This year’s winners of the prestigious Australian Organic Industry Awards were crowned at a gala event in Melbourne on Friday evening. Hosted by Australian Organic Limited (AOL), the awards ceremony marked the conclusion of the two-day 2024 Australian Organic Conference at Pullman Melbourne on the Park.
After nearly six years at the helm of Australian Organic Limited (AOL), Chief Executive Officer, Niki Ford, has announced she will be stepping down from the role. Ms Ford, who became the organisation’s first female CEO in 2018, made the announcement at the close of the 2024 Australian Organic Conference that her tenure will end on 31 July.
The 2024 Australian Organic Conference is underway in Melbourne, with keynote speaker, US impact investor Robyn O’Brien, known as “food’s Erin Brockovich”, saying Australia is the global frontline of the intersection of agriculture, climate and food security.
Australia’s finest certified organic producers, processors and operators will be celebrated at the 2024 Australian Organic Industry Awards, with finalists announced across seven categories. Hosted by Australian Organic Limited (AOL), this year’s awards will be presented at a gala dinner at the conclusion of the two-day Australian Organic Conference, held at Pullman Melbourne on the Park on 7-8 March.
Australian Organic Limited has secured powerhouse global business innovator Robyn O’Brien as keynote speaker for its March 2024 conference in Melbourne, where she will speak to the conference theme of ‘Our Future: Growing Together’. Designed with the aim of unifying Australia’s certified organic industry, the two-day event will focus on three key pillars – business growth, the environment, and people and animals – and cover topics such as profitable production systems, proactive management, how to upscale a business, and global organic trends.
Five Sixty Farms is a family-owned organic microgreen farm located south of Lismore. The certified business is dedicated to producing the freshest and highest quality microgreens using sustainable farming practices. For those who don’t know, microgreens are young plants that are harvested when they are only a few inches tall, just after they have developed their first true leaves.
Forward thinking and community involvement are often key themes of organic businesses in Australia, and AOL Member Charles Higgins is a great example of these concepts. Charles is part of an expanding local co-operative in the Nambucca Valley region on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, where he and four other growers produce certified organic macadamias for the Australian market.
If you want to sound more knowledgeable about wine, there aren’t many better people to learn from than Mike Bennie. The renowned wine judge and writer recently delivered a private masterclass session for the recipient of the 2023 Australian Organic Wine Awards Associate Scholarship, as part of his role leading the expert judging panel for the awards. Here, he pops the cork on what was covered in the masterclass, with tips on how you can improve your own wine judging skills.
Down Under Enterprises is a vertically integrated grower, producer and global wholesale supplier of pure Australian Essential Oils and native botanical ingredients. Products are sourced from their New South Wales farm Buhlambar, which lives in the heart of the traditional home of the Aboriginal Bundjalung people (in Bundjalung language, Buhlambar means ‘Home of Tea Tree’). Other small growers also contribute to the Down Under business.