The nation’s largest organic certifying body Australian Certified Organic (ACO), has appointed Canberra Royal Show boss Ben Copeman as its new chief executive officer from July 24.
He honed his skills and knowledge of the organic industry during three years as general manager of the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA) before becoming CEO of the Royal National Capital Agricultural Society.
ACO chairman, Joe Siegel said Mr Copeman had a strong client service, technical and strategic competence and great knowledge and passion for the organic sector.
Mr Copeman’s experience also includes hands-on farming and small scale investment banking, risk management, environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture.
He spent more than 30 years breeding stud and commercial beef cattle and Merino sheep and growing cereal and forage crops.
“The organics sector is growing at a phenomenal rate, which makes it one of the most exciting industries to be a part of right now,” he said.
Farm management deposits
Finance industry monitor, Canstar has updated previously published farm management deposit (FMD) rates in the Fairfax Agricultural weekly mastheads’ farm finance feature (June 15).
Westpac Banking Corporation advised FMD interest is paid monthly for BankSA, Bank of Melbourne and St. George.
This is also reflected in the effective rate, changing this to 2.68 per cent from the previously quoted 2.65pc.
AACo chief’s share offer
Australian Agricultural Company managing director, Jason Strong, will be able to access to shares in the company as part of a long term incentive plan, in addition to his $600,000 annual salary and superannuation entitlement.
AACo has confirmed he has been offered access to 27.5 per cent of the company’s $5 million total performance rights acquired by AACo’s employee share trust.
His employment contract also allows for a short term incentive annual cash bonus of up to $300,000.
Wine label’s emotional pull
Research by the University of Adelaide has shown consumers are much more influenced by wine label descriptions than previously thought.
A consumer study showed wine descriptions not only influenced consumer choice, but also altered consumer emotions and encouraged them to pay more for a bottle.
“Cleverly written wine and producer descriptions, when coupled with unbranded wine tasting can evoke more positive emotions increasing our positive perception of wine and estimation of its quality,’ said project leader, Associate Professor Sue Bastian.
More elaborate wine descriptions with information about winery history and positive wine quality statements were found to lift the preference rating consumers gave wine.
Syngenta corn compo cost
A court decision in the US has forced Swiss-based agribusiness giant, Syngenta, to pay $217.7m in compensatory damages to US farmers over its decision to sell a biotech corn strain which was not approved for use in China.
China blocked US imports in 2013 after inspectors detected traces of Agrisure Viptera, a chemical resistant corn variety genetically engineered to combat cutworms.
Although approved for planting in America, the export trade to China via companies such as Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland fell away, prompting court action by US farmers who claimed they had been caught by the fall in grain prices.
Syngenta said it was disappointed with the verdict because it will only serve to deny American farmers access to future technologies even when they are fully approved in the US.