Dear Members,

 

The 42nd Annual General Meeting of The Australian Society of Agronomy Inc. will be held in the Auditorium, Empire Theatre, Toowoomba Queensland commencing 3:45 pm on Monday 19th September 2022.

 

Members are invited to attend the AGM and can find the agenda below.

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In the General Business section is a proposal for members to consider and discuss - expanding the society’s activities in the future. Prior to the AGM, we ask members to provide feedback, and suggestions, and indicate if they support this idea. Suggestions received from members will be presented at the AGM, along with suggestions from the Executive. Following a discussion on the merits and concerns of expanding the society’s activities members will be invited to show support for the individual activities via an online poll and then cast their vote for the motion

 

Do you support Agronomy Australia extending its mission from organising the Australian Agronomy Conference to providing membership activities?

 

Potential activities for the society could include 

• a field study tour for young agronomists in the alternative year to the conference

• increased membership activities

• greater public profile

• lobbying for agronomy

• regular member communications

 

Are there other roles the Society could play?

 

Please provide your suggestions below and email them to

Ben Biddulph ben.biddulph@dpird.wa.gov.au and
cc the Agronomy Australia office to the email office@agronomyaustralia.org.au

 

My suggestions for Society activities:

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My preliminary indication of support of the motion is:  YES or NO

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Notice of 2022 Annual General Meeting

to be held at the Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, Queensland
on Monday 19 September 2022 commencing at 3.45 pm

 

2022 AGM Agenda

Item 1. Welcome and apologies

Item 2. Minutes of the 2021 AGM (Appendix 1)

Item 3. Business arising - nil

Item 4. President’s report

Item 5. Treasurer’s report:

a) Presentation of financial statements 2021/2022

b) Appointment of accountant/auditor for 2022/2023

Item 6. Executive Officer’s report

Item 7. General business 

1. 2026 Australian Agronomy Conference location

2. Discussion on the future direction for Agronomy Australia (Dr. Ben Biddulph)

3. Election of office bearers 2022-2024

 

Appendix 1: Minutes of the 2021 AGM

Minutes of the 41st Annual General Meeting of The Australian Society of Agronomy Inc.
commencing 3.00 pm on Thursday 21st October 2021

 

Present via zoom: Daniel  Rodriquez, Barbara George-Jaeggli, Lindsay Bell, Linda Bennison, Ben Biddulph, Bob French, Garry O’Leary, Roger Lawes, Andrew Fletcher, Dean Thomas, Chao Chen, Peter Carberry, Tim Weaver, Rick Llewellyn, Sarita Bennett.

Proxies received: Michael Bange, Joe Batten. Graeme Blair, Rob Bramley, Bhagirath Chauhan, Robert Cirocco, Phil Davies, Gereltsetseg Enkhbat, Joseph Eyre, Graeme Hammer, Carol Harris, Peter Hayman, Jeff McCormack, Jonathan Medway, Lance Pendergast, Timothy Reeves, Douglas Sands, Andrew Sneyd,  Daniel Tan, Peter Thorburn, Len Wade, Ted Wolfe.

 

 

ITEM 1 Welcome and apologies.

President Daniel Rodriquez welcomed everyone to the 41st Annual General Meeting of the Australian Society of Agronomy Inc. and declared the meeting open. Members who entrusted their proxy to the president to cast votes on their behalf and members attending who will cast their votes today were thanked for their support. No apologies were received.

 

ITEM 2. Minutes of the 2020 AGM

Minutes of the annual general meeting held on Thursday 22nd October 2020 were confirmed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.  The motion was moved by Tim Weaver, seconded by Ben Biddulph, and adopted by members.

 

Item 3. Business arising from the 2020 AGM

Nil

 

Item 4. President’s report

President Daniel Rodriquez thanked the organising committee that over the last two years has been meeting regularly, supported by Executive Officer Linda Bennison, and the professional conference organising company. The organising committee for ASA2021 is a collaboration that includes representatives from CSIRO, QDAF, UQ, USQ, CQU, QUT, NSW DPI, and DAWA. And I also thank them for their resilience and commitment during these difficult two years.

The 2021 Australian Agronomy Conference will be run hopefully face to face between the 6th and 10th of February 2022. However, a hybrid system has also been set up for those that cannot make it to Toowoomba. Had the conference been held this week as originally planned, it would not have worked. Plans are in place for pre-recorded presentations to be used should members be unable to attend due to a COVID-19 lockdown. The conference program has been recently published, and numbers indicate that this will be the largest Australian Agronomy Conference ever, in terms of articles submitted (240), registrations received, and sponsorships. The Goods Shed will provide sponsors with the opportunity to display equipment. There is a lot of more detailed information on the website, though if there are any clarification questions, I will be happy to answer them now.

Item 5. Treasurers report

Treasurer Dr. Barbara George-Jaeggli advised the 2020/2021 financial statements were emailed to members with AGM correspondence. The financial statements were prepared by Michael Watt of Hobart. The accounts continue to reflect society activities with conference activities quarantined in the conference budget.  2020/2021 reflects a non-conference year where accounts remain relatively stable. Questions on the cost of hosting a hybrid conference were answered. The costs are higher as technology platforms are required in addition to the hire of the Empire Theatre and Goods Shed. One benefit is that the conference will be streamed to countries in the Asia Pacific region with support from ACIAR. During the four-month postponement, conference funds have been transferred into the society bank accounts.

The motion to adopt the 2020/2021 financial statements for The Australian Society of Agronomy Inc. was moved by Dr. Barbara George-Jaeggli and seconded by Dr. Ben Biddulph before members voted and adopted the motion. 

Dr. Barbara George-Jaeggli then moved a motion to appoint M C Watts, Hobart, as an accountant for The Australian Society of Agronomy Inc. for the financial period 2021/2022. Dr. Lindsay Bell seconded the motion before members voted and adopted the motion. 

 

Item 6. Executive Officer’s report 

EO Linda Bennison provided the 2021 EO report. Over the past twelve months, committee members have remained committed to providing members with a face-to-face conference where researchers can present findings, network, collaborate, and participate in field trips that extend knowledge and understanding of agronomy in different regions of Australia.  The decision to postpone the conference from October 2021 to February 2022 has paid off at this stage as current COVID-19 restrictions at state borders would have prevented many members from attending an October 2021 conference. Increased vaccination levels and predictions that state borders will open before Christmas provide a degree of confidence that Toowoomba will proceed in the traditional ‘face-to-face’ format in February 2022. A legacy of this decision will be hosting two general meetings in 2022: at the conference to elect the 2024 conference committee and following the EOFY to present the financial statements. Thank you to the committee for their hard work since being elected and dedication to providing members with a Queensland conference.

 

Item 7. General Business of the Society

Nil

 

The meeting was declared closed at 3.24 pm