz Baré and Teresa Tija, she is working on another article on matters affecting casual staff in universities.
OAF Larkins has been enjoying the relative freedom of living in Yea during the lockdown, where he has spent much time in the garden attacking weeds in particular. He has been busy securing grants for improvements to the Yea Wetlands. He has collaborated again with Ian Marshman in a forensic analysis of university finances using published accounts, which is to be published soon. One interesting finding is that overall, universities have lost income in 2020 from a fall in investment income, rather than from a reduction in student fee income. (It is perhaps not surprising that the federal government has not been sympathetic to the call from universities for more financial support during the pandemic, especially when 25 out of 39 universities ended 2020 in surplus – Hon. Sec).
OAF Lee Dow has been having a quiet time attending to caring duties. However, he commended OAF Larkins for his work with Ian Marshman in analysing the financial statistics of the university sector, which no one in either the current university managements nor the federal department of education seems to be doing. This is a unique service.
Based on his experience in reviewing the federal department of Agriculture, Water and Environment a little time ago, OAF Barlow also lamented the lack of experienced, well-informed personnel in government departments. The question was raised – has the public service become too politicized, in that staff are primarily telling their political masters what they want to hear rather than giving expert, impartial advice? He is coordinating a group developing a Soil Carbon Explainer for the ATSE, which is nearing completion. He also offered OAF Larkins a job in tackling weeds on his Baddaginnie property.
OAF Hickey managed a trip to Perth in January to see a new grandchild (undergoing the usual 14 days quarantine). Apart from that he has been engaged in activities at home in Geelong.
Living in rural Kilmore, OAF Falvey was able to travel to Kyabram to visit family. His book on the governance of international livestock research has now been published. Echoing earlier comments about government staff capabilities, he has found the training sessions for his role on the local hospital board to be underwhelming.
OAF White has been part of the ATSE group working on the Soil Carbon Explainer. In addition to the occasional paper in the Farm Policy Journal on soil carbon farming, he has published an article on the realities of soil carbon farming in vineyards in Wine Business Monthly with two American colleagues.
(Secretary’s note – we wish OAF Cousens well for his hip replacement operation).
5. Matters arising and other business
Professor Brian Leury and Associate Professor Brian Davidson have both agreed to join the OAFS. They regretted they could not attend this zoom meeting. It was also regrettable that because of lockdown restrictions we were not able to lunch with the Dean of FVAS. However, we hope to arrange that in the future.
All OAFs joined in congratulating OAF White on his being invited to the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux to receive a grand award for the book ‘Healthy Soils for Healthy Vines: Soil Management for Productive Vineyards’. The PRIX de l’OIV 2021, OIV AWARD 2021 in the category Vitiviniculture Durable – Sustainable Vitiviniculture is to conferred on December 17 at the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux.
OAF Falvey made a comment about the OAFish award, suggesting that the criteria for the award might be revised and expanded. This will be discussed at our next meeting. OAF Barlow suggested that OAF Leury might be asked, before he retires, to make a decision about the allocation of a room in the Faculty for the OAFs and other honoraries.
OAF Beard asked whether fellows had received a notice about the forthcoming Past Players’ Event on 16 November.
_________________________
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/.
—————
Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 21 June in University House
1. Present. OAFs Beard, Cousens, Falvey, White.
2. Apologies. OAFs Barlow, Hickey, Larkins, Lee Dow, Tija, Topp and Wood.
3. Minutes of the meeting of 7 May had been circulated previously.
4. Activities since last meeting
OAF Cousens had bad news to report about his nephew in England being charged with murder; very distressing at this time of travel bans and lockdowns in particular. He has kept himself occupied working on a paper on genealogy and preparing for a multi-author book on ecology.
OAF Beard has continued her activities on the board of the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce. She has also become a mentor for agriculture students at Melbourne. She continues to interact with Liz Baré, Teresa Tija and Ian Marshman on educational matters.
OAF Falvey has recently reviewed a book on conservation agriculture. He is writing a book on governance of ILRI with some reference to the CGIAR. The tree plantation on his Kilmore estate suffered some damage from the recent storm.
OAF White has continued to try and bring a sense of reality to the soil carbon farming debate as a solution to Australia’s emissions problem. Some leaders in the agriculture industry realize the problem and the scientific facts are beginning to cut through in spite of media misinformation.
5. Matters arising and other business
OAF Falvey raised the question of new blood for the OAFS. The secretary undertook to contact Paul Taylor (which he has now done). It was also suggested that we invite the Dean of FVAS to a lunch or dinner soon.
Videos of the ICM AgriFood Laureates are online for Dr Anna Tahchy and Dr Lindsay Bell.
6. Next meeting
Please see the calendar below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 7 May in University House
1. Present. OAFs Beard, Falvey, Hickey, Larkins, Lee Dow, Topp and White. By invitation Chaoyu Li, Travel Awardee for 2021.
2. Apologies. OAFs Barlow, Cousens, Tija and Wood.
Welcome to Chaoyu Li.
3. Minutes of the meeting of 22 March had been circulated previously.
4. Activities since last meeting
OAF Larkins has been busy applying for a grant from Regional and Rural Renewal on behalf of the Yea Wetlands. He and Ian Marshman have been writing about university funding, showing that most Victorian universities did well during 2020 in spite of the pandemic.
OAF Hickey has been kept busy with family activities and house renovations, which have been slow because tradies are hard to engage. A son has been made a full professor at McGill University.
OAF Topp has continued with fund raising for St Vincent’s Hospital – ‘if you can’t raise funds for a hospital during a pandemic, when can you?’. Funds are being raised for a new research centre under the auspices of ACMD.
OAF Beard has been writing articles with OAF Tija and Liz Baré on third space professionals for a conference at the end of May (ATEM Student Services Conference). She has recently become a grandmother.
OAF Falvey recently enjoyed a short vacation at Beechworth with the Hickeys. He gave the Borlaug Lecture for Texas A & M University. He has retired from chairing the ILRI board but interested in ILRI and CGIAR.
OAF Lee Dow was invited to give a lecture reviewing the 80 years’ history of the Camberwell High School. On this day he celebrated his 83rd birthday with good wishes all round, a toast and cake generously provided by OAF Beard
OAF White has continued to try and bring a sense of reality to the soil carbon farming debate as a solution to Australia’s emissions problem. Some leaders in the agriculture industry realize the problem, but the ABC continues to promote the concept (out of ignorance?).
5. Matters arising and other business
OAF Falvey reported that the winners of the ICM AgriFood award would be announced publicly on 10 June. He also raised the question of new blood for the OAFS. The secretary undertook to contact Paul Taylor.
Secretary’s note – the OAFs wished OAF Barlow well in his recovery from a foot operation.
6. Next meeting Please see the calendar below.
OAF White
Hon. Secretary
——————————————————————————
Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 22 March in University House
1. Present. OAFs, Falvey, Larkins, White and Wood. We welcomed a brief visit by Prof John Fazakerley, Dean of FVAS.
2. Apologies. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Cousens, Hickey, Kwong Lee Dow, Tija and Topp
3. Minutes of the meeting of 8 February had been circulated previously.
4. Activities since last meeting
OAF Falvey has attended a meeting in Canberra as part of the ACIAR Commission. He is relieved that his stint on the CGIAR board ends on 28 April. He recently gave a lecture on science diplomacy.
OAF Larkins finally drove up to Ballina to visit family there, having been frustrated by border closures preventing air travel. His articles on postgraduate students and course work have attracted attention, particularly with respect to the continued closure of our international border to overseas students.
OAF White has continued to be involved in the debate about the efficacy of soil carbon farming as a means of significantly offsetting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. An article comparing soil C offsets in vineyards in Australia and California is under review – probably held up because it goes against the prevailing orthodoxy.
OAF Wood is about to embark on a very busy ruffle season. The signs are good for a bumper harvest on his property. He is experiencing frustration in obtaining a satisfactory venue for some truffle events later in the year.
Secretary’s note – we wish OAF Beard a speedy recovery from her recently acquired pneumonia. We also wish OAF Cousens well in his recovery from recent back surgery.
5. Matters arising
OAF Wood very kindly provided a bottle of an excellent Sauvignon Blanc wine to mark the 7th anniversary of the formation of the OAFS.
OAF Falvey thoughtfully arranged for a birthday cake to be consumed to mark this occasion. Both contributions were thankfully received.
6. Other Business
On the day of the meeting OAF Tjia circulated advice about a forthcoming book by anthropologists Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe, who argue for a more balanced approach to our understanding of pre-colonization aboriginal culture. The book analyses the claims made in Pascoe’s book Dark Emu and posits that a hunter-gather society can be just as sophisticated in its functioning as the European system of settled agriculture in the post-colonization period. This has provoked further discussion among the OAFs.
7. Date of next meeting (see below)
OAF White
Hon. Secretary
————————————————————————–
Minutes of a meeting of the Society of OAFs held at 12 noon on 8 February in University House
1. Present. OAFs Barlow, Beard, Falvey, Kwong Lee Dow, Larkins, Tija and White
2. Apologies. OAFs Cousens, Hickey, Topp and Wood
3. Minutes of the meeting of 13 November 2020 had been circulated previously
4. Activities since last meeting
OAF Lee Dow has been having a quiet time over the Christmas-New Year period.
OAF Falvey has continued his visits with Simone to various parts of Victoria, such as Falls Creek. He will be glad when his term on the CGIAR board ends in April. He has also recently published an article on agricultural philosophy in Asia in the Journal of Asian Agricultural History.
OAF Larkins has spent most of his time in Yea where he is chairman of the local Wetlands Discovery Centre. He has recently published an article on students enrolled for postgraduate coursework degrees in Australian universities (click here for link).
OAF Tija has been contracted as an interim executive by Federation university, a position that has involved her in visiting several campuses. Also published two papers with OAF Beard – (1) and (2)
OAF Beard has continued to divide her time between Melbourne and Lorne. She manages to chair board meetings of the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce by zoom. Papers with OAF Tija as above.
OAF Barlow has been occupied with visiting and visitors. He has been involved with the Agriculture Forum of the ATSE and has recently published an article in French, with a co-author, on the impact of climate change on the French wine industry
For OAF White the debate continues about the efficacy of soil carbon farming in significantly offsetting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. He has expressed his views in an interview with Robyn Williams on the Science Show and had brief input to the commentary on the ABC’s PM program (listen from minute 7.47). The latter was heavily biased towards the enthusiasts/evangelists. He is currently preparing an article with two American scientists on the feasibility of winegrowers’ earning carbon credits in Australia and California.
5. Matters arising
There was insufficient support for the suggestion, made at the December meeting, that we style ourselves as the Honorable Society of OAFs. However, there was agreement that we should have some identifying emblem (bow ties and cravats were ruled out), and OAF Tija said she would consult with her daughter who was a graphic designer.
6. Other Business
An email for Ian Marshman, forwarded by OAF Larkins, asked whether the OAFs had a view on the recent appointment of author Bruce Pascoe as an Enterprise Professor in the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences. Some alumni had questioned the appropriateness of this appointment. It was first clarified that enterprise professors were not academic appointments, but were intended to foster relationships between the University and the wider community, especially industry (Engineering have a few such professors). After some discussion, the consensus view was that, irrespective of the validity of some of the claims about Aboriginal agricultural and other achievements pre-1788 in Pascoe’s book Dark Emu, the presentation of these views promoted discussion in the wider community that was long overdue. OAF Tija, who was in contact with people who knew something about the book’s genesis, subsequently circulated some informative background material.
OAF Falvey requested that when the OAFs next meet at University House we were to be seated at a round table (shades of King Arthur’s court?).
6. Date of next meeting
Please enter preferred dates for the next meeting in the calendar below. At this stage it is not known whether this will be in person or via zoom.
OAF White
Hon. Secretary
Society of Old Agriculture Fellows (OAFS) 