Directors
Phil Turnbull (Chair)
Phil has had many years experience in corporate marketing, having worked as a brand and marketing manager for seven years for Pacific Dunlop Food Group Ltd and Nestle Dairy Products managing Australian brands such as Four'n Twenty, Peters Ice Cream and Vitari.
He has extensive experience in the grocery retail sector, having worked for two of the top 10 national supermarket suppliers. He recently presented the marketing and promotional plans for the Pear Industry to both Coles and Woolworths. His family background is in horticulture and he recently created and currently manages Turnbull Orchards Fresh Fruit Exports. He also once operated an internet fruit delivery business from the Melbourne markets for two years.
Jos Driessen
Jos is a second generation orchardist with 35 years experience in the industry. He is one of three Driessen brothers who have 100 hectares of apple orchards in the Huon Valley, Tasmania and have owned and operated a packing facility that provided packing, cools store and marketing services for about 20 growers in the Huon Valley. Jos managed all aspects of the pack house facilities and services. The Driessen brothers are currently expanding into cherry production. Jos has been involved with the Tasmanian industry for many years and since 1996, has been on the executive of the Pome Fruit Council.
Darral Ashton
Darral moved to Batlow (NSW) in 1974 from Sydney after leaving the NSW state public service. His first involvement with the apple and pear industry executive spanned the late 1970s into the 1980s. At the same time, Darral was a board member of the Batlow Co-operative. In the mid 1980s he attended Harvard (USA) to complete a marketing course. After that, he was associated with the Flemington Markets in Sydney for 3.5 years, then moved to a retailing business in Bowral. In 1996 he returned full time to his orchard at Batlow. Darral is also currently chairman of the Batlow Fruit Co-operative. In November 2006, Darral was awarded the Sir John Monash Gold Medal for Agribusiness Co-operative Directors in recognition of his outstanding service to a co-operative in Australia.
APFIP Techincal Committee Members
Michael Stafford: Director (Adelaide Hills, S.A.) (Chair)
Born in Lenswood , South Australia , Michael is a third generation orchardist and grows apples, pears and cherries on his 40ha property.
He has extensive experience in the fruit growing industry not only as a grower but also particularly in the orchard improvement field. He has been secretary of the South Australian Pome Fruit Improvement Committee for six years. In this role he has been active in the establishment and management of experimental demonstration tree training trials. For five years he has been President of the Lenswood and Forest Range Agricultural Bureau, which is a grower representative group, focussed on technology and information transfer. He also represents fruit growers on The Onkaparinga Water Management Board, a body that monitors and advises on water quality issues of the Adelaide Hills catchment.
Michael was recipient of the Apple and Pear Growers of South Australia's Leadership Award in 1998.
Andrew Hall: Director (Huon Valley, TAS.)
Andrew completed an honours degree in Agricultural Science in 1990, specialising in cereal management. Andrew worked in areas as diverse as seed production and electronic livestock identification before settling into horticulture as an Agronomist with Roberts Ltd. During this time Andrew developed a wide rapport with apple and pear growers in southern Tasmania and became involved in industry groups such as the Pome Fruit ARAC. In 1997 he moved to Harcourt, Victoria to manage orchards for Geoffrey Thompson. He returned to Tasmania with his young family late in 1999 to manage the orchards of Reid Fruits in Geeveston and to help develop Reid Fruits new orchards in the Derwent Valley. He is currently employed by Top-Qual Pty Ltd as Manager of Horticultural Services working primarily with company cherry growers to improve quality, harvest co-ordination and crop forecasting. He has been involved in study tours to Europe, SE Asia, Japan and New Zealand and fully appreciates what growers need to be striving toward to be competitive in world markets. Andrew has been a member of Apex, Landcare, Catchment management committees in both Victoria and Tasmania and is a past President of the Young Tasmanian Fruit Growers Association.
Ian Bolitho: Director (Mooroopna North, Victoria.)
Ian is a third generation fruit grower from Goulburn Valley Victoria. He has a 100 Ha property at Mooroopna North growing apples, pears, and stone fruit. His industry involvement is extensive and he is currently Chairman of the Northern Victorian Fruit Growers Association, member of NVFA production committee, president of the Victoria Apple and Pear Growers Council a past member of the AAPGA R&D committee, and a member of the National Pear Breeding Steering Committee. In 1997 Ian won the NVFA fruit grower of year award for contribution to the fruit industry and also the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria farm management award. His highlights from being involved with NVFA are contributing to the establishment of the Northern Victorian Fruit Growers Association young grower group, and the orchard liaison committee at Dookie Agricultural College. Ian has an active interest in trialing new and different tree training systems and planting densities and in new and old pear varieties.
Robert Green: Director (Lenswood, SA.)
Robert is a fifth generation apple and pear grower from Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills. He and his father run "Oakleigh Orchards" a 15ha property set high above Lenswood valley. Robert has a progressive attitude towards fruit growing and has been quick to adopt modern planting methods incorporating dwarfing rootstocks. Happy to share experiences with others, he has hosted many industry field days on his property. Robert has a long association with fruit industry representation, currently being an executive member of the South Australian Apple and Pear Growers Association Inc. Robert is also Vice-Chairman of Lenswood Cooperative Society Ltd., the largest apple and pear storage and packing facility in South Australia.
Kym Andrew Green (Director, Lenswood, South Australia)
Kym is a fifth generation apple and cherry grower and packer from Lenswood in South Australia. He has a passion for high density tree management which includes varieties, rootstocks and tree training. He has served on the South Australian Pome Fruit Improvement Committee for 26 years as well as other industry committees. Cherry production and industry improvement are also favorite passions with Kym holding the office of State Chairman of Cherry Growers SA for 3 years as well as the National Chairman for 2 years. Kym was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 1993 to study apple and cherry production and spent 7 months in Europe and North America. Kym has strong interest in improving the basic knowledge of growers using high density orchards and believes that collectively we can build a strong industry.
Garry Langford: General Manager (Grove, TAS.)
Garry Langford's involvement in the pome fruit industry spans 22 years during which time he has been responsible for managing and developing orchards and more recently, nursery production.
Awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1994, Garry spent time in the USA , Canada , UK , France , Holland and Germany studying rootstock production, including tissue culture techniques. He established many contacts during this time with government, commercial and industry sectors.
Garry has been actively involved in developing industry support in Tasmania through his involvement with the Young Tasmanian Fruit Growers Association. He was involved with the formation of the Association and held positions of Treasurer, Vice President, Secretary and President between 1991 & 1996.
Immediately prior to joining APFIP, Garry worked with Hazell Brothers as their Farm Coordinator for 9 years and was responsible for managing diverse business operations including wool, beef, forestry, orchards and nursery production.
In December 2004 Garry was appointed as a director of the International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association (IDFTA). The first non-North American director since its inception in 1958. This organisation changed its name to the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) in June 2005.
He has been the General Manager since 1997 and is responsible for the development all the Company operations.
Mark Hankin Evaluation Coordinator (Lower Longley, TAS)
Mark Hankin has been appointed to the position of Evaluation Co-ordinator and began in the role on the 20th of July. He is based in Tasmania.
Mark comes with extensive experience in fruit and nursery tree production along with a significant range of business related skills developed during his 24 years in Horticulture.
Mark began his horticultural career in 1985 with Calvert Bros Orchards in the Huon Valley where he gained is initial skills, in 1993 he moved on to a new role with 3rd Rock Agriculture. This company includes Forest Home Nursery which is well known to the industry. During the past 8 years Mark has become well known to the industry through the nursery business he has always made time to help growers and other industry parties work through issues so as more informative decisions can be made in relation to new variety and establishment of new plantings.
Mark is looking forward to maintaining and building on his industry support in his new role. You can contact Mark via e-mail mark@apfip.com.au or via mobile phone +61 (0)408 503 528
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