Bob has been in the Albury Wodonga region for over 50 years. He worked as a Dairy Extension officer and consultant before realising he was working closely with adult learners who were motivated by what they wanted to know. Bob has been delivering the “Farm Chemical” courses since 1996 and has also worked in Men’s Health (with a group of GPs), health promotion, training military medics, co-ordinated a mentoring program for Anglicare and provided training for people entering the Transport & Distribution industry. The thread is adult learning, Bob’s passion is people and agriculture.
Jason Size is a trainer for GrowSmart training and has been involved in the Summerfruit industry for over 30 years. Jason has a focus on chemical training as well as biosecurity and profitability for the industries he supports. He is married with 5 children and lives in Regional South Australia.
Jacquie Cotton is a Lecturer and Researcher in Rural Health for Deakin University School of Medicine. She has multidisciplinary scientific and industry expertise, in particular, translational research and education within human population health, occupational health and safety, agrichemical exposure and culture/behaviour change. She is a member to both the Victorian Farm Safety Council and the Agriculture Safety Reference Group established by WorkSafe Victoria.
David has 30 years of experience in many aspects of farming, including horticulture and forestry. This included operating a dairy farm near Colac for over 16 years, and has since moved to Tasmania, delivering training in the agriculture, horticulture and conservation & land management sectors. David is particularly interested in risk management and has postgraduate qualifications in occupational health and safety. David is currently the Treasurer of AusChem Training Vic Ltd. and was the Chairman from 2001 to 2009.
Chris is an WA-based agribusiness professional with a history of senior managerial and executive roles across the agricultural supply chain, including a diverse production management career, business development, agribusiness advisory and agricultural advocacy spheres. He continues to be mixed farmer (Avon Valley, WA); AusChem trainer and rural educator, and sits on numerous Boards and industry advisory groups across Australia. He holds an MBA, Ag science quals, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Nick was raised on a farm in Tasmania and has been involved in agriculture his whole life. Initially working on farm, his career has progressed through research and agronomy, to his current role as a trainer and coordinator at Longerenong College in Victoria. His teaching areas include plant biology, pest management, agronomy and precision agriculture. Nick has been an AusChem accredited trainer since 2010. He served 10 years on the executive of what became the Victorian Agriculture, Horticulture and Conservation Trainers Network, including three years as Chair. Nick is passionate about sharing the skills and knowledge gained throughout his career with others.
Richard Franklin has strong commitment to improving health, safety and well-being of people in regional, rural and remote Australia. He is a Professor at James Cook University in Northern Queensland where he undertakes research around primary industries health and safety and lectures in public health.
Jenni has been the Office Manager with AusChem Training Vic Ltd. since June 2005.
Some of Jenni’s duties include reception, telephone and email enquiries, maintaining the extensive AusChem database, dispatching resource materials, and issuing certificates.
Prior to joining the company, Jenni had worked in many administrative roles, including a school office, nursing home, Adult Education Centre and a Medicare office.
Dan Austin is a professional weed agronomist with over 35 years’ experience. He established and ran Sydney Weed & Pest Management and Sydney Feral Animal Control for over 25 years. Dan has been providing chemical safety training in NSW for over 20 years and setup a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), SpraySMART Chemical Training over 5 years ago which currently trains over 4000 people per year in NSW and QLD. Dan is particularly interested in developing courses that are, practical, relevant and tailored to the specific needs of the different sectors of the agricultural and horticultural industries.
Dan Spencer has been engaged in the Agriculture sector all his life.
Dan is passionate about the future of Australian Agriculture and the people working in the sector, one of Dan’s drivers of success is to see the level of farm safety improve particularly around AgVet Chemical use.
He is keen to promote sustainable chemical application to ensure the strategic use of AgVet chemicals.
Dan is an Auschem Training Victoria Accredited trainer of the Farm Chemical Users Course.
Dan undertakes private training and assessment particularly for the AgVet Chemical Users Course.
Dan is a past State President of Victorian Young farmer’s and is an active Freemason.
He has completed a Diploma Agriculture and is studying the Advanced Diploma Rural Business Management
He enjoys camping 4WDing and fishing from his kayak.
Rob McRae has been a grain & sheep farmer at Wallup (in the Wimmera region of Victoria) for over 40 years.
Rob has also been involved for 10 years on the Victorian Farmers Federation Grains Council, 5 years on the Executive. He has been on the AusChem Training Vic Ltd. Board since 2007, and was appointed as the Chairman in September 2009.
Jo moved to Warragul after spending 36 years in regional Northern Territory. She has over 25 years of administration and finance experience and is passionate about AgVet safety having spent a number of years working on agricultural research.
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