Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council

The Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council (the Council) is a ministerial advisory committee that provides independent, expert and strategic advice to the Minister for Agriculture on how the agriculture sector can prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change.

The Council supports the Victorian Government’s commitment to deliver strong and lasting action on climate change for the agriculture sector, which is already experiencing the impacts of an increasingly variable and extreme climate. This includes working in partnership with the agriculture sector to take climate action, build resilience and reduce emissions while maintaining the sector’s productivity and profitability.

The Council meets formally up to 4 times a year. Its members represent a diverse set of skills and experience in agriculture, climate change, regional and rural development, water management and finance.

Members

Chairperson - Jack Holden

Jack Holden is the Managing Director of Ridge Road Advisory, an advisory firm specialising in sustainable agriculture. He has worked in government, consulting and industry, including most recently as General Manager of Sustainability for Global Markets at Fonterra Group, where he focused on climate, water and animal welfare.

Mr Holden is also a Director at Meat and Livestock Australia and Chair of its Foresight Committee, the Deputy Chair of the Australian Dairy Sustainability Framework, a Committee member of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (Australia), and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Deputy Chairperson - Catherine Jenkins

Catherine Jenkins is an experienced agribusiness professional who runs Rural People Co, an agribusiness advisory and facilitation service supporting agricultural businesses and organisations across Australia.

Ms Jenkins and her family live on their farm in South West Victoria, where they ran a dairy operation for 15 years before transitioning the farm to a free-range eggs and livestock operation. Ms Jenkins has also held roles with ANZ Agribusiness Banking, Fonterra Australia and RMCG.

An experienced non-executive director, Ms Jenkins has previously served as Chair of the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and Vic Catchments. She currently serves as a board member of Southern Rural Water and the Mulloon Institute.

Ashleigh Brooks

Ashleigh Brooks is a grain grower, and strategic advisor with InterGrain Pty Ltd, and has extensive broad-acre farming experience and understanding of Australia’s grains industry. Holding a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with Honours, she has worked across agronomy, cereal breeding marketing and business strategy, and is a partner in a Wimmera broadacre cropping enterprise.

Ms Brooks holds governance and industry roles, including serving as a Non-Executive Director of GrainGrowers Ltd and is an elected councillor on the VFF Grains Policy Council. She is committed to grower profitability, stakeholder aligned advocacy and future focused solutions that strengthen long term industry sustainability.

Fiona Conroy

Fiona Conroy is a sheep and cattle producer with experience in carbon accounting and low emission farming practices. She was previously a journalist and livestock editor at The Weekly Times before becoming a partner of Nicon Rural Services, a rural consulting business.

Ms Conroy has also worked for the Victorian Government in agriculture research and advisory roles. She is currently Secretary of the Victorian Farmers Federation Bellarine Branch and sits on various other local agricultural boards and committees.

Professor Amy Cosby

Professor Amy Cosby is a South Gippsland dairy farmer and agricultural researcher whose career bridges practical farming and academic expertise. Together with her husband Rowdy and their three boys, Amy owns and operates a 230-cow dairy farm purchased in 2018, bringing first-hand understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing Australian farm businesses.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Agriculture and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New England, as well as a PhD in Precision Agriculture. She currently serves as Research Lead for the Agricultural Education and Extension Cluster at the Institute of Future Farming Systems, CQUniversity Australia. Her research focuses on attracting, retaining and developing the next generation agricultural workforce to ensure the industry remains innovative and sustainable in addressing future challenges.

Luke Hooke

Luke Hooke is the Sustainable Ag Systems Manager at Nutrien Ag Solutions and has a strong understanding of Victorian farming systems, their linkages to global markets, and networks relating to suppliers of key agricultural inputs.

He has previously worked with the Victorian Farmers Federation and as a senior advisor to a member of the Parliament of Victoria. Mr Hooke holds a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of International Relations, a Graduate Diploma in Professional Political Practice, and is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program.

Professor Lauren Rickards

Professor Lauren Rickards is a senior interdisciplinary academic with extensive experience and expertise in climate adaptation. Her research focuses on the social dimensions of climate change adaptation and system resilience, including exploration of the social complexities of managing climate change in agriculture and rural communities.

Professor Rickards was a lead author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2022 Working Group on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, and the Australian Government’s 2024 National Climate Risk Assessment. She is currently a professor at La Trobe University and Director of the La Trobe Climate Change Adaptation Lab.

Reporting

As part of the Council’s reporting commitments under its terms of reference, the Council, with the support of Agriculture Victoria, should develop an annual report for each year of operation. All previous reports from the Council’s first term can be found here:

• Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council - 2023 Annual Report
  [PDF File - 2.1 MB]
• Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council - 2022 Annual Report [PDF File - 3.2 MB]
• Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council - 2022 Annual Report [MS Word Document - 11.2 MB]
• Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council - 2021 Annual Report [PDF File - 1.2 MB]
• Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council - 2021 Annual Report [MS Word Document - 449.9 KB]

More information

For more information about the Council, please submit your enquiry below: