THE new chairman at the Almond Board of Australia is cracking on since taking over the position on January 1.
Alan Hoppe has succeeded Peter Hayes as ABA’s independent chairman and said he was looking forward to “working with the most valuable crop you can legally grow in the Murray-Darling Basin”.
With his global business pedigree, Mr Hoppe won’t be wasting any time getting his feet under the desk and getting on with the next phase in the rise and rise of the almond industry.
While he may be new to the board, he is not exactly new to almonds, and Mr Hoppe certainly knows his way around north-west Victoria having run 1100ha of orchards near Robinvale 15 years ago – and spending part of his formative years in and around Manangatang.
“I always loved that almonds are one of the most valuable commodities we grow in Australia, using our valuable water resources, so the opportunity to work with the growers and the marketers to grow that industry and foster those stakeholders, well I thought it was a terrific chance for me to give back,” Mr Hoppe said.
“Being part of the Australian Almond Conference in Adelaide last October was also great, and I used the opportunity to introduce myself to growers, processors and industry service providers.
“I also got to reconnect with a bunch of people who worked for me, or with whom I have worked, over the years.”
There have been plenty of those years in agriculture – Mr Hoppe had his first taste of farm management as a 16-year-old and it became a career which would take him around the world, from Australia to Africa and South America.
But in the foreseeable future, his eyes are firmly on staying local as he works with ABA directors to fulfil the board’s strategic goals.
“I’ll be helping to co-ordinate the communication between the industry and the board,” he said.
“Helping the board make smart decisions and then, like any good board, following up the governance and making sure the strategy is being followed and that the board’s decisions are being carried out.”
While Mr Hoppe was using the ABA conference in Adelaide to announce his arrival, Mr Hayes used the same event for a round of industry farewells.
After five years in the top job, he said he was leaving with mixed feelings.
“This has been such a fantastic experience working with the board, as well as the energetic, able and focused executive, led by chief executive Tim Jackson, right through to the whole team, so while I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life, I am disappointed to leave this behind,” he said.
While leading the ABA, Mr Hayes was able to draw on his background in viticulture, wine and irrigated crops, where he’d had a strong focus on research and development, innovation and extension.
“It’s been a different industry, with similarities to my past ones, but it has its own personality, its own energy, and above all the engagement and innovation within it has been brilliant,” he said.
Mr Hayes said he could recall many highlights from his time as independent chairman.
“The emergence of more solid markets in India and other places has been terrific for the Australian industry, and you’d have to say that things such as Hort360, and the collaborative, co-ordinated works across several fronts, including whole-orchard recycling, or the hull and stack management are all up there,” he said.
“There’s so many of them but they’re pretty evenly spread across the many areas of activity.
“Things like the R&D Day and the launch of ACE, what can you say, they’re just fantastic.”
Mr Hayes said he had also been liaising closely with the incoming chairman.
“I’ve tried to give him my best distillation of where we’re at, what our issues are and where he might take it to,” he said.
“But the job is his now, and I am confident he already has the experience and the enthusiasm to guide the board and the industry in the years ahead.”
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Don’t miss the February North West Farmer for our one-on-one talks with both Alan Hoppe and Peter Hayes about where the industry has been and where it is going.
