WA man oilseeds president

Aus Oils Kojonup part-owner Jon Slee has been appointed president of the Australian Oilseeds Federation.

Mr Slee, who is the managing director of the Kojonup canola processing plant, was previously vice-president of the organisation.

Until last year, he was chairman of the Grains Industry Association of WA.

Mr Slee is the first president to come from WA in the 40-year history of the AOF, despite the State being the largest producer and exporter of canola.

He replaces Rob Wilson, who is canola development manager at DuPont Pioneer in NSW.

Mr Wilson was instrumental in the development of the AOF 2025 strategic plan, which provides a road map for industry to grow from its current value of $3 billion to $5 billion by 2025.

Mr Slee said there were four key pillars to the AOF strategy, including leadership, sustainability, market access and influencing demand.

The market-access pillar involves facilitating expansion into new markets, while protecting existing markets.

Meanwhile, influencing demand means growing value by continually addressing end-user needs.

"The sustainability pillar involves supporting industry's licence to operate and promote industry-based management systems so that trust between all parties along the chain is maintained," Mr Slee said.

"And strong leadership is important and we need a co-ordinated approach on all cross-commodity issues … where possible, industry fragmentation should be eliminated so that achieving an increase in value to the whole Australian grain industry is easy to achieve."