The annual two-day DRF Symposium, held at the University of Sydney’s Camden campus and Corstorphine Dairy, has now concluded – after a stunning showcase of the industry’s most recent scientific research and developments in carbon, sustainability, business and farming production.
Dairy Research Foundation’s Director, Professor Yani Garcia, said that the 2023 theme ‘A lot more than just Carbon’, generated a myriad of powerful conversations about the reality of carbon in the dairy industry’s future.
“Over 200 people attended the 2023 DRF Symposium, and it was brilliant to be surrounded by industry professionals, farmers and scientists all working together for a united purpose to strengthen the dairy industry in Australia.
“We had 23 excellent speakers who were very willing to share their ideas, knowledge and expertise throughout the two-day program which focused on the reality of carbon, and a diversity of issues surrounding this.
“The two international keynote speakers, Dr Tim Mackle from NZ and Ad van Velde from the Netherlands, captivated the audience with discussions on biodiversity and innovation amid shifting customer expectations globally.
“Given both keynote speakers also have the practical, hands-on experience of dairy-farming themselves, the audience – primarily dairy farmers from across NSW – were engaged and walked away with many new tools and ideas to implement.
“The Q&A with The University of Melbourne’s Professor Richard Eckard’s and DPI’s Aaron Simmons received great audience engagement – as they talked through carbon, how it can be reduced, biodiversity, and the considerations across beef vs. dairy beef.
“An excellent panel of farmers then shared incredibly motivating and inspiring diverse perspectives on how they have grown despite so much adversity over the last few years. Many young farmers in attendance were impacted by their thoughts, resulting in a very positive session overall.
“Then today, Day Two of the DRF Symposium at Corstorphine Dairy, 10 emerging scientists presented their own research as they competed a for a unique professional development opportunity.
“Congratulations to second year PhD candidate at the University of Sydney Alice Shirley, who won the Emerging Scientist competition with her presentation: Revealing the diversity in response to heat for individual cattle fitted with a reticuloruminal sensor, through the development of a threshold model to identify water intake.”
The success of the 2023 Symposium was only possible thanks to the generous support of sponsors DLF Seeds, Dairy Australia, NSW Government, RCI, Lactalis Australia, Scibus, Cows-R-Us, Bega, AM Dairy Solutions and Norco.
