Beef Central publishes an occasional summary of appointments, departures and achievements occurring across the red meat and livestock supply chain. Send details for entries to admin@beefcentral.com

• Ecologist, land management visionary Allan Savory calls time
• New MLA regional manager for Europe, MENA
• Japanese ag exchange students enjoy Aussie Wagyu cattle immersion
• Farley to stand for One Nation in Riverina seat
• New Australia/NZ head for Rabo
• Vytelle appoints Southern Australia  Account Manager
• Future NT Cattle Industry Leaders graduate from program
• Palgrove transitions to new leadership for Ultrablack program
• Hamilton Locke adds agribusiness partner

Ecologist, land management visionary Allan Savory calls time

Legendary ecologist and grazing land management expert Allan Savory has officially retired from his self-founded Savoury Institute, aged 91.

Mr Savoury gave a lifetime of service to teach about rangeland management, with followers worldwide, including across Australia. He recently released his memoirs.

Born in 1935, the Zimbabwean ecologist and former soldier, farmer, rancher, and Rhodesian politician co-founded the Savory Institute to teach others about his philosophies on grazing land management. He originated the term, holistic management, a systems-thinking approach to managing natural resources. The central concept of Holistic Management is most practically applied in Savory’s planning procedure for land and livestock management, called Holistic Planned Grazing, which allows farmers, ranchers, or pastoralists to bunch and move livestock—when appropriate—in an effort to reflect the natural relationships between grassland and herbivores, and as a means to restore degraded landscapes.

Allan’s memoir “UnSavory: African Stories of Wildlife, War and the Birth of Holistic Management” will be released in coming weeks.

New MLA regional manager for Europe, MENA

Meat & Livestock Australia recently appointed Darren Watson is the industry service delivery company’s new regional manager for UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Darren Watson

An experienced leader and senior executive with 25 years’ experience within the international Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector, Mr Watson will be based out of the United Arab Emirates.

He has a strong understanding of global business, commercial operations, government policy and diverse cultural awareness, shaped by decades of leading businesses and teams in some of the world’s most complex and diverse markets.

Mr Watson most recently worked for Bega Group, the Australian owned Dairy and Food Co and Bega Foods Trading as the companies’ general manager for the Middle East, Africa, Subcontinent and Americas business, based in Dubai.

MLA’s previous regional manager for UK/Europe, Middle East and Africa, and prior to that the Japan/Korea region, Scott Walker has returned to Australia.

In other MLA staff news, the company’s general manager of marketing and insights for the past six years, Nathan Low, has taken on broader responsibilities, now titled chief marketing and communications officer. He takes over the senior comms role from former GM communications Alison Lee, who left the producer service delivery company in November.

Japanese ag exchange students enjoy Aussie Wagyu cattle immersion

TWO young Japanese agriculture undergraduates have returned home this week after a month-long immersion in the Australian cattle industry.

The annual exchange program, offered to two students from Tokyo’s Meiji Agricultural University, is curated by Beef Central’s Tokyo correspondent Bully Kohno, whose alma mater is the students’ own University.

The pair –  Saori Murakami and Yukichi Ishibashi – worked with Wagyu cattle producer Jerome Haydon on his property near Glen Innes in northern NSW, who has hosted previous exchange students. The New England region is currently facing severe drought and the students saw first-hand the challenges in running cattle in Australia’s erratic climate.

The pair will give an account of their Australian farming experience during a visit to the Australian Embassy in Tokyo next month.

In their report, the pair said they were impressed by the scale of Australian cattle properties, which made them realise the difference from farming environments in Japan.

There are also noted big differences in feed: “In Japan, cattle are given a combination of roughage and concentrated feed, while in Australia, they are mainly raised on pasture grass.”

“Wagyu farming is popular in Australia, and I was surprised to learn that Japanese Wagyu is widely popular overseas. I had the impression that Wagyu was unique to Japan, but I learned that Australian Wagyu is highly regarded worldwide,” Saori said.

‘Even with the language barrier, there were many enjoyable moments, and it was a wonderful experience,” she said.

“Also, many of the people I met during my internship were relatively young. This is a significant difference compared to Japan, where many primary industry workers are elderly and there is a shortage of successors.  I thought this might be related to differences in agricultural practices.

Farley to stand for One Nation in Riverina seat

Former agribusiness leader David Farley has won pre-selection for One Nation in the NSW Riverina Federal seat of Farrer.

A by-election will be held for the seat on 9 May, following the resignation of Liberal sitting member and former opposition leader, Sussan Ley.

David Farley:

Mr Farley beat two other candidates for the role. The move follows One Nation’s recent strong result in the South Australian State election.

One Nation’s Pauline Hanson described Mr Farley as a tremendous candidate with a lifetime of experience in regional Australia.

Born and raised in Narrandera, his career path started as a jackaroo, before later leading major agricultural enterprises in Australia and overseas. Some see him as bringing a level of ‘business cred’ to the One Nation ranks.

Earlier in his career he spent four years as managing director of the Australian Agricultural Co, departing the company in 2013. He previously worked as managing director of Colly Cotton, ran listed agribusiness Tandou and chaired the Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation.

New Australia NZ head for Rabo

Rabobank has a new chief executive officer for the lender’s Australian operations.

Caroline Oosterbaan will also act as regional manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Ms Oosterbaan will take over from Mark Wiessing, who retires in May after serving in both positions since 2023, and after more than 20 years with Rabobank’s international operations.

Australian-born Ms Oosterbaan has a broad range of experience spanning international banking and finance, strategy consulting, mergers and acquisitions, entrepreneurship and supervisory roles. Most recently she has served as Global Head of Clients & Portfolio Management for Rabobank’s international Wholesale & Rural Business, based in the Netherlands.

Rabo’s Australia chair James Fazzino said Ms Oosterbaan’s extensive experience in international banking and finance and broader business – coupled with her strong connection to Australia – made her ideally suited to take over the role of leading the global food and agribusiness bank’s fast-growing operations in the Australian/NZ region.

Ms Oosterbaan previously worked with NIBC Bank – where she spent five years as a member of the executive committee – and with ABN AMRO Bank. She has served as a director on a number of European boards, including in the food, retail, education, automotive/transport and not-for-profit sectors. She holds a Master of Science, in Business Economics, from Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

Vytelle appoints Southern Australia Strategic Account Manager

Precision livestock and genetics company Vytelle has appointed respected livestock consultant Alastair Rayner as strategic account manager for Southern Australia.

The move reinforces Vytelle’s focus on helping beef producers speed up genetic gain and long-term productivity.

Mr Rayner has more than 30 years’ experience across the beef industry, bringing expertise in genetics, breeding strategy and producer advisory following a career that has spanned government research, industry organisations and commercial agtech, alongside his independent consultancy, RaynerAg.

Mr Rayner is a Councillor of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW and a familiar name on Beef Central, where he has written genetics-focused articles exploring breeding strategy, maternal productivity, temperament, longevity and selection trade-offs in commercial beef systems.

He will be based out of Calderwood on the NSW South Coast where he will support growth with Vytelle’s current customers and the expansion of Vytelle’s southern satellite network and on farm customers. He will work closely with seedstock and commercial producers, supporting clients to integrate advanced reproductive technologies and accelerate genetic gain within their herds.

“It’s a particularly exciting time right now with genomic tests and new EBVs giving the chance to identify some really high performing animals. Being able to rapidly increase the population of these animals and speed up the rate of genetic gain is incredible, and we can work on finding the best, most suitable animals for an environment and use these to have a much better herd that becomes more profitable,” he said.

Lisa Rumsfeld, Vytelle Vice President of Global Sales, said Mr Rayner brought a huge amount of knowledge and relationships that will help grow both existing and new partnerships.

Future NT Cattle Industry Leaders graduate from Program

The Northern Territory Cattlemens Association has congratulated recent graduates from last year’s Georgina Pastoral Future NTCA Program, celebrating another group of emerging leaders ready to help shape the future of the Territory’s cattle industry.

Delivered in partnership with Georgina Pastoral Co, the program continues to build capability across the north’s pastoral sector by equipping participants with leadership skills, industry knowledge and meaningful connections across the supply chain.

This year’s graduates, who attended last week’s NTCA conference, were Maddison Chinn, Matilda Paesler, Bronte Tremlett, Piper Burnett, Callum McDougall and Hugh Finlay. Readers can listen to  Future NT leaders Matilda Paesler and Piper Burnett talk about their journeys in the northern cattle industry in Friday’s episode of the Week in Beef podcast.

Over the course of the program, participants engaged in intensive professional development sessions, industry briefings and practical leadership challenges designed to strengthen both technical understanding and personal capability. The program places a strong emphasis on building confident, resilient leaders who understand the complexity of operating in Northern Australia’s unique production environment. NTCA CEO Romy Carey congratulated the graduates on their commitment and achievement throughout the program. “The strength of our industry lies in the people who step forward to lead it. This year’s cohort demonstrated initiative, professionalism and a genuine commitment to the future of the Northern Territory cattle sector. We are proud to support their development and look forward to seeing the impact they will have across our industry,” Ms Carey said.

A formal graduation ceremony was held in Darwin, hosted by NT chief administrator David Connelly at Government House. The occasion brought together industry leaders, mentors, family members and supporters to recognise the achievements of the 2025 cohort and celebrate their contribution to the pastoral industry.

Palgrove transitions to new leadership for Ultrablack program

Prominent genetics service provider Palgrove has recently announced changes in oversight of the Palgrove Charolais and Ultrablack seedstock programs.

The change follows the purchase last year by Ben and Gemma Noller of the entire Palgrove Charolais herd, alongside partners Simon and Mym Daley and family. While the Nollers had intended to remain part of the Palgrove team, they have now made the decision to step away from their roles within the company to balance their time and focus on the Palgrove Charolais enterprise.

They will remain as contractors throughout a transition period, with Palgrove’s Ultrablack seedstock manager George Stacey now the key contact for the Palgrove Ultrablack business.

Ben and Gemma Noller will also oversee delivery of the 2026 Palgrove Annual Sale – a joint offering between Palgrove Ultrablacks and Palgrove Charolais. Palgrove’s Chinchilla bull depot manager Nick Hovey will also become a key contact for the Ultrablack business, collaborating with George on paddock sales.

Hamilton Locke adds agribusiness partner

Brisbane based agribusiness lawyers Hamilton Locke have inducted lawyer Lisa Ward as a partner in the company’s Brisbane real estate group, adding depth to HL’s agribusiness capabilities.

Originally from Coonabarabran, Ms Ward has practised at K&L Gates for the past decade. Her practice spans transactions across all Australian jurisdictions and commodities, including cotton, dairy, horticulture, broadacre cropping, beef and wool, primarily for Canadian and US pension funds, foreign investors and offshore family offices.

Ms Ward’s expertise covers all front-end property aspects: acquisitions, disposals, leasing of agricultural land, personal property, water rights, renewable energy projects, conduct and compensation agreements for landholders and significant Foreign Investment Review Board matters.

Agribusiness remains a cornerstone and key growth priority for Hamilton Locke, particularly in Brisbane, which serves as the beachhead for the company’s national Food & Agribusiness practice. Trent Thorne and Peter Williams continue to lead HL’s national Food & Agribusiness market group, while Fran Becker’s expanding succession planning practice focuses heavily on agribusiness families and dynasties. This strong foundation provides meaningful benefits to our clients on a daily basis.