Article by Aidan Smith courtesy of Farm Weekly.
THE National Agriculture and Related Industries Day Gala Dinner will be held in Perth for the first time next month with more than 600 interstate and international guests, including farmers, pastoralists, agribusiness leaders and politicians expected to converge at the exclusive event.
The high-profile dinner is expected to attract plenty of attention and will be held at Burswood on Swan on Thursday, November 21.
The purpose of the dinner is to celebrate Australia’s agricultural industries and indulge in Western Australia’s world-renowned wine and food.
It is the third year the dinner has been held, with events at Canberra in 2017 and Sydney in 2018, each attracting 300-380 attendees.
The patron and founder of National Agriculture and Related Industries Day, Gina Rinehart, said the day was “a very special day to recognise and celebrate our industry and its related industries, all of those hard working people who spend day after day producing food for our State and nation and for our trading partners too”.
“The National Agriculture and Related Industries Day gala dinner will be held this year in Perth for the first time,” Ms Rinehart said.
“We especially hope many from the land will come to Perth to enjoy seeing their friends and to enjoy the Australian and international entertainment and celebrate their day.”
Ms Rinehart said Akubras and boots were “very welcome”, as well as representatives from the fishing industry – “everyone who contributes to our diverse agricultural industry”.
“Agriculture is a very important industry for WA, in both our history and in our future, it creates tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in revenue which helps our government afford to build the roads, hospitals, police, kindergartens and more,” she said.
“National Agriculture and Related Industries Day is a day we can thank our pastoralists and farmers, our fisherman, our viticulturists, bee keepers, our poultry and egg producers, our market gardeners and fruit growers and associated industries and all those who give meaningful contributions to our agricultural industry.
“We hope you are proud of your industry and your contribution.”
As part of National Agriculture and Related Industries Day celebrations, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA (PGA) will be facilitating a panel of agribusiness leaders and policy makers to identify where the greatest growth opportunities lie.
The forum, Australian Agribusiness – Global Opportunities, Local Expertise, will provide a platform for Australian Agribusiness leaders and politicians to provide their expertise to a national audience on identifying these growth opportunities and showcase the nation’s global profile.
“Of all the sectors in the Australian economy, agribusiness is the sector with the strongest combination of playing most to Australia’s competitive advantages and being a sector producing what the world increasingly wants,” said PGA president Tony Seabrook.
“However this optimism over the future prospects of Australian agribusiness raises the question – where within this sector do the greatest growth opportunities lie?
“This will be just one of the many questions we will be exploring at the forum, which will involve agribusiness leaders and policy makers, including Australia’s most successful agribusiness leader, Gina Rinehart.”
