With the retirement of Trevor Weatherhead as the Executive Director and the new five (5) year strategic plan now in place, the AHBIC Executive are pleased to announce that they have appointed Sarah Paradice as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Sarah will start officially on 2 January, 2019.

Sarah lives just outside Canberra in New South Wales.

Before starting with us Sarah has been the CEO for the Institute of Foresters and the Executive Officer for the Australia Forest Growers based in Canberra.

Contact details will be advised when she takes up her new role.

We welcome Sarah and I am sure you will give her your assistance when she starts in the New Year.

Trevor Weatherhead AM
Executive Director
13 November, 2018

Download PDF announcement here (223KB)

The search is on once again to find Australian agriculture’s biosecurity champions. If you or someone you know goes the extra mile to protect their property from diseases, pests and weeds, nominate now for the 2019 Farm Biosecurity Producer of the Year Award.

Our primary producers are on the front lines of the national biosecurity system. Small, everyday actions on-farm go a long way to ensuring Australia is secure against exotic, endemic and emerging diseases, pests and weeds.

Australian primary producers, including individuals and organisations can be nominated. This comprises all forms of Australian farming, including large commercial operations and hobby-level farmers that:

• Demonstrate a sound understanding of the six biosecurity essentials of the Farm Biosecurity Program:
  • Farm inputs
  • People, vehicles and equipment Production practices
  • Feral animals and weeds
  • Farm outputs
    Train, plan and record
• Apply biosecurity practices relevant to their property/properties.
• Carry out biosecurity activities as best-practice preventative measures, rather than in response to specific threats.
• Show evidence of their biosecurity activities through planning, records, procedures etc.
• Advocate for proactive on-farm biosecurity practices among their peers.

Winners will be announced and presented with their award at the ABARES Outlook Conference in March 2019 in Canberra.

Closing date for nominations is Friday 9 November 2018. For more information, nomination forms and contact details of organisers, go to www.agriculture.gov.au/aba

Extensions to the deadline will be considered. Please contact the ABA Secretariat ABA@agriculture.gov.au.

Thank you in advance for your support of this award.

Download PDF here

You may recall that the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) carried out a survey of our industry for the period 2014-15. As a follow up from that survey and to be able to have some data, AHBIC and Plant Health Australia (PHA) agreed that an annual survey would be useful in keeping an eye on the state of our industry.

PHA was successful in being funded by AgriFutures Australia to carry out this survey.

A short survey has been developed to find out how healthy Australian honey bees are, and what pests and diseases might be causing problems for beekeepers. The results from the survey will be used to decide what help beekeepers might need to keep their honey bees healthy. It will also provide statistics for use by the industry.

The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, Plant Health Australia, and AgriFutures Australia, encourage all Australian beekeepers to take part in this survey, which will only take 10-12 minutes to complete. The survey can be found at http://bit.ly/BeeHealthSurvey

Survey closes December 14th 2018.

For more information go to http://beeaware.org.au/contact-us

Trevor Weatherhead AM
6 November, 2018

Download PDF letter here