I’ve worked in the Grain Industry since leaving UNE (University of New England, Armidale NSW) in 1982. I graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Rural Science and a post-grad Diploma in Financial Management. I also completed a Diploma in Export Practices while working for Riverina Stockfeeds in Brisbane. My experience at Riverina ranged from Sales Clark to organising trucks to grain merchant to manager of the Grain Trading Department.
I moved to Toowoomba in 1988 to manage the Grain Trading for Cargill for NSW & Qld then in 1990 I moved to the Australian Wheat Board where my role evolved from Marketing Manager to Trading Manager to State Manager (Qld).
In 1998 I set up Ag Commodity Trading (Aust.) Pty Ltd where I’ve been trading grain, birdseeds, oilseeds, pulses and sometimes fertilizer and hay, ever since.
The mission of Ag Commodity has always been “to have customers better off for having dealt with us” and I see Multi Peril Crop Insurance as helping customers be better off for dealing with us. While this insurance removes risk and is a form of income protection, it also enables producers to more confidently plant the crop with all the necessary inputs, finance these inputs and capture the forward premiums usually available in the market throughout the season. If growers know they will have either the crop or the income it would have produced, they can forward sell knowing that if the crop doesn’t eventuate, they will have the income to go towards meeting any contractual obligation.
When the industry realises this, growers should be better off with cheaper finance and cheaper finance for inputs because the providers will know the grower will be better able to meet their commitments. Buyers will have less risk when buying from produces because they know the contracts will more likely be met. They should be able to buy and sell more volume and even not have to factor in a risk cost. The market should be better for all involved.
With multi peril crop insurance growers should be better off and so should the rest of the industry and the community especially the local communities supplying all the goods and services to a more profitable agricultural industry.
About Rowell Walton
Rodney Hamilton
Director Farmers First Australia I was instrumental in the formation of the Company to facilitate the expansion of Agricultural Income Protection Insurance (AIPI) for farmers in Australia. I was born on the Darling Downs into a farming family. After being educated on the Downs and Toowaoomba I moved to Condamine on the Western Downs. It
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Rowell Walton
Born and raised on a property East of the Rabbit Fence in Western Australia eastern wheatbelt to a wheat and sheep farming family. Educated at Mukinbudin Primary, Merredin High Schools and Cunderdin Agricultural college and the wonderful world of Hard Knocks. Successfully operated and grew the Mukinbudin property but after two successive droughts in 1976
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Rod Pullinger
ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS Fellow Australian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters J.P. (C.dec) International Association of Arson Investigators LOSS ADJUSTING EXPERIENCE Extensive experience in claims investigations and quantification of losses arising from a wide variety of industries. These services have been provided to a significant range of clients since 1974 including the following: Insurance
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