Our small team of dedicated staff are based at the Department of Agriculture Centre for Cropping Systems, York Road, Northam which is 100km east of Perth, Western Australia. The team is located in the heart of the wheatbelt and close to the WANTFA Centre for Stubble Retention Research Centre at Cuunderdin. They welcome visitors and would like to see you if you’re passing through Northam.
Executive Officer - Dr David Minkey
David has a Degree in Agricultural science and a PhD in Weed Seed Ecology both obtained at the University of Western Australia (UWA).David has over 20 years experience in the agricultural cropping industry with the majority of his time spent with DAFWA and the Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (WAHRI).Specialising in herbicide resistance and weed management David has led research projects into herbicide efficacy, managing weeds in no tillage farming systems and understanding the ecology of weed seeds in the Western Australian cropping environment.David also has a strong extension background with his role as extension/communications officer with WAHRI, having assisted in the teaching of the national integrated weed management training for farm advisors and has lectured on precision agriculture and genetically modified cropping at UWA.
Graeme joins WANTFA as our Marketing Manager after spending the last 17 years in the publishing Industry 12 years of which he ran his own his own business which is an ongoing success .Graeme comes from a family with a farming background in the Waikato region of New Zealand. He was educated in Auckland and migrated to Australia in 1987.His main role is to look after the production of the Journal, liaise with our sponsors and develop WANTFA’S Marketing and Communication plans for the future.Please contact Graeme for any Sponsorship enquirys or for Advertising Information in the WANTFA Journal New Frontiers in Agriculture.
Graeme is also the contact for Agribusiness who wish to display products or machinery at the WANTFA Spring Field Day on the 22nd of September 2010 at Cunderdin
Scientific Officer and Technology Demonstration Site Manager – Dr Ken Flower
Dr Ken Flower is an agronomy and farming systems lecturer at The University of Western Australia. His research is mainly focussed on improving no-till cropping systems. He works closely with Neil Cordingley on the WANTFA Long Term No-Till Farming Systems project as well as with Jade Dempster on the new Grain and Graze 2 Integrating Livestock into No-Till Systems project. Ken was raised on a farm in Zimbabwe and gained a Bachelor of Science degree in South Africa. He joined the Tobacco Research Board in Zimbabwe in 1985 as an experimental agronomist researching weed control, tillage and cultural practices such as row spacing and planting time. In 1987 he did his Masters Degree in crop protection, with a weed science major, at Imperial College, University of London. He was awarded his PhD, on the use of computer expert systems in agriculture, in 1993 from the University of London.
Mr Mike Ashworth is the Research Manager of the Western Australian No Till Farmers Association. Mike graduated from CurtinUniversitywith B. Agribus with 1st class honours in 2005 and has a Diploma of Engineering Metallurgy. Over the last few years with WANTFA, Mike has focussed on disc seeder technology and identifying the factors that make on-farm implementation of zero-till cropping systems successful and is currently running the WANTFA research program that includes the Centre for Stubble Retention Research located at Cunderdin.Mike is also the author of the widely acclaimed book Disc seeding in zero-till farming systems.
Neil joins WANTFA as Project Manager. He will be working with Scientific Officer Dr Ken Flower on the WANTFA Centre for Stubble Retention Research located at Cunderdin. They will be exploring the new long-term no-till study and the development of cover crops for no-till systems. Neil has a Bachelor of Science with Honours Agriculture (crop management) from Harper Adams Agricultural College in the UK. Neil has a lot of practical experience having worked on farms for a number of years both in Australia and the UK.
Jade is our Project Officer based in our WANTFA Office in Northam. Her role is to deliver two National Landcare Program (NLP) funded projects associated with disc seeding systems and greater no-till adoption.
Jade has an Agricultural Science degree with honours in soil science from UWA. Jade says “since completing my degree in 2005, I’ve worked in the area of agricultural research and environmental consultancy.”
Jade was originally from Beacon, and currently lives on a farming property in Southern Brook. “I am really excited to catch up with growers who have adopted no-till, and learn from their experiences.
Adrienne has been working with WANTFA in administration and finance since 2006. She has a background of family in farming and is from Auckland, New Zealand where, over the years, she was managing director of two successful businesses. In 1986 she founded and became President of the Make-A-Wish foundation of New Zealand and in 1989 became a founding director of Make-A-Wish International based in Phoenix, Arizona,USA and was later appointed financial director. Since arriving in Perth in 1998 she has worked for a sharemaketing company before joining WANTFA.
Neil joins WANTFA as Project Manager. He will be working with Scientific Officer Dr Ken Flower on the WANTFA Centre for Stubble Retention Research 
Jade has an Agricultural Science degree with honours in soil science from