Indigo Shire’s agriculture sector will be showcased next week when Beechworth plays host to over a hundred agribusiness professionals from across the State for the seventh annual Victorian Agribusiness Summit.

This year’s Agribusiness Summit will be held at Beechworth’s La Trobe University campus on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd of May and hosted by the Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum.

The Summit will provide delegates with an understanding of the important role agribusiness plays for North East Victoria and includes a regional bus tour and a number of distinguished key speakers including Ian MacAulay, Chairman of Murray Goulburn Cooperative Limited and Tim Kelf, Meat and Livestock Australia’s Regional Manager for South East Asia and China.

Indigo Shire Council Mayor Cr Peter Graham OAM said it was fitting the Agribusiness Summit would be held in the Indigo Shire given the importance of agriculture to the regional economy and the region’s viable reputation as a clean, green and pristine food growing area.

“Indigo Shire is home to a broad range of agricultural pursuits and has a strong tradition of agribusiness,” Cr Graham said. “Value-adding chains are well established within our Shire with companies such as Uncle Tobys and Murray Goulburn and many more adding value to the output of our 503 farms.”

“Our area has established a viable reputation for agriculture and associated agribusinesses,” he said. “There’s an Indigo farmer’s product on a great number of breakfast tables across the country each morning, with milk from dairies going to Murray Goulburn for processing and the grains our cropping farmers send to Uncle Tobys,” Cr Graham said.

The Summit has been organised by Lachlan Campbell, the Manager of Sustainable Agribusiness Development for the Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum.

Mr Campbell said the theme of the Summit was Regional Agribusiness in the Global Marketplace and that delegates would explore the global issues facing regional Victoria and provide some solutions as to how regional economies will survive and prosper. “The aim of the Summit is to provide participants with an understanding of the skills and knowledge regions need to remain relevant in the global context,” he said.

The two-day conference commences 10am on Tuesday 2 May at La Trobe University’s Beechworth Campus.

For further information: 

Indigo Shire Tourism and Economic Development Officer Tammy Atkins on 0418 964 822

Lachlan Campbell, Manager of Sustainable Agribusiness Development for the Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum -  0419 243 225