Keyneton livestock producer Joe Keynes has been appointed President of Livestock SA, replacing former leader Geoff Power, who retired from the role at the Growing SA Conference and Livestock SA AGM last month.
Mr Keynes was the organisation’s Vice-President and has had a long involvement in regional and state organisations including the Natural Resources Management Council and the SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board.
He has also been a member of LambEx 2014 Committee and the Livestock SA representative on WoolProducers Australia.
He is a partner in Keyneton Station, a family farming business operating at Keyneton in the Barossa Valley and Avenue Range in the South East, principally grazing Merino sheep, Angus cattle and first-cross lambs.
He believes a strong Livestock SA is needed to advocate to government and industry for future policy development and investment in programs that support agriculture.
“While livestock producers are currently enjoying the most buoyant of times, there is a range of issues vital to their continued profitability and sustainability that we will continue to pursue,” he said.
“Livestock SA must remain a relevant and strong industry representative body through policy and industry development and I am looking forward to stepping into this role and contributing to this outcome.
“In particular, continued advocacy through policy development remains key to ensuring agriculture gets continued support from government so the industry can retain its resilience and robustness both now and into the future.
“For example, industry development as part of the SA Sheep Industry Blueprint to-date has attracted $7 million in R&D investment which is a real win in terms of attracting funds to help to build our productivity.”
Mr Keynes said there is a real sense of renewal within the Livestock SA board.
