www.ofa.org.au

The AGM in Warragul has resulted in the election of a highly skilled board of industry leaders. We have a management team of people who have the depth of experience in the whole value chain from the paddock to the plate. I believe that the OFA is well placed to achieve many of much needed outcomes for the Australian organic industry in 2005. Foremost in these will be the OFA restructure that is featured further along in this document. Also the please read the Chair's Report to the AGM outlining the significant number of outcomes and activities we have engaged in on behalf of the Australian organic industry in 2003-4.

I would particularly like to thank out going directors Sid Cowling and Nick Andrews both of whom have decided not to renominate. Sid deserves our thanks for his time as Chair and Treasurer and for continuing to represent the OFA on Agicultural Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. Nick deserves our thanks for everything that he did in answering the many phone calls, emails and media inquiries, in the middle of a terrible drought and major family health problems.

I would also like to welcome our new directors, Clinton Starr, Jenny Jackson, Eric Love and John Liddicoat.

Chair: Andre Leu. Andre is Vice President of the Australian Lychee Growers Association (ALGA) and Vice Chair of the United Lychee Marketing Association (ULMA).

Vice Chair: Liz Clay. Liz is currently a member of the world board of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM)

Secretary: Gerhard Grasser. Gerhard runs AgriSolutions Pty Ltd and Secretary of the Gippsland Organic Livestock Inc. (GOLI)

Treasurer: Hamish Mackay. Hamish is CEO of Biodynamic Agriculture Australia, the largest biodynamic organisation in Australia.

Clinton Starr: Director of Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) and the Australian Wheat Board (AWB)

Rod May: Deputy Chair of National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA). Rod is also a member of the IFOAM and Australian organic standards committees.

Keith Morris: President of the Organic Producers Association of Queensland, the peak growers organisation for that state and director of the Organic Food Chain.

Eric Love, Chairman: and Co founder Centre for Organic & Resource Enterprises (CORE) and board member of the (future) Organic CRC.

Colleen Yates: President of the Organic Growers Association of Western Australia (OGAWA), the peak industry organisation for WA.

John Liddicoat: President of the Organic Agriculture Association (OAA), the Victorian based organisation, that has been responsible for developing and running the Diploma of Organic Agriculture at Bairnsdale TAFE.

Chair of the Education Sub committee: Cheryl Kemp. Cheryl is the Education Officer of Biodynamic Agriculture Australia and is involved in running extensive workshops around Australia.

Jenny Jackson: Co Founder of Organic Future, the new national organic consumer organisation.

John Seargent: runs a very successful organic Bed & Breakfast in Airlie Beach, Queensland.

It has been an exceptionally busy and productive year since the last AGM for the OFA. It started with our AGM during the 2^nd national OFA Conference in October. Sid Cowling was elected as chair, however had to resign due to health reasons. The Board elected me as the Chair, Liz as Vice Chair, Nick as secretary and Gerhard as Treasurer. I would like to express my thanks to both Sid and Nick, who are both not renominating due family and personal reasons, for all the time and effort that they have dedicated to the OFA.

I regard my fellow board members as some of the most skilled industry leaders who I have ever worked with. It is a pleasure to be involved with team players who are concerned with developing the whole of the Australian organic industry rather than just promoting their own sector or organisation.

The Australian Organic industry is facing major changes and challenges. We need a strong united peak body to promote organics to the government and the wider community. Otherwise GMOs, food irradiation, toxic chemicals, growth promotants and feed antibiotics will dominate our food supply and environment.

The OFA is an organisation run by volunteers. Board members have generously given their time and in many cases their own finances to ensure that this industry can move ahead. Below is a summary of some of our activities (My apologies to board members if I have forgotten to include all of their activities). As you can see we have been very active.

The most significant event for OFA was the organic industry roundtable in Sydney on August 16th. This workshop was looking at the future of the organic industry, especially on the need for a national peak organisation. It was hosted by Senator Troeth, DAFF and RIRDC. They supported and funded the event because they want to see a strong organic industry with a united direction and peak body. The event was proposed to government in role as Chair of the Organic Federation of Australia (OFA). I spent many months working towards it including two trips to Canberra and contacting most of the key industry players. This involved extensive consultations with many sectors of the organic industry on their views on an OFA restructure.

The Industry Working Group set up by Roundtable has been a lot of work for us involved with the many meetings. I would like to thank my fellow participants,
George Devrell: National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA)
Clinton Starr: Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA)
Margaret Will: Organic Food Chain (OFC)
Colleen Yates: Organic Growers Association Western Australia (OGAWA)
Hamish Mackay: Biodynamic AgriCulture Australia (BAA)
Joe Gretschmann: Tasmanian Organic Producers (TOP)
for the many hours of work they have put into developing a new structure and writing the final document.

Rod May, Liz Clay and I are currently involved in the organising committee, chaired by Jan Denham, for the 15th IFOAM Organic World Congress that will be held in Adelaide in 21-23 of September 2005. We have attended several face to face meetings as well as teleconferences and contributed to numerous emails.

This Congress will be the most significant organic event ever held in Australia and will result in massive exposure for the Australian organic industry. It will be an opportunity for all of us the meet our colleagues from around Australia and the world as we all converge on Adelaide. It will also be an opportunity to hear the latest organic research and information from all over our planet. I hope that all OFA members take the once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in this international event.

I will ensure that there will be regular updates on our website.

• Various board members have been involved in a range of media to promote organics. These include TV interviews, Radio and Print Media.
• Regular media releases on a range of organic issues
• OFA board members write articles and papers for a range of journals, magazines, newspapers and newsletters
• Cheryl Kemp edited the OFA endorsed Organic Cookbook on behalf of the OFA

OFA board members answer thousands of email inquiries every year.

• Inquiries about certification - what is involved, how much it costs, status of imported products.
• Organic standards - clarification, allowed inputs
• Labeling issues - clarification and complaints
• Non compliance to standards
• Statistics re organic industry profile
• Press comments
• Government inquiries
• Markets - international and domestic
• Linking people into the industry
• Where to access organic products in various states
• Comments re political issues
• Researcher requests
• International inquiries

7: OFA Telephone

• The OFA has coordinated three very successful stands/exhibitions on behalf on the whole Australian organic industry in Sydney 2001, Melbourne 2002, Sydney 2003 and we worked in partnership with NASAA in Melbourne 2004. This year Gerhard Grasser, Liz Clay, Sid Cowling and I organised various aspects with Gerhard and Liz manning the stand. All the certifiers were allowed the use of our stand to promote their services. BFA/ACO were major users of the OFA stand this year.

9: Lobby Activities

• GE Subcommittee. This subcommittee with Sam Stratham and Scott Kinnear has been active in lobbying on behalf of the organic industry. The combined efforts of our subcommittee with the Network of Combined Farmers, Gene Ethics, BFA and Green Peace have resulted in moratoriums or bans on GMOs in all states except Queensland. This has been a very good example where we can all work together to achieve useful commons goals.
• Organic certification as equivalent to an Environmental Management System - OFA has attended a national and local EMS forums to participate in the discussions and outlining our inspection and certification requirements specific to environmental outcomes, held meetings with ACF, government policy EMS committee representatives, and departments of agriculture in Victoria.
• Code of Practice. The OFA met with Senator Troeth and various sectors in government to get a self-regulation system for the organic industry. The best option is to adopt a code of practice conduct under the auspices of the ACCC.
• OFA members continue to meet with politicians at both State and Federal levels to raise a range of organic industry issues. This year we have met with Senators Colbeck, Troeth, Brown and Cherry in Canberra as well as the current Tasmanian Minister for Agriculture.

• The Organic CRC. The OFA has been actively involved in the organising committee of the Organic CRC bid. I attended several meetings in Sydney, participated teleconferences and contributed to some parts of the final application documents. I wrote to the Qld Minister for Agriculture to get the Queensland DPI&F to be involved and I am pleased to say that they will be significant contributors to this valuable project. The CRC will generate over $28 million in research for the organic industry over the next 7 years. The bid for the CRC has just been through the final interview process and we sincerely hope that it succeeds. Helen Scott-Orr and the team deserve our thanks for the untold hours that they have all contributed to this massive undertaking.
• The 2nd National Organic Conference. Sid Cowling, Cat Mills, Jan Denham and Prof. Peter Cornish ran the national organic conference in Adelaide in Oct. 2003
• The OFA was involved in supporting the proposal for the Ayr Research Station in Northern Queensland to become a Centre of Excellence for organic farming in the tropics. Both Keith Morris and I have attended meetings of the research station's organic advisory committee at the research station as well as writing letters of support
• Most of the OFA board participated in the launch of Organic Futures in Melbourne, the new consumer organisation for organics. Rod May, Liz Clay and I gave presentations
• Liz Clay has ensured that organics features prominently in Food Victoria's Next Generation Food Strategy.
• I have been involved with the Queensland DPI&F's new book for people wishing to convert to organic farming 'Organic Farming - Is it for you?'
• The OFA put in an out of session request to OIECC so that Queensland organic citrus growers can get market access.

• Certificate IV in Organic Agriculture. The OFA education subcommittee, Cheryl Kemp, Liz Clay and I have been working with Jude Nettleingham of the Rural Training Council of Australia, Michael Williams of Orange TAFE and Alan Broughton of Bairnsdale TAFE to establish the competencies need for a nationally accredited Certificate IV in organic agriculture.
• OFA board members, particularly Hamish Mackay, Cheryl Kemp, Liz Clay, Rod May, Colleen Yates and I have delivered a range of educational courses and workshops to farmers, government and industry around Australia and oversees
• OFA board members present papers and speak at conferences in Australian and overseas
• OFA board members write articles and papers for a range of journals, magazines, newspapers and newsletters

• Organic Industry Profile. This OFA initiative has just been completed by Dr Darren Halpin of Central Queensland University.
• Export Equivalence Project. This project, originally proposed by Liz Clay and Rod May has now been commissioned by RIRDC.
• I have been giving regular reports about the OFA to the RIRDC organic committee

• Industry sector AGMs
• Food Irradiation Roadshow. I participated in the National Food Irradiation Roadshow talking alongside Winnonah Hauter from Public Citizen , Washington DC USA and Fran Jell and Robin Taubenfeld, campaigners from Narangba Campaign in Queensland. Food Irradiation is emerging as a major threat to our food supply and organic as the issues of GMO contamination.
• Education Institutions such as the University of Technology Sydney
• Natural Resource Management Authorities
• Government Departments - Local, State and Federal. OFA Board members have had several meetings on range of issues, particularly to keep them informed on the proposed restructure
• OFA Board members continue to meet with Community and interest groups such as the Australian Consumers Association, Greenpeace to build links with organics.
• OFA Board members continue to meet with world industry leaders such as Brendan Hoare- Organic Federation of Aotearoa New Zealand, Peter Bacchus - President of BD NZ, Urs Nigglii from FIBiL, Bernward Geier from IFOAM, Vandana Shiva and many others to establish links around the world.
• IFOAM International Meetings and Conferences: Liz Clay, as a world board member continues to provide a picture of the organic industry in Australia, market opportunities, and country legislative requirements.
• Organic Industry Export Consultative Committee (OIECC). The OFA represents the whole industry as the impartial industry body on this important industry committee. Both Rod May and I participate in the meetings. Rod is a member of the National Standards Sub Committee, the subcommittee that makes recommendations about the Australian Organic Standard to members of OIECC.
• Agricultural Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority: Sid Cowling represents the OFA on the Community Consultative Committee of APVMA, providing organic industry input into recommendations on and reviews of use of agricultural chemicals.
• Codex: Both Rod May and I attended the Australian Codex policy meeting in Sydney
• 6th National Lychee Conference. I was the Chair of the organising committee for the 6th National Lychee Conference. I gave two presentations on organic agriculture at this highly successful conference and generated a lot of interest in organic production. Growers contacted me about how to convert their orchards.

Gerhard Gasser, Jan Denham, Sid Cowling and Cat Mills finalised the accounts for the 2^nd OFA National Conference. This was a large job down on a volunteer basis by most of the organisers and I would like to thank them on behalf of the OFA board and members.

Gerhard, our treasurer has ensured that we have a positive bank balance this year

OFA is back on the national agenda. It is regarded by the relevant Federal government departments and most state agricultural departments as a credible industry organisation. We have an opportunity to build on this and we have to continue the momentum of the restructure. This has to be our most critical achievement for coming year.

Industry and governments believe that a combination of a reinvigorated and supported peak organisation, the Organic CRC and the IFOAM World Congress will firmly place organics as an important industry sector that is worthy of support.

I sincerely hope that all our members, supporters and subscribers will continue to support the OFA, particularly in this next phase as our industry starts to emerge as an important player in agricultural, environmental and consumer issues

I would like to thank to OFA board for all their support. I would particularly like to thank my wife Julia and my two sons Asha and Nick who have endured the endless hours that I spend every week on voluntary association work.

Andre Leu
Chair
Organic Federation of Australia.

The discussion document put together by the Industry Working Group (IWG) that resulted from the Organic Industry Roundtable held in Sydney on August 16th 2004 has been finalised

It will be sent out as a discussion document to be widely distributed to organic industry participants for comment. It is not the final draft. We plan to allow two months for comments and we will review it in the last week of February 2005 based on the industry feedback.

The IWG believe that the proposed model has many advantages and will be a good vehicle for a growing industry.

The restructured OFA will be set up as an incorporated not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee and a Charitable Trust with a separate Board, operating as a non consolidated subsidiary of the main company.

One of the major problems the IWG had to grapple with is how can we have a system that encourages as many people as possible to participate and not be too top heavy with an unmanageable board.

The concerns about a top heavy board have been addressed by a two tiered board system. The board of directors will be restricted to 9. Their prime responsibility is a role of governance consistent with Corporations Law.

Most of the policy issues and priorities will be done at the advisory boards level with the final responsibility resting with the board of directors. The representative groups were expanded to five after much debate.

The original proposal had 3 groupings - producers, traders and other intermediaries, and consumers to represent the whole value chain from the paddock to the plate. This draft proposed that the certifiers belonged to the consumer group as certification was a benefit to the consumer and a cost to the farmer.

However the IWG regarded certification as central to defining our industry and more than just giving a guarantee to consumers. Certification defines the organic standard and the certifiers are also the industry regulators. They have a central role and this must be acknowledged in the new OFA structure.

Consequently it was decided to have a fourth grouping with every AQIS accredited certifier being allowed to appoint a board member on this advisory board.

The fifth group was put forward to cover individuals and related organisations such as Gene Ethics, Network of Concerned Farmers, ACF, Green Peace, FOE, Australian Consumers Association, the Retail Grocers etc.

This grouping of five representative groups has many advantages. Having these advisory boards limited to up to 7 board members keeps them at a workable size and allows them to focus on the issues relevant to their sector. For instance it will mean that there will be a forum for certifiers to deal will all the issues that fall outside of Organic Industry Export Consultative Committee (OIECC) and could also be used to prioritize OIECC items.

While the final decisions will rest with the OFA Board of Directors it would be very unusual for them to disregard the decisions of their advisory boards.

The fifth Advisory Board will be restricted to having only one member on the Board of Directors, however this is seen as important so that the OFA board has a formal link and advice from related organisations. This

will be very important for us in political and industry development issues like marketing, export access, public awareness, GMO's, fair trade, food irradiation etc so that we can work with them to achieve common outcomes.

We decided to let individuals join, however they will only be able to vote to elect directors onto the Fifth Advisory Board.

This will overcome the argument that the tail is wagging the dog, where individuals have the same vote as large organisations. This was one of the significant reasons why the OFA lost the support of some of the organic industry organisations, as they felt that their concerns could be subsumed by a few individuals.

However one of the reasons why we wanted a mechanism to allow individuals to join was so we did not disenfranchise our existing members. It was felt that it may be difficult to get them to approve the changes if it meant that they would be losing their right to vote. This is an elegant solution to that dilemma as it will allow individuals the right to vote without overwhelming industry organisations.

The full discussion document will be available from our Website soon. www.ofa.org.au The final document will be based on the comments we receive. Please feel free to contact me with any queries, suggestions or comments. (However do not expect an immediate reply as I get overwhelmed with emails, phone calls etc)

Andre Leu
PO Box 800 Mossman Qld 4873
0740987610 leu@austarnet.com.au

The Working Group established a number of key principles, which underpin the principal proposals for change. In summary they are;

• OFA should represent the whole value chain from "paddock to plate"
• Representation, whilst broad, should be structured into manageable Representative Groups.
• The Board should mirror the organisations' wide representation, but be also selected on skills/experience/qualities criteria.
• Board selection should have independent input.
• The OFA will be set up as a company limited by guarantee and a separate Charitable Trust
• The OFA board and the Representative Groups should jointly determine the appropriate funding model.
• OFA could extend its operational scope by co-opting its Representative Groups.
• The new structure would have to be transparent and accountable.
• OFA Directors have to place their responsibilities as a Director ahead of their sectional interests.

• The existing OFA mission statement, aims and activities should be expanded.
• OFA should be significantly restructured.
• There should be appropriate transitional arrangements.

It is proposed that the OFA role be expanded in the following areas;

• Increased emphasis on the raising of funds, including funds from external parties through the Trust.
• An increased International focus
• An increase in research and education projects.
• Added value services to members; eg assistance with grants, specific fee-for-service projects.

• The main OFA Board is to consist of nine Directors, and the Charitable Trust is to have five Trustee Directors.
• The Directors of the main OFA Board will be nominated by five Advisory Boards, which collectively constitute the broad spectrum of the organic industry
• The Directors of the Trustee Board will be nominated by the Advisory Boards (3 positions), and appointed by the OFA Board (2 positions).
• There will be no common Directors between the main OFA Board and the Charitable Trust.
• There will be two Constitutions for the new structure; one for the main company (which also sets out its relationship with the Charitable Trust) and one for the Charitable Trust itself.
• The financial results of the two entities will not be consolidated, and will be subject to separate audits.
• Membership is organised into five Representative Groups, each headed by an Advisory Board.
• OFA voting rights will vest in the Representative Groups themselves, not individual members, who would vote within their respective organisations. Voting in more than one Representative Group will be limited.
• The Representative Groups will cover Producers, Traders and other Intermediaries, Consumers, Certifiers, and Individuals/Supporting Organisations.

• Decision making authority will vest in the OFA and Trust Boards
• The Representative Groups will also have rights of representation, nomination, review of Directors selection, submitting proposals, receiving reports on progress, removal of Directors under certain conditions etc.
• Nominations for the OFA and Trust Boards will come from the Advisory Boards, and from the OFA Board (Trust Board only), subject to maximum and minimum rights of representation.
• Directors will be normally be elected for three years, with a maximum term of six years (nine years for the Chair)
• There will be a standing Nominations Committee to assess nominees and there will also be a published set of criteria for selection.

• An incorporated not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

• Charitable Trust with a separate Board, operating as a non consolidated subsidiary of the main company.

The chosen funding model will be the result of ongoing collaboration between the Advisory Boards and OFA, subject to agreement on a number of overall guiding principles. The Trust will garner funds from both the industry and from outside the industry. It will receive modest annual funding from OFA.

The Working Group proposes a transitional timetable between December 2004 until July 2005 when the first AGM and elections would be held under the new Constitutions.

Other transitional arrangements relate to the workings of the existing OFA Board, the Working Group itself, and the arrangements relating to the first elections (which will provide for a staggered election cycle).

The structure of the OFA should be reviewed after six years (2011) to ensure that it is relevant to the industry needs at that time.