Industry

Alan Peggs has practiced as an independent agricultural and pastoral consultant for the last 26 years. He works with clients through-out the agricultural and southern rangeland regions of Western Australia. His client base is diverse. Unlike most consultants he is a ‘generalist’ who works with pastoralists in the southern rangelands, beef producers in the high rainfall areas and crop and sheep producers in the Wheat Belt.  His principal focus is on improving the profitability of farm and pastoral businesses.  A key component of this is the adoption on new ideas, inputs and technologies by his clients. He has a particular interest in pastures, forage crops, integrating crop and livestock production, animal genetics, rangeland management and livestock marketing.  In his spare time he follows the Dockers, the Scorchers and the WACA.  His main hobby is playing around with a few cows at Serpentine.  In between times he follows his interest in history particularly the history of European agricultural settlement in the New World.

He is a strong believer in the role research can play in improving productivity in farm and pastoral businesses.  He sees WALRC making a critical contribution to this endeavor.

Chris represents NRMWA (National Resource Management WA) through his role as a director of the Wheatbelt NRM Board. Chris has extensive career experience in agribusiness management, strategic management and developing rural business, throughout Australia and overseas.  He has tertiary and post-graduate qualifications in both agriculture and business, including an MBA (Sustainable Business), and is well-known in the Wheatbelt through his roles as a  Rural Financial Counsellor  and as a lecturer/trainer at Muresk Institute. Additionally, he produces stud and commercial livestock in the Avon Valley.  As a passionate contributor to rural communities, he currently sits on the Board of Wheatbelt NRM and WA Farmers Federation.

Jess is a large animal veterinarian and consultant at Bovitech Veterinary Services, as well as a beef producer alongside her husband Cody, based in Albany, WA. She has a keen interest in pasture-based cattle production systems and enjoys helping clients increase on-farm profitability through improving their productivity and reproductive efficiencies. Jess also has experience in the meat processing sector and red meat science research. She strives to keep up to date with the latest research and technologies that are applicable to local livestock producers. Jess is a member of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA), Australian Cattle Veterinarians (ACV) and Australian Reproduction Veterinarians (ARV), and represents the AVA, ACV and Australian Sheep Veterinarians (ASV) on the council.