TWO farmer groups won accolades at the annual Ag Excellence Alliance Sustainability Awards for grower groups at a ceremony in Adelaide on Monday night - Partners in Grain and the Barossa Improved Grazing Group.
The award for the larger regionally-based group went to Partners in Grain, and the Barossa Improved Grazing Group took out the smaller district-based group award.
Rural Solutions SA's Ian McFarland was judge and said that with the Ag Excellence Alliance celebrating 10 years since its inception, judges were looking for how grower group projects impacted at a regional, state and national levels, and how they worked with natural resource management groups in the past decade.
The award highlighted Partners in Grain's work to encourage more women to field days - events typically dominated by men.
In 2011, Partners in Grain held its own event at the Hart Field Day site, to spike interest in attending the premier crop field day in the state.
Since then, the group has held its own program of events in a marquee at the Hart site during the field day, which has been well-attended.
The Barossa Improved Grazing Group was recognised for its work in bringing together livestock producers, local agriculture bureau members, rural product merchants and the NRM to focus on sustainable management of grazing resources in the region.
* Full report in Stock Journal, March 20, 2014 issue.
Paula Thompson
Stock Journal's markets editor.
Stock Journal's markets editor.
