Fred Maynard named winner of 2019 David Roget Award for Excellence
Mallee Sustainable Farming is proud to announce Lameroo farmer Fred Maynard the 2019 winner of the David Roget award for Excellence.
Fred was presented with the prestigious award at the recent MSF Mallee Research Update held in Murrayville in February, by MSF Deputy Chair Robert Pocock.
Fred was a standout nominee for the award having always been known as an innovator, keen to adopt new methods to increase sustainable production on the farm such as trying new pulses and grains and continually making and modifying machinery.
Fred, having a strong engineering background had done a lot of work to build and modify seeders and machinery to demonstrate the benefits of reduced tillage. As one of the first adopters of no-till he was always prepared to experiment, having done his research to make sure it would work, and prepared to use his own resources to develop, trial and always willing to share with others.
Fred also contributed a significant amount of work to growing break crops, including lentils and canola. He has been doing this since the late 70’s and early 80’s, when the idea of using legumes in rotation was just starting in the mid north. Fred was a pioneer of this in the Mallee and worked with the district agronomists to help promote good rotations through the very active Ag Bureau.
In 1987 Fred won the Murray Mallee Conservation Farmer of the Year Award and in 1999 Fred was granted the Inaugural Ag Bureau Services to Primary Production award.
The David Roget Award for Excellence was created by Mallee Sustainable Farming in 2014 in memory of the late David Roget who worked with the CSIRO for over 30 years as a Sustainable Ecosystems Researcher. As far back as 1997 David Roget and a number of significant Mallee growers developed an initiative to encourage the uptake of no-till farming and continuous cropping in the Mallee to reduce the loss of top soil and subsequent dust storms. Thus, Mallee Sustainable Farming was formed.
“David’s work has left a lasting legacy on low rainfall farming systems which is evident in improved farming practices adopted across the Mallee in Victoria, SA and NSW” said Mr Daniel Linklater, Executive Chair of Mallee Sustainable Farming
The award recognises an individual, business or group who has made a significant contribution to dryland farming production systems in the Mallee Sustainable Farming region.
“At Mallee Sustainable Farming we believe Fred is an excellent candidate for the award given that he is a progressive forward thinking farmer; the sort of farmer that David Roget would have had robust discussions with about what is driving the farming system, what needed to be understood and how to make solutions practical for farmer adoption” said Mr Linkater.
This year 3 nominations were received by MSF with all nominees worthy of consideration for the award. The next call for the 2020 award will open at the end of 2019.
END: Media contact: Tanja Morgan, Program Manager, 0429 395 918
