Michael has a PhD and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from The University of Sydney and a Master of Business Administration from the University of New England. He worked for over three years as a Beef cattle extension officer with the NSW Department of Primary Industries and then moved to work for Rabobank in rural finance for three years. Michael has a strong interest in commercial agricultural production and has previously managed a large fully integrated cattle operation in Papua New Guinea before returning to Australia. He has also worked as a consultant on farm business benchmarking projects and for industry funded projects. Michael is currently a member of the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Competition committee and the Federal Council of the Australian Association of Animal Sciences (AAAS). His PhD investigated the use of forage crops to increase profitability and decrease risk in commercial pasture based dairy farming systems. Michael currently runs a beef cattle breeding operation with his wife and children near Adelong.

Shawn McGrath grew up on a beef/wool property near Tumbarumba. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at the University of Sydney in 2001, before commencing work in corporate agriculture for Elders Ltd (2002-2009), predominantly in the beef supply chain with production and marketing of domestic beef and export Wagyu, and then in rural finance. In 2010 he returned to southern NSW and changed his career focus to research, with a wool industry-sponsored PhD into the utilisation of dual-purpose wheat followed by an MLA-sponsored project comparing Dorper and Merino production in mixed-farming systems at Wagga Wagga. In August 2015 he commenced in his current position as Lecturer in Whole Farm Management (McCaughey) in the Fred Morley Unit at CSU, with a focus on applied research and undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in livestock production and consultancy.

Jonathan completed an agricultural degree in Wagga in 1988 before returning home to northern NSW to work on his family’s cropping property. After seven years as a Research Officer at Charles Sturt University working on GRDC cropping systems and precision agriculture projects, he established a spatial data services consultancy based in Wagga utilising a broad range of technical, theoretical and practical skills working with farmers and businesses across Australia and internationally. Since June 2019 Jonathan has been the Senior Research Fellow – Spatial Agriculture at the Graham Centre. In this role he is developing a program of research activities to investigate and demonstrate the use of spatial and digital technologies in a range of agricultural industries. Part of this newly created role also involves working to expand the AgTech capabilities utilised on the Charles Sturt farm for both research and day to day farm management activities.

Kath grew up on a mixed farming enterprise, and developed her interest in beef genetics through involvement in her family’s Hereford stud. Kath obtained her Masters (2001) and PhD (2003) at the University of Georgia, USA, and following her postgraduate studies was employed at the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, where her research activities included investigations into the feasibility of international genetic evaluation for several different cattle breeds. In 2008 Kath commenced employment with NSW Department of Primary Industries at Trangie Agricultural Research Centre, and has been based at Trangie ever since. Kath’s research has included the genetics of feed utilisation by cattle, in particular the relationship between age at puberty and feed efficiency; genetics of body composition in beef females (Beef CRC Maternal Productivity project) and genetic technologies to reduce methane emissions in beef cattle. Her current research projects include the Southern MultiBreed project, where the key objective is to enable beef producers across Australia to directly compare bulls of different breeds for all BREEDPLAN traits, and assess their genetic merit irrespective of hide colour. The most important output of this project will be the development of the necessary head to head comparisons in order to have multi-breed BREEDPLAN EBVs in Australia for all major temperate breeds.

Veronika is a current PhD student at Charles Sturt University. Her research focus is based around the utilisation of male calves within the dairy industry for beef production. Prior to undertaking her PhD, Veronika was involved in the feedlot sector and is passionate about continually improving the efficiency of livestock systems.

Bridgette has an undergraduate degree in Animal and Veterinary Bioscience from the University of Sydney, where she completed her honours research in Alpaca meat. She is now a third year PhD student, at Charles Sturt University, working on her thesis entitled ‘Verification of production systems of origin for beef and lamb.’ Her work focuses on discriminating between grain and grass production systems using Raman Spectroscopy. Bridgette is also a student member of the Graham Centre and works closely with the Meat Science team in NSW Department of Primary Industries based in Cowra.

Liam is a newly graduated Veterinarian from Charles Sturt University who completed his honours research in Bovine Respiratory Disease in feedlots. Liam recently started a new job with Taree Veterinary Hospital. He is also the owner-operator of Narlah Angus, an Angus breeding operation on the Mid North Coast of NSW. His Veterinary interests include cattle nutrition, genetics and embryo transfer. Liam also has a degree in medical radiation science, a diploma in business and certificates in agriculture. Liam has travelled the world competing for Australia in archery competitions and plays rugby union for Wagga Agricultural College.

Emma grew up on her family property in Bathurst, NSW. Emma completed a Bachelor of Animal Science (Honours) in 2017 at Charles Sturt University. After her honours and industry related travel overseas, Emma released her passion and love for all things beef and decided to pursue a career in research. In 2018, Emma commenced her PhD at Charles Sturt University, where she continued to further investigate her honours research. The title for Emma’s PhD thesis is the use of canola meal as a supplement for grassfed beef, which focuses on animal production, ruminant nutrition and meat science. Emma is currently in her last year of her studies under the supervisor of Michael Friend, Gaye Krebs, Michael Campbell and John Piltz. On completion of her studies, Emma wishes to continue research and education in ruminant production and nutrition.

Thomas completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Charles Sturt University, Wagga. His research has focussed on large ruminant health in established and developing industries assessing the interaction between parasite, wildlife hosts, farmer management, and animal disease status. Thom currently works within a multidisciplinary team investigating novel point-of-decision diagnostic tools and management practices that can improve large ruminant health and production outcomes in extensive and intensive systems. Thom has a passion for developing strong communities, research four development, applied research and food security.