For more details on Conference Packages contact Conference Coordinator M: 0416 588 065

We are excited to introduce you to Megan Woodward, our conference Master of Ceremony.

Born and bred between the cane fields, cattle stations and coal mines of north Queensland, Megan's country background, her relatability and vibrancy will gain your attention and create an awesome atmosphere for an enjoyable event of learning & laughter.

Megan has nearly 20 years’ experience as a journalist, communications professional and broadcaster. She worked as the Townsville-based network television reporter for ABC News and Current Affairs, as well as an on-air journalist with premier rural affairs program, Landline.

Considered a ‘media all-rounder’, Megan has earned a reputation as a reliable, people focused professional and a trusted advocate for rural and regional Australia, as well as a highly regarded ag-PR communications specialist and MC. Megan is based at Yandina Creek in south-east Queensland.

Dr Gregg Munshaw is the Chief Scientist and Director of Agronomy at Pinnacle Ag Research Center near St. Louis, Missouri in the United States (US).

He has been in the Turf Industry for nearly 30 years and worked as a university professor for over half that time in the southern and transitional climatic regions of the US. Gregg also is the author of numerous scientific and extension articles and has lectured about turf world-wide.

Most importantly, Gregg is passionate about reducing turfgrass inputs and has previously served as the Director of Research for the Alliance for Low-Input Sustainable Turf, a non-profit organisation dedicated to developing improved varieties. In his current role, he focuses on turfgrass stress alleviation testing new genetics, products, and practices to improve turf and soil health. Away from turf, Gregg enjoys spending time with his family, motorcycle camping, and creating content for YouTube.

TurfBreed welcomes the expertise of Damien Rossi to talk about your Sales and Marketing issues.

Damien has held Strategy, Marketing and Sales leadership roles with some of the world’s most iconic global brands and for the best marketing and sales organisations across Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific. These include Guinness, Nestle and News Corp.

In 2018 Damien started FOUND, a brand strategy firm working exclusively with owner-managed businesses. Since then, FOUND has worked with businesses across the Construction, Food & Beverage, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Technology and Agriculture sectors.

Gavin Howie had his life turned completely upside down following a serious farm accident where his lost both legs. Today, thanks to the amazing support from his family, friends and the turf community, Gavin has returned to his turf life.

But now Gavin, aside from turf, has another passion in life – to be a strong farm safety advocate and remind his fellow growers why it is important to understand everything about Work Health and Safety.

Gavin and his wife Lauren moved into turf production just over six years ago and established TurfNT, about 66km south-east of Darwin at Middle Point. Gavin was not new to the farming game as he had grown-up on a large pastoral operation 100km outside of Darwin.

Today TurfNT is an established locally family-run business, supplying turf to the Top End.

Gavin is associated with turf farms Australia wide, gaining valuable information and creating alliances in the Turf Industry.

Steve Burt is co-founder and Managing Director of TurfBreed and has more than 30 years’ experience in agribusiness, including roles at both a board and senior management level.

Steve’s previous track record sees him having successfully managed, business organisation start-ups, mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings, commercial operation, risk and oversight of businesses with multi-billion-dollar turnovers.

From this cross section of experience, Steve maintains an extensive network across the Australian and Global Agribusiness sector where he has been integral in developing businesses and finding solutions for numerous agricultural and business ventures.

Steve’s vision for TurfBreed is to be the turf industry genetics manager of choice through partnering with turf growers to grow their business safely, sustainably and profitability through leading edge genetics, innovative marketing and business support.

Andrew has a strong background in scientific research and brings his practical and academic expertise to the TurfBreed team. Having completed an undergraduate Bachelor of Agricultural Science and a PhD with the University of Queensland in the fields of plant physiology and genetics, where he also holds a position as an adjunct research fellow.

Andrew is well-equipped to take on the challenges of turf research and has the skills needed to deliver meaningful results to our growers and consumers. He has extensive experience as a scientific communicator and is passionate not only about conducting scientific studies on agricultural crops, but equally about communicating the outcomes and implications of that research to a wider audience and is keen to make a lasting impact in the turf industry.

Andrew has been instrumental in establishing and heading our research and development arm, TurfRND. TurfBreed established this arm to meet the growing demand for high quality scientific research and development of existing and future turf genetics for our grower network and their clients. TurfRnD operates a large-scale turf research facility to produce high quality scientific data on turf varieties in the marketplace which supports our growers and turf users in selecting and growing the right turf.

Dr Fletcher is also responsible for investigating new turf genetics from Australia and abroad by rigorously testing new varieties under a range of climates and growing conditions to ensure we bring only the best new varieties to the market.

Family owned. Family run. Family focussed.

Advance Turf Instant Lawns is an Australian family-owned and run small business based at Swan Hill in northwest Victoria.

Chris can be found either harvesting or delivering the turf, Joanna is either in the office or out on a forklift. Most importantly, when you contact Advance Turf, you are talking to Jason, Joan or Joanna, all with longstanding knowledge of turf, who give honest, friendly advice on which type of instant turf is right for their customers.

Chris and Joanna are known for, and concentrate on, producing a quality turf product with real service. “We want our instant turf to be the feature of our customers’ space – and we’re here to ensure they have all the information and assistance they need.”

In Peter Nicholl’s past he has worked in real estate, the entertainment industry (as a performer of Opera & Music theatre) and jewellery design. Each sector developed his skills as a negotiator, mediator, entertainer, administrator, and problem solver.

But Peter’s real passion is assuring customers know their needs are being taken care of.  Peter will discuss how easy you can finance new or used machinery - especially from o/seas with their assistance and how TurfBreed growers have used their services - and we’ll hear their stories.

On his time off, Peter loves the outdoors and sports such as, hiking and skiing (especially when his two kids are involved). He is heavily involved in his local community and also makes regular trips to Papua New Guinea and Vietnam as part of his charity work with Changetheone.org. This is a charity Peter established to help build schools and community facilities that give other children the opportunities which we, in Australia, take for granted.

John is one of the country’s leading turf agronomists and has worked extensively as an agricultural consultant for most of his career. He has a solid history of introducing innovative ideas that positively impact the bottom line.

John’s devotion to research has provided the opportunity for new and exciting practices in Australia’s turf industry, such as precision farming for growers.

John was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees for Turf Producers International and is Managing Director for both Australian Lawn Concepts and Glenview Turf.

Bruce Yelland, Moshie – Enterprise coaching and development

Bruce Yelland is no stranger to the agricultural industry, after growing up on one of the most prestigious Hereford Studs in northeast Victoria. Fast forward and for over 15 years Bruce has run Moshie – a business that specialises in developing individuals, teams, leaders, and businesses. Originally with a background in Agriculture, Warehousing and Distribution, Bruce has extensive experience working with businesses, including; Food & Wine Production, Warehousing & Distribution, Information Technology, Utilities, Engineering & Fabrication, Business Services & more recently Horticulture. Bruce brings a fun, practical and real-world approach to his Consulting, Facilitation and Coaching. He has aligned himself with the Australian nursery industry working alongside one of the biggest in Victoria, Botanix Plant Supply. Botanix had grown dramatically over a 12-year period and needed to re-focus clarity on roles, performance expectations and a new roadmap for the business, because the number of staff had grown along with production and market dominance. Bruce’s point-of-difference is that he works alongside growers to help them define role clarity and how to improve a business’s performance expectations and emphasis over a set period. Bruce is now playing a key role helping turf growers’ businesses, with a particular focus on the concept LEAN -  continuous improvement and leadership development to achieve changes that improve efficiency and quality.

Dr Brett Morris is the Technical Services Manager - Turf and Landscape for Australia and New Zealand. 

Brett has had a wide range of experiences throughout his career in turfgrass management. Brett commenced his turf career at Gordonvale Golf Club about 25km south of Cairns in Far North Queensland 30 years ago. Brett has worked in many hands-on roles in the turf management industry across the globe including the USA, Fiji, Indonesia, and multiple sites in Queensland. Following these roles Brett embarked on a PhD at USYD where he focused on breeding new hybrids of kikuyu grass for commercial and agricultural use. 

Following his PhD he joined Turnpoint as Director of Agronomy overseeing maintenance at leading courses and racetracks around Australia, before returning to The Brisbane Golf Club following the 2011 Brisbane flood to rebuild and return the golf course back to its position as one of the country’s leading private member facilities.

Brett has spent the last 8 years employed as the Technical Manager for Amgrow which is a part of the Aus-Ag group. His role saw him oversee product development for the group and provide support to the wider sales team.

Dr Sam Kleemann has been involved in Weeds Research for more than 20 years. Formally as a researcher with the University of Adelaide, before a move in October 2018 to Plant Science Consulting, an Adelaide based company lead by Dr Peter Boutsalis specialising in commercial herbicide resistance testing and customised registrant trials.

During his 18 years with the University of Adelaide, Sam was involved on numerous research projects investigating weed ecology, management and crop related issues under dryland cropping systems of southern Australia.

More recent undertakings with Plant Science Consulting have involved studies investigating the bio equivalence of several important herbicides including glyphosate on a range of weed species including resistant Winter Grass.

Peter has worked within the turf and ornamental industry in both commercial and technical roles for the past 19 years, holding positions with Nuturf, Nufarm, Bayer and Adama. During his time in the industry Peter has largely concentrated on the technical, product management and business development areas and has been heavily involved in a number of new plant protection, soil surfactant and biological products entering the Australasian turf markets. He works for Indigo Specialty Products, a company heavily focused on developing new technologies for the turf, landscape and industrial vegetation markets. 

Peter holds formal qualifications in a Master of Agriculture (Turfgrass Management)

David Raison has been involved in agriculture for most of his working life and the turf industry for over 20 years. During this time he has been involved with the ownership and management of turf farms and landscaping operations in NSW. David also has previously been engaged by the National Turf Producers Association Peak Body, Turf Australia as well as the NSW Turf Growers Association, ‘Turf NSW’ in varying roles. He now works with a number of turf businesses here and abroad, whilst actively working on his family dairy farm on the NSW south coast.

More recently, David became involved with the Greenspace Turf Co-operative and has been instrumental in establishing this group as well as its celebrated TurfPlus Integrated Management System.

David is currently working with Turfgrowers, racecourses and other sportsturf organisations in rolling-out the TurfPlus System that has transformed the way many of these groups manage their Safety, Environmental, Chain of Responsibility, Human Resources and Quality compliances.

David will address current safety concerns in the Turf Industry and offer some practical take-home information for growers.

Will Schnell is a Sports Turf Consultant with Mountain View Seeds – a United States (US) based turf breeding company. He was born and raised on his 4th generation family farm, a 1000-acre property at Marshall Missouri where he worked hard and played sports hard. Will still manages the farm with his two older sisters and is very focused on soil health and regenerative farming. He graduated from Central Missouri State University with an Agriculture Degree that had a focus on turf grass management. At University, Will worked on all the athletic fields which helped pay for college while he decided what to do for the next several years.

Will has spent the past 40 years in the Professional Sports Turf Industry working for the three major sports sectors in the US - Baseball, Football and Soccer - all at a professional and collegiate level. During these 40 years, he has spent half of his time working on cool season turf and the other half on warm season. His work achievements have been:

• Assistant Turf Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers MLB, California.
• Turf Superintendent, NY Yankees Double A Team Norwich, Connecticut.
• Assistant Turf Manager Cleveland Browns NFL (game and practice fields), Ohio.
• Turf Superintendent Montreal Expos Double - an affiliate Harrisburg, Pennsylvania team.
• Worked in the winter/spring training facility for Atlanta Braves at West Palm Beach, Florida.

After retiring in 2020 from the Rose bowl in Pasadena California, Will moved back to the Missouri family farm and took a year off from the sports turf business. Starting in 2021, Will has been consulting in the turf grass industry for Mountain View Seeds and is an expert on all grasses that are part of the sports turf sector.

Mick Angus is a film and TV producer based in southeast Queensland and principal of production company, Jerrycan Films. For over 20 years he has brought compelling stories to world-leading broadcasters, film festivals, ad agencies, NGOs, brands, and events across the world.

Collaborative in nature, Mick spearheads a team of imaginative, ambitious, and savvy content writers and producers. This combined creative curiosity helps discover unexpected ways to connect with audiences everywhere.

Subtlety, authenticity, and dry humour are hallmarks of his work, with a focus on everyday characters working at the extremes and edges of our society, in often confronting and difficult environments and scenarios. From the Greenland Icecap to the heart of the Australian Desert, in the midst of the Black Summer bushfires, the centre of a professional boxing ring or at the cutting edge of the mobile games industry, Mick is interested in bringing to local and global audiences, entertaining stories that illuminate what drives, divides and unites us.

Mick was also the director behind TurfBreed’s variety and DIY series of myhomeTURF videos which were rolled out earlier last year.