Media Note:

For more information or interviews contact Bruce Andrews at Charles Sturt Media on mobile 0418 669 362 or news@csu.edu.au

Photo: Mr Jonathan Medway, Charles Sturt University and the Gulbali Institute, Director, The Global Digital Farm

The Gulbali Institute of Agriculture, Water and Environment is a strategic investment by Charles Sturt University to drive integrated research to optimise farming systems, enhance freshwater ecosystems and improve environmental management, to deliver benefits across Australia and globally.

About the webinar keynote speakers:

Mr Jonathan Medway:Director, Global Digital Farm – Charles Sturt University
As Senior Research Fellow spatial agriculture, Jon is building research capacity with Charles Sturt University’s Gulbali Institute for Agriculture, Water and Environment. He has worked on more than 2,500 projects across Australia and internationally, and current projects include the implementation of Australia’s first Global Digital Farm which is a digital agriculture system for the University’s 1,600 hectare commercial mixed farm.

Ms Gabriela Ceregra, Data Policy Manager - Food Agility CRC and National Farmers’ Federation

Gabi is Food Agility’s Data Policy Manager, developing best practice data management policies for Food Agility projects and industry. Her experience in data management across health, financial services, and government has provided her with insight into how data is created, managed, and used across global organisations, and the risk management and regulatory requirements that need to be considered to create sustainable and scalable data eco-systems. Gabi holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Management (Honours) from Victoria University of Wellington, is a PMBOK certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a certified Agile Scrum Master.

Mr Rob Lansdown, Business Development Manager – Zetifi

Rob leads the sales, marketing and business development functions for rural connectivity company Zetifi. Since their inception in 2017, Zetifi has developed innovative solutions that allow farmers to access broadband connectivity in poor coverage areas. Rob’s responsibilities at Zetifi include understanding current and emerging technology trends and translating the complex networking smarts that underpin the company’s unique solutions into simple and easy-to-understand language for customers. He has qualifications in science, education and marketing from the University of New South Wales and 17 years’ experience in senior strategic marketing, communications and business development roles at a national and international level.

Mr Hamish Ross, Integrated Solutions & Precision Ag Manager - Hutcheon and Pearce

Hamish grew up on a mixed farming property at Henty in the Riverina and was focussed on a career in agriculture from a young age. He has a Bachelor of Agriculture/Bachelor of Business, a Graduate Certificate in Rural Science (Agricultural Consulting), a Master of Agriculture and has held a variety of roles engaging customers to facilitate their finance needs to see their agricultural businesses succeed and expand. In late 2019 Hamish took the role of Integrated Solutions Manager with Hutcheon and Pearce, a John Deere machinery dealer. His role has changed from providing solutions to assist the sale and support of steering tractors straight, to data, analytics, artificial intelligence and automation. The future for Hamish is preparing the customer base and the dealership for the sale and support of autonomous machinery.