BCG’s most recent accolade was from Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, who labeled BCG as ‘world class’ after visiting to officially open the 2009 Grains Research Expo and speak at the Expo Dinner in July 2009.
Expo Dinner
The Governor-General was guest speaker at the Expo Dinner on 1 July, and told the crowd of 220:
I am grateful for the opportunity to be here for your wonderful Grains Expo, to be able to learn more about the Wimmera Mallee; to acknowledge the invaluable work of the Birchip Cropping Group.
You are a marvellous organisation, national leaders in science and development; a splendid example of marrying expertise with experience, ingenuity with know-how, scientific advancement with community building and repair.
Through your investigations and disseminationsin new technologies, techniques, and varieties; in sustainability and bouyancy; you represent and safeguard the future of our farming industry.
I am inspired and energised by the glowing success of your investment in rural Australia.
In particular, through the strength and perspicacity of your research; the way you build change and innovation on the firmest of scientific foundations.
You have taken the measure of life in the Mallee: its vulnerabilities and complexities; the possibilities of creativity and adaptation; the need for human connection and belonging.
Grains Research Expo
During her official opening address the following day at the 2009 Grains Research Expo, the Governor-General commented on the importance of the event gathering together ‘a wide array of people who have one purpose in mind – to create strong sustainable farms and, at the same time, strong, sustainable and growing towns and regional centres.’
High praise came for our chairman:
There has been success – despite nine years of ordinary seasons – and this is partly due to the leadership of Ian McClelland, Anne McClelland, and the people they have drawn together.
Well over 700 people, including 150 researchers and industry representative exhibitors from 92 stalls, were kept busy with the Governor-General’s visit, ABC radio’s live on-site broadcast and seven discussion sessions focusing on areas such as grain marketing and storage, summer weed control and genetically modified crops.
