Future leaders on course for success

A total of 22 participants are set to take part in next year's Breeding Leadership course, funded by Australian Wool Innovation and supported by the Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders.

The five-day professional development course in February will explore marketing, leading and managing people, corporate governance, time management and strategic planning.

The program includes some time on farm, with participants travelling to Clare in South Australia to attend the course.

Plans for the 2014 program include a full-day local business tour, including a visit to the Michell wool processing facility.

The participants are from across Australia and include commercial woolgrowers, stud representatives and industry service providers.

Representing WA will be Jessica Horstman, of Mulga Springs Poll Merino Stud in Northampton, Stephen Keatley, of Gnowangerup, and Thomas Pengilly, of Penrose Poll Merino Stud near Esperance.

Dan Korff, from Cooma in New South Wales, attended the 2012 course and said it helped him to boost his knowledge of running a business.

"Breeding Leadership was an opportunity to meet like-minded people in our industry and learn a range of different leadership and management skills to help us take our industry into an exciting future," he said.

"The contacts I have made and the development resources are never far from reach."

AWI has offered Nicola Turner, of the University of New England in Armidale, NSW, a sponsorship to attend the course.

Ms Turner won the AWI national breeding competition, the National Merino Challenge, receiving entry to the course as part of her prize.

Since its inception in 2002, more than 80 people have completed the course.

Breeding Leadership 2014 participants *