RIVERINA growers met with agribusiness heavyweight Dr Bill Niebur last week.
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Dr Niebur of Beijing is DuPont Pioneer vice president in North Asia.
The man who is focused on improving ties between China and importing countries was keen to gauge feedback from Australian growers.
His tour took him from Queensland to the Riverina where there were meetings with both farmers and members of the seed industry.
Dr Neibur has his sights firmly set on improving production within the agricultural sector to ultimately sure up world food supply.
In fact, he was named as one of 50 people “Shaping the Future of the US and China Relationship” in a magazine titled Foreign Policy Group.
Bill Niebur, vice president of DuPont Pioneer in North Asia, was named one of 50 People "Shaping the Future of the U.S.-China Relationship" by the magazine "Foreign Policy Group."
The magazine's Pacific Power Index includes leaders in government, finance, education and business.
The report noted Niebur's efforts to build bilateral relationships in China's farming sector.
Wagga farmer Andrew Dumaresq, “Gregadoo Park”, met with Dr Niebur to show him some canola trials.
“We do trials at our place and they had a look at some canola which was just starting to emerge,” Mr Dumaresq said.
He said the seasonal conditions in southern NSW were good.
“We have had a good start with decent rainfall and the crops are starting to come through,” he said.
“Things couldn’t look better,” he said.
At the Wagga property Mr Dumaresq grows a mix of 50 per cent wheat, 25 per cent canola and 25 per cent lupins.
Other growers and people with an interest in the seed industry also met with Dr Niebur in Wagga on Friday night.
Dr Niebur spoke about the opportunities for agriculture and the challenges that needed to be addressed.
He also fielded questions from the audience.
The visit also allowed DuPont Pioneer to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Dr Niebur said now was a time to reinforce relationships with the farming community.
He said there was a bit focus on listening to the needs of growers.
And this could be filtered back by using information on how growers can adopt to growing more frost tolerant varieties.
Coping with pests and disease was also considered a challenge and increasing production was raised.
Dr Niebur said there was an opportunity to share both knowledge and resources for the betterment of the agricultural sector.
And with increasing emphasis on world food demand he said now was the time to become more efficient.
With an office based in Beijing Dr Niebur said a major part of his role was obviously in building opportunities for agriculture in China.
“The export industry needs to learn from experience and fulfill global food and safety demands,” he said.
Despite the need to constantly improve and increase production standards Dr Niebur said he believed this could be done in an environmental sustainable manner.
From meeting with growers this week Dr Niebur said there was a clear commitment to forge ahead within the agricultural industry.
“Part of the visit has been to listen to growers, we want to know what they are uncertain about too,” he said.