Cattle
About AgForce Cattle
Producer representation
AgForce Cattle is the peak lobby group for Queensland beef producers, representing more than 6000 members. We support all sectors of the Australian beef industry - grass-fed, grain-fed and live export – recognising that each sector plays a vital role and all three must be profitable to maintain a prosperous beef industry into the future.
We work on members’ behalf to ensure the long-term growth, viability, competitiveness and profitability of the beef industry in Queensland, an industry which is the backbone of many rural and regional communities and delivers more than $4.5 billion per year to the Queensland economy.
As a state farm organisation, our key task is to ensure that the view of beef producers in Queensland is heard at the national level. To do this, we maintain a national affiliation with the Cattle Council of Australia, a member body of the National Farmers' Federation. We have seven seats on the Cattle Council of Australia’s executive, meaning that the views of the industry in Queensland, as the largest cattle producing state, is clearly heard at a national level.
AgForce Cattle board
| President: Howard Smith Policy director: Anna Campbell North directors: • Peter Hall - Vice President/ Treasurer • Rick Britton • Alex Stubbs • Ian Groves • Marcus Curr Central directors: • Leo Neill-Ballantine • Michael Mactaggart • Melinee Leather - Vice President South East directors: • Ian Harsant • Tom Seiler Southern Inland directors: • Robyn Bryant • Anthony Struss South West director: • Kenton Peart Special director - youth: • Lachlan Hughes • Alastair Henderson Special director - corporate: • Cam Daley | 
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Role of directors
As the democratically elected representatives of more than 5400 Queensland beef producers, your AgForce Cattle board directors volunteer a huge amount of their time to meet with members, policy makers, market experts and other influencers of the beef industry to formulate sound policies and deliver these to government and industry service providers (including Meat and Livestock Australia).
You – through resolutions put forward at AgForce branch/regional meetings – have a direct role in setting the policy of AgForce Cattle. We are the only state farm organisation to have a direct policy-setting link between producers and directors; there are no extra layers of bureaucracy that can mean your opinions get lost.
The Cattle directors represent members' interests on more than 15 state-level committees and more than 20 national ones (through the Cattle Council of Australia). So there’s a good chance that every issue which affects you as a beef producer is in some way being worked on by the Cattle Board, CCA and/or NFF.
From live export to pushing for urgent improvements to the state’s transport system, AgForce Cattle is working hard on your behalf to get better outcomes for your business.
A key role of AgForce Cattle directors is to discuss relevant issues with members to advise of recent developments and hear direct feedback from you. Open forums - which are delivered across the state several times a year - enable member feedback and discussion with the board which can then be taken into industry and government debates.
Your levy
Your levies are used by Meat and Livestock Australia to deliver research, development and marketing programs that advance the beef industry. The industry’s peak councils, including the Cattle Council of Australia, have an oversight role in the use of the levy funds, including approval rights for MLAs annual operating plan. So the only way in which you can have a direct role in setting how MLA spends the levy funds is through your state farm organisations – like AgForce.
With AgForce holding seven seats on the CCA executive, the Queensland beef industry is well represented in these debates.
It requires extensive work to assess and review the many marketing and R&D programs, but AgForce Cattle board members travel long distance to do so, knowing that this is the only way to ensure levy funds are spent appropriately so producers reap benefits from the work of industry service providers.
Have your say
If you are not a member of your state farm organisation then, quite simply, you cannot influence the outcomes of MLA R&D and marketing spend.
It is only through direct involvement that you can play a role in steering MLA and CCA policy and the directions of government to ensure beneficial outcomes for the Queensland industry.
To have your say, talk to one of your region’s Cattle board directors.
AgForce Cattle Limited - ACN 087 429 883
AgForce Cattle Limited is a company limited by guarantee. Our members are Queensland cattle producers.