About & Program
As the global population grows from around 8 billion today to nearly 10 billion by 2050, increasing the capacity and productivity of the world’s food production systems will be crucial to meet the rapidly increasing demand for food. This growth poses both challenges and opportunities for farmers, agribusinesses, financiers and governments.
According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, there is an estimated US$260 billion annual investment shortfall that must be addressed to meet zero hunger targets by 2030. Additionally, ANZ estimates that to reach a goal of $100 million in Gross Value of Production (GVP) by 2030, Australian agriculture will need an extra $284 billion to grow agricultural productivity over the decade to 2030, more than doubling the growth seen in the 2010s.
In this context, the Australian Agriculture industry offers a diversity of investment opportunities both large and small scale, across traditional production business models and newly emerging businesses and technologies. Additionally, it enables investors to diversify across a wide range of commodity types, geographic regions and markets.
The industry also is uniquely placed to offer ESG benefits by being embedded in rural communities and supporting them as part of the local economy. Furthermore, from an environmental perspective, Agricultural land-based assets have the potential in the right circumstances for carbon sequestration, offsetting carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, agriculture in Australia presents many positive examples of undertaking business practices that are environmentally sustainable, are good for the environment and contribute toward lowering their own carbon footprint, as the industry understands better than most that the health of the environment and ecosystems they operate in are critical to their future. And from a financial perspective, Australian agriculture has historically offered investors the potential for sound returns over the long term, with the ANREV Australian Farmland index as of Q4 2023 recording a total annualised return of 11.29% since its inception in 2015. All while agriculture as an asset class generally exhibits characteristics of low correlation when compared to other major asset classes.
So, with a breadth of opportunities for investment to scale-up and drive productivity in food production, combined with strong alignment with responsible environmental business practices, carbon sequestration opportunities and positive social impact, Australian agriculture is well positioned to play a part in the solution to drive Australia towards its net-zero targets and feed the world’s growing population. All the while being good for people, good for the environment and good for business.
2024 Preliminary Program
Program is subject to change
11:45 am – 12:15 pm
Registration opens and welcome networking drinks will commence
12:15 pm – 12:25 pm
Welcome and opening remarks from MC Craig Zonca and Brendan Goulding, Bentleys
Keynote Speaker
12:25 pm – 12:40pm
Uncovering the headwinds and tailwinds set to bring agriculture globally into greater focus for investment portfolios
Panel Session 1
12:45 pm – 1:30pm
The case for investment into Australian agriculture – Moderated by Ticky Fullerton
Australia’s leading agriculture businesses and investors provide insights from their experiences, highlighting the benefits of operating in this asset class. They will discuss key factors essential for successfully executing business or investment strategies and explore future opportunities that make agriculture a compelling case for investment.
Panel Session 2
1:35 pm – 2:15 pm
The role that Regenerative Agriculture & ESG is having on Australian farming from a farmer’s and investor’s perspective – Moderated by Pete Lewis
Environmentally sustainable and socially responsible business practices, along with government policy, are increasingly influencing how businesses operate, including farming businesses. A cross-section of agriculture sustainability experts, corporate agribusinesses, and investors will discuss available options for sustainable and responsible farming production practices, how these have been adopted in their businesses, and why Australian agriculture has a big opportunity to be a global leader in sustainable and responsible food production in the battle against climate change.
Conclusion
2:20 pm – 2:30pm
Vote of thanks and closing remarks
2:30 pm – 3:30pm
Networking drinks
Our Speakers
Panel Session Speakers
Mick Hewitt
Group Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Hewitt
Mick serves as the Group CEO of Hewitt, an Australian organic food producer with a commitment to building a sustainable…
Colin Rigg
Managing Director, Macquarie Asset Management
Colin heads the Agriculture and Natural Assets operations for Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), overseeing a team of 17 people with …
Ticky Fullerton (Panel Moderator)
Chief Executive Officer, Australian British Chamber of Commerce
Ticky Fullerton joined the Chamber as Chief Executive in March 2023. The Chamber, with a membership of over 300…
Allan Cooney
Chief Executive Officer, the North Australian Pastoral Company
Allan Cooney is the CEO of The North Australian Pastoral Company – one of Australia’s largest and oldest beef companies…
Steve Jarrott
Portfolio Manager, Diversified Agriculture, Warakirri Asset Management
Steve joined Warakirri in 2019 and is one of Australia’s leading Agricultural investment professionals with over a decade…
Andrew Tout
Head of Agriculture, Centuria Capital Limited
Andrew is Head of Agriculture, responsible for sourcing and overseeing three unlisted pure-play agriculture funds across Australia…
Troy Setter
Chief Executive Officer, Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC)
Troy joined Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) in 2014 and is a top cattlemen and agribusiness leader who is well-renowned…
Su McCluskey
Special Representative, Australian Agriculture & Director, Australian Unity
Su McCluskey is the Special Representative for Australian Agriculture and a Director of Australian Unity, LiveCorp and…
Bradley Wheaton
Managing Director, Gunn Agri Partners & Director, Cunningham Cattle Co
Gunn Agri has as investors and shareholders the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation and…
Brian Healey
Global Co Lead Agribusiness Partner, K&L Gates
Brian is the Global Co Lead Agribusiness Partner for the K&L Gates Agribusiness practice and leads the team…
Ben Cameron
Managing Partner, Bentleys Queensland
Over his 30+ years with Bentleys, Ben has been a driving force behind the firms’ growth in both the rural advisory space and…
Pete Lewis (Panel Moderator)
Director, Way With Words
Pete Lewis is the director of Brisbane-based consultancy Way With Words after a 40 years career in print and…
MC
Craig Zonca
MC & ABC Broadcaster
Craig Zonca co-hosts the popular Breakfast program on ABC Radio Brisbane…
Pricing
Super Early Bird
Available until 30 June
Individual
$159
(Save 20%)
Table of 8
$1,195
(Save 25%)
Early Bird
Available until 31 July
Individual
$179
(Save 10%)
Table of 8
$1,350
(Save 15%)
Standard
Available until 26 August
Individual
$199
space
Table of 8
$1,430
(Save 10%)
*Savings are based on the standard individual rate.
Investors may be eligible for complimentary or discounted tickets at the discretion of the AGIS Summit co-hosts. To enquire, please contact Shaun Kennedy at skennedy@bris.bentleys.com.au.
Ticket Purchase Policy
To ensure a fair and enjoyable experience for all attendees, we are not able to accept multiple table orders from a single organisation. Each organisation is limited to purchasing a maximum of 8 individual tickets or 1 table. This policy helps us maintain an equitable distribution of tickets and ensures a diverse and engaging event atmosphere. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Craig Zonca
Broadcaster
Craig Zonca co-hosts the popular Breakfast program on ABC Radio Brisbane. He’s one of the most recognised voices on radio in Queensland after 20 years working with the ABC, including presenting the Queensland Country Hour.
Craig has also played weather presenter on ABC TV News and anchors the ABC’s Anzac Day coverage in Brisbane.
A naturally curious person, Craig lives to tell stories. He’s interviewed thousands of people, including prime ministers and premiers along with the stars of stage, screen, and the sporting field.
Craig’s covered political scandals and natural disasters but it’s the spontaneous, unexpected, unscripted and adrenaline pumping moments that fuel his love for live radio.
He’s a proud dad, with two young children, who loves escaping the city and getting his boots dusty on his in-law’s cattle property in central Queensland.
Craig is also a board director of the Red Rose Foundation.
Ticky Fullerton
Chief Executive Officer, Australian British Chamber of Commerce
Ticky Fullerton joined the Chamber as Chief Executive in March 2023. The Chamber, with a membership of over 300 UK and Australian businesses, supports trade and investment growth between Australia and the UK across sectors like infrastructure, energy and regional transition, defence, AI and tech.
Ticky has a long-standing reputation as a highly credible voice in business. She is a skilled and motivated thought leader with board and governance experience and a trusted advisor, working closely with both Australian and UK government networks.
She is an award-winning journalist with over twenty years at News Corp and the ABC, including as Presenter of the flagship farming programme, Landline. Ticky has been Business Editor at Large at The Australian newspaper, Business Editor of Sky News in Australia and was an investigative journalist with Four Corners. She is the author of Watershed, the first book for all Australians on the tensions around water use, and was a director of the CRC for Irrigation Futures. She is a Friend of the Peter Cullen Trust.
Mick Hewitt
Group Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Hewitt
Mick serves as the Group CEO of Hewitt, an Australian organic food producer with a commitment to building a sustainable integrated animal protein business. His extensive operational background forms the cornerstone of his career, equipping him with a deep understanding of animal production systems. Mick's involvement spans the entire supply chain, from genetics to large-scale livestock breeding and fattening enterprise management, to processing, marketing, and sales in both domestic and international markets. His experiences have driven his passion for identifying synergistic opportunities within the meat industry and other sectors.
Mick is an experienced leader in deal origination, capital raising, and transaction execution, known for his strong rapport with key stakeholders and his proficiency in implementing robust management systems to drive high performance. Mick has a passion for organisational design and a keen interest in how businesses can deliver meaningful solutions to everyday problems, not least living and consuming sustainably into the future.
Andrew Tout
Head of Agriculture, Centuria Capital Limited
Andrew is Head of Agriculture, responsible for sourcing and overseeing three unlisted pure-play agriculture funds across Australia, worth more than $0.65billion. His core capabilities extend to portfolio management, acquisition evaluation and transactions, credit and risk structuring, automation and AI decision making, and gate-to-plate supply chain management.
Being a sixth-generational agriculturalist and with more than 27 years industry experience, Andrew’s varied career provides exposure to each stakeholder group throughout the agriculture industry, providing a unique network across the industry.
He joined Centuria in 2020 having previously held senior positions with Westpac, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, GrainCorp, Elders, Raine & Horne and regional agricultural specialist companies such as Cargill, Tandou and Pentag. His roles have spanned across agronomy, supply chain management and commodity trading to banking and loan management.
He has positioned Centuria with a first mover advantage as an institutional landlord within the protected cropping real estate sector, which has led Centuria to becoming Australia’s biggest large-scale glasshouse/greenhouse landlord with more than 100 hectares of protected cropping.
Tout studied Horticultural Science at the University of Western Sydney, is a licensed Stock and Station Agent, holds a rural valuation certificate and various business and finance accreditations. More recently, he was appointed Chair of the Protected Cropping Australia.
Troy Setter
Chief Executive Officer, Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC)
Troy joined Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) in 2014 and is a top cattlemen and agribusiness leader who is well-renowned for his achievements across the industry. Troy has held key management positions at the Australian Agricultural Company, Torrens Investments, North Australian Cattle Company, and Killara Feedlot. Troy has worked across the agribusiness industry in production through to processing and marketing for beef, sheep, grains, cotton, land development, and logistics. Outside CPC, Troy currently Chairs the Board of Dolly’s Dream, the Council of Research and Development Corporations, and LiveCorp and is a former Chair of the Australian Beef Industry Foundation.
CPC is a leading Australian-managed, UK-owned Agribusiness with strong ESG values. CPC owns and operates a portfolio of nine station aggregations in Australia. Across more than 3.2m hectares of land, the CPC team can care for more than 300,000 head of cattle and produce a diverse range of crops. With an asset base above AUD$1 billion, CPC supplies a variety of domestic and international customers.
Su McCluskey
Special Representative, Australian Agriculture
Su McCluskey is the Special Representative for Australian Agriculture and a Director of Australian Unity, LiveCorp and Australasian Pork Research Institute. She was previously a Commissioner for International Agricultural Research and a Commissioner on the National COVID-19 Advisory Board, and a member of the Charities Review and the Small Business Digital Taskforce. She was also a member of the Independent Review Panel for CPA Australia, the Harper Review of Competition Policy and the NSW Review of the Regulatory Framework.
Su has been the CEO of the Regional Australia Institute and the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations and the Executive Director of the Office of Best Practice Regulation. She has held senior positions with the Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers’ Federation and the Australian Taxation Office. She is also a beef cattle farmer at Yass, NSW and was named the Westpac/Australian Financial Review Regional Women of Influence in 2013 and received the Women in Agribusiness award in 2014 for outstanding contribution to policy development.
Brian Healey
Global Co Lead Agribusiness Partner, K&L Gates
Brian is the Global Co Lead Agribusiness Partner for the K&L Gates Agribusiness practice and leads the team in Australia. Brian has more than 27 years' experience dedicated to servicing clients in agribusiness and primary industries across Australia. Focusing on agricultural property, water rights and investment in agribusiness, he has advised on some of Australia's most prominent rural transactions in all Australian states in areas as diverse as cattle, cotton, dairy, wheat, horticulture, permanent row crops and vineyards amongst others.
His experience includes all forms of agricultural property transactions, rural and irrigation water transactions, and leading teams in mergers and acquisitions. Brian acts for local and international agribusinesses, primary producers and investors across their range of legal needs. His in-bound clients are drawn from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore and China amongst others.
Recognising agriculture and agricultural assets as a distinct investment asset class has allowed Brian to assist investors in agriculture and domestic agribusinesses to match capital with expertise to unlock opportunity for agribusinesses, producers and investors alike.
Steve Jarrott
Portfolio Manager, Diversified Agriculture, Warakirri Asset Management
Steve joined Warakirri in 2019 and is one of Australia’s leading Agricultural investment professionals with over a decade of high-quality experience as Portfolio Manager with Westchester, the agriculture investment arm of the US-based TIAA-Nuveen Group, the world’s largest farmland investment manager.
Steve is highly skilled in investment strategy and asset allocation, deal origination and negotiations, valuation and analysis, portfolio management, governance, risk management and ESG programs. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance and Investment and maintains an active personal interest in agriculture via his family farm in New South Wales.
Colin Rigg
Managing Director, Macquarie Asset Management
Colin heads the Agriculture and Natural Assets operations for Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), overseeing a team of 17 people with a diverse portfolio of livestock and cropping businesses. Colin joined MAM in 2018 to lead the portfolio construction and management of the MAFCA Series.
Prior to his current role, Colin worked within Macquarie Capital advising a broad range of Macquarie clients across real estate, corporate services, building materials, healthcare, and agriculture, and making principal investments on behalf of Macquarie Group.
Colin is a board member of several of MAM’s Agriculture operating businesses, including Viridis Ag, Cubbie Ag, Paraway Pastoral, and Cowal Agriculture.
Colin holds both a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and a Master of Commerce in finance and accounting from the University of Queensland. He is also a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Allan Cooney
CEO, the North Australian Pastoral Company
Allan Cooney is the CEO of The North Australian Pastoral Company - one of Australia’s largest and oldest beef companies - and is a seasoned professional in the sheep and beef industry. Allan’s career has also seen him run a station of a different kind and in 2012 lead the team at the Antarctic Station. With a passion for both business and art, Allan brings a unique perspective to his role. His deep understanding of the land and its history, coupled with his appreciation for artistic expression, informs his approach to managing his company and engaging with the community. Allan's commitment to sustainable farming practices and cultural preservation sets him apart as a visionary leader in both agriculture and the arts.
Bradley Wheaton
Managing Director, Gunn Agri Partners
Director, Cunningham Cattle Co
Brad is a co-founder and Managing Director of Gunn Agri Partners.
Gunn Agri has as investors and shareholders the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation and CDPQ, a Canadian pension with $434bn in net assets.
The Gunn Agri portfolio spans over 2.6m acres and $800m in AUM including the mixed farming businesses Faulkner Farming & Wilga Farming, the pastoral company Cunningham Cattle Co and the horticulture platform, Wollemi Farms.
Brad's prior experience has included roles with Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management, Twynam Pastoral, and in the renewable energy industry.
Ben Cameron
Managing Partner, Bentleys Queensland
Ben Cameron is the Managing Partner of Bentleys Queensland. Over his 30+ years with Bentleys, Ben has been a driving force behind the firms’ growth in both the rural advisory space and in the Queensland business market generally.
Ben is a respected, connected industry expert. As a trusted advisor and business confidant, he works with highly successful ASX listed entities, businesses and family groups across multiple sectors, including farming operations (operating in the beef (including feed lotting), grain, horticulture, cotton and other primary production industries), family business, corporate organisations, property companies, the finance sector, manufacturers and professional services.
Ben heads up the firm’s team of specialist agribusiness advisors who work with a mix of agribusiness clients, financiers, corporate and family-owned industry participants and other rural industry operators – such as stock agents and sales yard operators. Ben is a thought leader in business advisory and solutions for the rural industry. His expertise is directly related to his unique industry experience, which includes his role as lead advisor to assist multiple clients in the beef cattle industry to complete sale transactions, acquisitions and joint venture deals. Ben has managed all facets of multi-million dollar transactions from planning through to execution.
Pete Lewis
Director of Brisbane-based consultancy Way With Words
Pete Lewis is the director of Brisbane-based consultancy Way With Words after a 40 year career in print and broadcast journalism.
Pete is a former National Rural and Regional Reporter for ABC News and Current Affairs, an ABC Foreign Correspondent and Executive Producer of ABC-TV's award-winning national rural affairs programme Landline.
He is a former delegate to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), Immediate Past President of the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists (ACAJ) and Life Member of the Rural Press Club of Queensland.
Allan Cooney
CEO, the North Australian Pastrol Company
Allan Cooney is the CEO of The North Australian Pastoral Company - one of Australia’s largest and oldest beef companies - and is a seasoned professional in the sheep and beef industry. Allan’s career has also seen him run a station of a different kind and in 2012 lead the team at the Antarctic Station. With a passion for both business and art, Allan brings a unique perspective to his role. His deep understanding of the land and its history, coupled with his appreciation for artistic expression, informs his approach to managing his company and engaging with the community.
Allan's commitment to sustainable farming practices and cultural preservation sets him apart as a visionary leader in both agriculture and the arts.