What does the future hold for Australian agriculture in a world shaped by politics, protectionism, and shifting global demand? In this episode, David Cornish is joined by respected consultant and market analyst Robert Herrmann to unpack the big-picture issues shaping ag in 2025. From Trump-era tariff talk to the resilience of Australia’s export model, Robert brings sharp insights into how trade policies really affect the farmgate and what producers should pay attention to in the years ahead. The...
May 30, 2025•41 min•Season 5Ep. 3
In this episode of the Marcus Oldham AgTalk Podcast, host David Cornish spoke with Andrew McGuire, an Extension Agronomist and Director for Grant County at Washington State University, about the intricacies of soil health. Andrew has been with WSU's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources since 1999, focusing on sustainable agriculture practices, particularly soil health, cover cropping, and high-residue farming systems. His extensive research includes contributions like "Improvi...
Feb 06, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 2
To kick off Season Five of the Marcus Oldham College AgTalk Podcast, I sat down with James Hamilton from Cultivate Advisory to discuss one of the most critical conversations any farming family, or any family with a business, will ever have: succession planning. James is not only an experienced family succession planning facilitator but also a farmer with over 25 years of hands-on experience. He operates a farming enterprise in Narromine, central New South Wales, alongside his wife, Amanda. Toget...
Jan 10, 2025•39 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Join us this episode as we chat with Andrew Henderson, Principal of Agsecure , on the importance of food security to Australia’s national security. Andrew is a leading strategic policy specialist with a passion for building the sustainability and prosperity of rural and regional Australia and enhancing the recognition of its role in the economy and its place in national security. Andrew’s mission is to support industry and government to understand each other and work better together for the bene...
Apr 15, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Join us this week as we talk with Joanne Stevenson, Principal Consultant at Resilient Organisations as she chats to David Cornish about how we can create Resilient Businesses. Over the past decade, Joanne has accumulated post-disaster research and consulting experience in several countries, examining recovery and resilience of communities, economies, and organisations. She enjoys grappling with complex systems and developing practical solutions to work with these, using her background in geospat...
Mar 27, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Join us this episode as we chat with Agrista Director and consultant, John Francis, about getting back to basics and looking at Farm Profit Drivers. Agrista is an agricultural consultancy focused on improving farm business performance based in Wagga Wagga in Southern New South Wales. Agrista provides consulting services to corporate and family farms, the rural finance sector, government and industry bodies and the agricultural services sector. You can learn more about Agrista here and connect wi...
Feb 13, 2024•50 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Dr Nicole (Nici) Sweaney grew up with a fascination for animals and science, and always knew it was something she wanted to pursue. But after completing a PhD in which she studied how native butterfly species interact with farmlands and pine plantations. From this Nici saw the power of information and data and the opportunities AI present to us. This led her to found ‘Ai Her Way’ which is dedicated to helping women learn how to use AI in their everyday lives so they can achieve their wildest dre...
Dec 14, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Join us for the first episode of season four of the AgTalk podcast as we discuss meat and wool commodity markets with Robert Herrmann. Robert is a founder of Mecardo, a specialist in agricultural advisory with a focus firmly on the financial enhancement of primary production and price risk management. The company was established by Robert in Adelaide in 1996 under the Ag Concepts Advisory brand. With a longstanding background in agriculture, Robert’s commitment was to deliver a high quality proa...
Nov 14, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Join us this week as we chat with Director and consultant at Agrista, John Francis. Agrista is an agricultural consultancy focused on improving farm business performance based in Wagga Wagga in Southern New South Wales. Agrista provides consulting services to corporate and family farms, the rural finance sector, government and industry bodies and the agricultural services sector. You can learn more about Agrista here and connect with John on LinkedIn here . The discussions on this podcast are fo...
Aug 12, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Join us this week as we chat with Rennylea Angus Director, Lucinda Corrigan. Lucinda Corrigan joined Rennylea Angus in 1986. Rennylea Angus is a performance recorded Angus stud of 3.500 head. The ‘head office’ is situated in the South West Slopes of New South Wales between Albury and Holbrook NSW. Her childhood was spent on a large merino sheep property, she has first class honours degree in Agricultural Science, and worked in agribusiness for a number of years. Lucinda has skills and experience...
Jul 19, 2022•35 min
Join us this week as we discuss commodity markets with Robert Herrmann. Robert is the Managing Director of Mecardo, a specialist in agricultural advisory with a focus firmly on the financial enhancement of primary production and price risk management. The company was established by Robert in Adelaide in 1996 under the Ag Concepts Advisory brand. With a longstanding background in agriculture, Robert’s commitment was to deliver a high quality proactive risk analysis and management service to clien...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr
My guest today Matt Ough who grew up in Edenhope in the West Wimmera region of Victoria. He worked on the family’s sheep farm in his teens learning about animal husbandry and pasture management. When he finished his VCE at Edenhope College, Matt took a gap year working as a teller at a local bank branch. During his gap year, Matt decided to combine his love for farming and business by enrolling in the Bachelor of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham College. While studying, Matt was awarded a Rural Fin...
Mar 13, 2022•38 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Nigel Kerin is the founder and director of Kerin Poll Merino Stud. Kerin Poll Merino stud was established in 2009 with the goal to build the traits that made the terminal industry a success into the Merino breed, “fast early growth”, “fertility” and “doing ability”. Nigel chats to us about his key learnings he has had in creating a successful agricultural business and why success can be a very poor teacher. You can learn more about Kerin Poll from their website www.kerinpoll.com.au , on Twitter ...
Mar 09, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 2
This week we are lucky enough to have Phin Ziebell join us for another AgTalk episode to discuss what may lie ahead for 2022. Phin is NAB's Agribusiness Economist. He is responsible for analysing and reporting on the trends and developments in the agribusiness industry and works closely in conjunction with bankers in NAB’s Agribusiness division. Phin graduated with bachelor degrees in Commerce and Arts from the University of Melbourne and joined NAB in mid-2014. He was previously an economist at...
Feb 14, 2022•36 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Join us this week as we recap 2021 and look at what 2022 may have in store for us with Robert Herrmann. Robert is the Managing Director of Mecardo, a specialist in agricultural advisory with a focus firmly on the financial enhancement of primary production and price risk management. The company was established by Robert in Adelaide in 1996 under the Ag Concepts Advisory brand. With a longstanding background in agriculture, Robert’s commitment was to deliver a high quality proactive risk analysis...
Dec 20, 2021•40 min•Season 2Ep. 14
It is our pleasure to welcome Jennifer Medway to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast. Jennifer Medway is a fifth generation farmer from Gunning , NSW. Together with her Husband and parents run a 17,000 head self-replacing merino flock. As well as being involved in the day to day running of the farm she has also held a range of roles including Executive officer of Tablelands Farming Systems, a board member of Merino Link, non-for-profit merino genetics livestock organisation and is a Senior Manager ...
Dec 06, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 13
It is our pleasure to welcome Professor Richard Eckard to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast. Richard is Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre, a research centre addressing the impacts of a changing climate on agriculture. His research focuses on sustainable agricultural production, with a recent focus on carbon neutral agriculture and options for agriculture to respond to a changing climate. Richard dev...
Nov 18, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 12
It is our pleasure to welcome Danielle England to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast. Danielle England is a recognised leader within Australian agriculture based in the South East of South Australia. Over the past 20 years, Danielle has built a strong reputation for delivering agricultural extension and change management programs She works closely with grower groups, research organisations, private advisors and farm businesses to deliver programs that optimise farm profitability and productivity. ...
Nov 07, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 11
It is our pleasure to welcome Dr Ken Giller to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast. Dr Ken Giller is Professor of Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University. His research focuses on smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular problems of soil fertility with emphasis on the temporal and spatial dynamics of resources within crop/livestock farming systems. He leads a number of initiatives such as N2Africa – Putting Nitrogen Fixation to Work for Smallholder Farmers in Af...
Oct 24, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 10
It is our pleasure to welcome Kari Moffat to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast. Kari is the first of a series of ex-Marcus Oldham students who I will be profiling on this podcast from time to time as part of the Future Leader Series. The reason I am doing this is that I believe that agriculture today is one of the most exciting industries to be involved in and I want to showcase some of the opportunities out there for young people in this industry. Kari completed a Bachelor of Business (Agricultu...
Oct 10, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 9
It is a pleasure to welcome Oscar Pearse to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk podcast to talk Carbon Trading. Oscar and Susannah Pearse operate a 2800ha grain and beef farm at Moree, New South Wales. Prior to coming back to the family farm 11 years ago, Oscar worked for a number of agricultural organization in policy and management roles including AgForce QLD, Cattle Council of Australia, Australian Lot Feeders Association, and the MLA. Since then, he has been a member of the NSW Farmers Association Cons...
Sep 26, 2021•57 min•Season 2Ep. 8
It is my pleasure to welcome James Madden, CEO of Flinders + Co to the Marcus Oldham AgTalk Podcast. Flinders + Co is a premium food production and distribution company founded in 2010 by James father David Madden. As the name suggest it is based on Flinders Island which is situated in the Bass Strait just off the northeast coast of Tasmania. As started, James is the CEO which makes him responsible for the day to day operations of the company. He oversees brand design, marketing and sales strate...
Sep 13, 2021•49 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Ian established Bush AgriBusiness in 2009, combining his enthusiasm for agriculture and business. He grew up in the bush, doing primary school through Charleville School of the Air before going to boarding school in Toowoomba. He studied accounting at University before moving to the Northern Territory. In the NT he did station work and worked for a large accounting firm, before working in training and extension within the NT DPI. From the DPI he moved to the NT Cattlemen’s Association, initially...
Aug 29, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 5
This week we are lucky enough to have Phin Ziebell join us for another AgTalk episode to discuss whether it currently is as good as gets for Australian Agriculture. Phin is NAB's Agribusiness Economist. He is responsible for analysing and reporting on the trends and developments in the agribusiness industry and works closely in conjunction with bankers in NAB’s Agribusiness division. Phin graduated with bachelor degrees in Commerce and Arts from the University of Melbourne and joined NAB in mid-...
Aug 12, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Nigel Kerin is the founder and director of Kerin Poll Merino Stud. Kerin Poll Merino stud was established in 2009 with the goal to build the traits that made the terminal industry a success into the Merino breed, “fast early growth”, “fertility” and “doing ability”. Nigel chats to us about his key learnings he has had in creating a successful agricultural business. What are the key drivers you need to get right to make money in this industry? You can learn more about Kerin Poll from their websit...
Jun 10, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Kate Burke founded Think Agri after identifying a need for corporate and institutional investors to have access to astute experience based advice when considering key agri-investment decisions. Knowing the right questions to ask is fundamental to sound decision making. Kate’s 26 years of experience forms a library of critical questions to ask about any agricultural investment. Kate also recognised that leading farm families could further improve their performance by taking the lead from corporat...
May 30, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Founder of Agripath, Simon has over 20 years experience in agriculture with his client base encompassing irrigation, dry land farming and grazing operations. He has Southern, Central, and Northern NSW farming systems experience. Simon’s particular strengths have been in financial analysis and planning to deliver profitable outcomes for client businesses. Simon has worked as an irrigation agronomist for Twynam Cotton at Warren, a dry land consultant agronomist for Hassall & Associates and tea...
May 18, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Join us this week as we discuss meat and wool commodity markets with Robert Herrmann. Robert is the Managing Director of Mecardo, a specialist in agricultural advisory with a focus firmly on the financial enhancement of primary production and price risk management. The company was established by Robert in Adelaide in 1996 under the Ag Concepts Advisory brand. With a longstanding background in agriculture, Robert’s commitment was to deliver a high quality proactive risk analysis and management se...
Apr 26, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Kevin M. Folta is a Professor in the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida. His research program examines how light signals are sensed in plants and how different parts of the spectrum can change shelf life and high-value fruit and vegetable traits. His group also uses novel genomics approaches to identify genes related to flavor and disease resistance. An innovative new project is testing a method to create new small-molecule drugs for use in everything from plant growt...
Dec 10, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 32
My guest today Matt Ough who grew up in Edenhope in the West Wimmera region of Victoria. He worked on the family’s sheep farm in his teens learning about animal husbandry and pasture management. When he finished his VCE at Edenhope College, Matt took a gap year working as a teller at a local bank branch. During his gap year, Matt decided to combine his love for farming and business by enrolling in the Bachelor of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham College. While studying, Matt was awarded a Rural Fin...
Dec 03, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 31
