Tasmanian agriculture will be under the international spotlight when we host the International Farm Management Association (IFMA) world congress in Launceston in March 2019.
Agriculture is one of Tasmania’s great competitive strengths and a pillar of the Tasmanian economy. Through the Hodgman Liberal Government’s comprehensive AgriFood Plan we are delivering on our target to grow the value of agriculture ten-fold to $10 billion per year by 2050.
To help do this our farmers must have access to the world’s best farm management information and the IFMA World Congress will bring together over 250 delegates to discuss the issues of farm management in a global context.
This is a great example of the Tasmanian Government working with industry and the University of Tasmania through our Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) to create real opportunities for Tasmanian farmers.
Last year I met with IFMA Council members who visited Tasmania to consider us as a venue for the five-day World Congress and the two-week long pre and post-conference tours.
Leading agricultural professional David Armstrong is the Chairman of the local organising committee and has been pivotal in pulling together the resources available through the Tasmanian Government, TIA and local industry to put forward the successful bid to host the congress.
Mr Armstrong provided feedback from the IFMA Council on how impressed they were with facilities and opportunities to engage with the Tasmanian farming community.
Tasmanian agriculture is categorised by our island biosecurity advantage, the diverse range of enterprises adopted on farm and we have some of the best examples of farmers producing high quality products for international markets through good farm management practices.
Part of the IFMA mandate is that delegates spend a lot of time on farm not just in a conference room, so there will be a host of farm visits as part of the pre and post conference tours, as well as during the conference itself.
This event will be bringing a wealth of experience directly to our farmers and showcase our farmers and produce to the world when there is unprecedented interest in Tasmania.
I encourage people to register their interest early at www.ifma22.org so they can keep informed of progression of the international program.
More Media Releases from Members
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