A word from the CEO: Planning to fulfill a mission

BCG’s mission is: to improve the prosperity of Australia’s broadacre farmers through science based research and extension. The mission is why we do what we do and is core to the BCG team.

In 2015-2016 we spent time reflecting on our mission. While we continue to put a lot of effort into ensuring that things we do, we do very well, we realise that at the same time we need to build new skills and capabilities to ensure we can add value to our members and the farming community. 

To achieve this we have refreshed our strategic plan after examining and identifying what we do well and the priority areas for BCG to grow. The key priority is to ensure our members get value from their involvement in the organisation. A number of strategies are currently being put in place to meet this goal.

The second area highlighted in the strategic plan pertains to the role of digital and precision agriculture for both BCG as an organisation and the broader farming community. 

BCG is seeking to identify the support, skills and knowledge farmers will need to increase profitability and sustainability in the coming years. 

Currently we are working with farmers to set up a pilot project around a series of automatic weather stations that will collect and record climatic data from across the region. It is expected that this project will help us to understand what role BCG can best play in this space. 

BCG has also purchased a drone and, more importantly, the image acquisition camera and processing software. In the short term BCG will to identify the value of this technology for improving field research and supporting on-farm decision-making.

The 2015 season was particularly tough in the Mallee and Wimmera following an equally tough year in 2014. We have worked hard to communicate the challenges farmers and small rural towns face to a range of stakeholders. Equally, we have highlighted opportunities to increase the resilience of our communities through projects and initiatives to state and federal government and other key organisations.

The manner in which BCG continues to deliver on our research program and undertake highly regarded events and communications is a great reflection on the BCG team. It really is a team effort and everyone is always stepping up for the challenge of whatever is presented.