Four new shareholder directors joined the Murray Irrigation Limited board in May this year. Each was elected after the resignations of Steve Fawns, Troy Maguer and Brendan Barry. In a new series of articles, Murray Irrigation invites us to get to know the new directors. We continue with Geoff McLeod.
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Hailing from the bustling township of Finley, Geoff McLeod is a well-known face in the Murray Irrigation area, and a wealth of knowledge on all things agriculture and irrigation.
Geoff has lived on the land his whole life and has been managing his family’s now 1900ha canola, faba bean, Durum wheat, lupins, corn, soybean and cotton irrigation property since 1985.
A second generation farmer, Geoff’s family moved to Finley in 1961 after purchasing a 200ha farm.
“The farm was initially a dairy farm producing cream," Geoff explained.
"This evolved into growing winter and summer crops, initially sorghum and sunflowers, and subsequently rice and running livestock.
“Today we have three generations of our family farming and look forward to providing the opportunity for the next generation to evolve our irrigated farming business.”
Having lived and farmed in the local area for more than six decades, Geoff's family has witnessed the agricultural industry significantly evolve in that time.
“There have been many changes over the years.
"We've seen the expansion of the rice industry, the adoption of laser controlled landforming, the installation of overhead irrigation and more recently the growing of maize and cotton on bed farming layouts.”
A farmer at heart and by trade, Geoff has carved out a successful career in agronomy, environmental management and water policy, and has provided private consultancy services to government, government bodies and the professional sector.
One of Murray Irrigation’s pillars is managing water for the environment, a subject in which Geoff holds tremendous knowledge, having served as the inaugural environmental manager at Murray Irrigation between 1995 and 2001.
This role saw him responsible for the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the company’s first environmental program.
“The first few years after privatisation was an exciting time for Murray Irrigation," Geoff said.
"We proved to government we could responsibly manage water and our environment.
“I had responsibility to establish a positive relationship with, and report to, the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA), state water, activist groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation, and local government.
“I also had responsibility for implementing the Murray Land and Water Management Plans, an innovative 12-year program of farm and district level works to overcome rising water tables and associated salinity.
“This included obtaining approval to construct many of the major drains that run through our region today, and to support farmers to adopt better farm water use technologies.”
After almost six years, Geoff departed Murray Irrigation to take up a role with the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC).
Here he drew upon his deep knowledge of agriculture, irrigation, agronomy and environmental management to coordinate the MDBC's Irrigation program, where he was responsible for the conduct of the commission's investment portfolio.
This work involved policy and technical investigations relating to irrigation within an integrated catchment management context.
“Murray Irrigation developed significant credibility and was a highly respected organisation during the early years post privatisation," Geoff said.
"We were seen as leaders within the irrigation sector.
“I took the opportunity to draw on my knowledge and experiences to work at the broader Murray-Darling Basin level providing resource management advice to improve water use efficiency and environmental outcomes.
“In 2008, I was contracted by the CSIRO to provide an overview of water use and key environmental issues for each of the major valleys within the Murray-Darling Basin. In 2012, I was involved in analysing the likely social and economic impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.”
Outside his professional career, Geoff has supported the local community through various roles including president of the Finley High School PTA, president and life member of the Finley Tennis Club, previous vice president of Berriquin Irrigators Council and founder and chair of Southern Growers Inc.
“In response to declining viability of irrigated farming in this region, I founded Southern Growers Inc, a local research development and extension organisation," Geoff said.
"This organisation has a membership of over 300 farmers and industry personal, has an established R&D (research and development) site and undertakes a wide range of projects annually.”
Recently appointed to the Murray Irrigation board, Geoff is keen to support the company to adapt to the challenging conditions the company and local irrigators face.
“The company needs to continue to improve its level of service to match the technology being adapted on farm, and respond to lower and more variable water use without major cost impacts on irrigators," he said.
“It is important for Murray Irrigation to continue to maintain strong relationships with government and have government understand and minimise the impact of its actions on our farmers and on the regional community.
“It is also critical that Murray Irrigation has a strong and respectful relationship with its shareholders and involves them in key decisions."
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