Longreach sheep and cattle grazier Dominic Burden has been appointed as the North Queensland representative on the AgForce Queensland Farmers Board.
AgForce General President Grant Maudsley said Mr Burden had extensive experience in primary production businesses, strong knowledge of natural resource management issues as well as corporate and technical expertise gained while working in the resources sector.
“Dominic is well-known to AgForce members having served as our North West Regional Manager for 12 months while his family owned cattle and sheep property Macsland, north west of Longreach, was completely de-stocked,” he said.
“He has worked on cattle and sheep stations in South Australia and New South Wales and knows only too well what primary producers in Queensland face as a result of drought through seeing and feeling the impacts on the property he and his wife took over nearly five years ago.
“Dominic brings with him a breadth of knowledge of pest and weed management through his role as Chair of Desert Channels Queensland, and has used his project management, stakeholder liaison, and planning skills to support the wild dog control effort in the Central West.”
Mr Burden said he was looking forward to representing the North region, and delivering effective strategy and maintaining good governance as part of the AgForce Board.
“I am excited about the future of AgForce as the benefits of our recent restructure combined with our policy and communications capabilities start to gain traction,” he said.
“AgForce will continue to develop both as an effective lobby group and as a centre for the development of sound and sustainable policy for Queensland agriculture.
“We have a critical role to play advocating on behalf of our industry to politicians and government agencies, as ultimately, the performance of agriculture as an employer and economic contributor is determined by the regulatory environment we operate in.”
Mr Burden takes over as AgForce North Regional Director from Hughenden cattle producer Russell Lethbridge, who was recently elected as a Director of Meat and Livestock Australia.
While Mr Burden will attend Board meetings and represent the North as a Board Director, Mr Lethbridge will continue as the AgForce North Regional President.