Food & Fibre – Great South Coast is the representative body for food and fibre on the Great South Coast. Great South Coast is Victoria’s largest food and fibre region, producing $2.3 billion in agricultural output annually. The food and fibre industry accounts for 60% of the region’s GDP and 21.6% of total jobs.
Our region spans south west Victoria, taking in the beautiful coastlines of the Great Ocean Road to the inland majesty of the Southern Grampians. We are the people, natural environment and industries of Corangamite Shire, Glenelg Shire, Moyne Shire, Southern Grampians Shire, and the City of Warrnambool – collectively a population of 103,900 people, over 11,000 businesses, achieving a gross regional product of $5.5 billion.
Strategy
We are in the final stage of developing our Strategic Plan 2021-2025! By the end of 2020, it will be finalised and ready for launch in 2021. Our Strategic Plan will guide our efforts to optimise impact and unlock opportunities to grow the value and capacity of the Great South Coast’s food and fibre sector for greater regional prosperity and wellbeing. Whilst not yet formally concluded, we have commenced implementation of our strategic objectives.
Governance
Under the leadership of our Finance and Risk Committee Chair, Liz Duncan, members Georgina Gubbins, Jack Luxford, Sarah-Jane Walsh, and our EO, Natalie Collard, we are making significant progress towards achieving our comprehensive governance review target (due for completion at the end of March 2021).
We have kicked off a committee-level 360-degree governance gap analysis and will soon be commencing Council-level dialogue on key governance principles, and putting forward recommendations on policies, a risk register and risk treatments. These strong governance foundations are key to positioning Food and Fibre – Great South Coast Inc for future success.
Advocacy
Each of our committees has a common strategic priority of championing food and fibre advocacy to raise awareness of the significance of the Great South Coast’s food and fibre sector, to positively influence food and fibre policy decisions, and to improve internal and external communication. At the Council level, we continue implementation of our Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Framework.
Meet our Committees
We have established and convened three new committees with the aim of sharpening our focus on achieving our strategic priorities. Our committees and their strategic objectives are:
Drive Regional Value-add, Investment and Sustainability
Strategic objectives:
- Lift regional productivity, sustainability and prosperity by working collaboratively to attract resources to enable business transition to first-stage processing
- Sustainably improve regional value-add, and support new entrants and industries to the sector
- Support innovation in sustainable production to protect our natural resources.
Jonathan Jenkin – Chair
Alistair McCosh
Oonagh Kilpatrick
Rhonda Henry
Karensa Menzies
Bill Millard
Realise the Water Opportunity
Strategic objectives:
- To collaboratively capture the full potential value of the Great South Coast’s water resource through sustainable management of ground and surface water, and effective drainage systems.
- Targeted advocacy and general promotion to: – raise decision-maker and general community awareness of the regional competitive advantage in groundwater. – optimise strategic opportunities for the food and fibre community to sustainably increase water productivity, through strategic engagement on water rules, allocation, security and/or drainage.
Basil Ryan – Chair
Ralph Cotter
Jack Luxford
Bruce Vallance
Andrew Jeffers
Hugh Christie
Chris Solum
Nurture Food + Fibre Careers
Strategic objectives:
Attract talented young and new people to, and retain existing industry participants, in the food and fibre sector by:
- promoting the diverse range of rewarding opportunities
- outlining clearer career pathways, and
- supporting more integrated learning approaches.
Alistair McCosh – Chair
Jonathan Jenkin
Oonagh Kilpatrick
Martin Clark
David Clift
Ralph Cotter
Danny Finn
Marie Thornton
Andrea Vallance
John Flett
Brad Collins
Daker Pern
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