The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) board has appointed its head of sustainability and trade, Tanya Barden, as its new chief executive officer.
Barden, who will commence the role on 3 July, replaces Gary Dawson, who held the role from July 2012 until earlier this year, when Dr Geoffrey Annison stepped in as acting CEO.
Barden has experience with the $126 billion food and grocery sector, having worked as AFGC director of economics, trade and sustainability.
She steps into the role at a time when the sector's value to Australian manufacturing is rapidly increasing.
It has grown by over 30 per cent in seven years, according to an EY report released by the AFGC this week.
Food and grocery represented 30 per cent of total Australian manufacturing in 2014-15.
“Employing over 300,000 Australians, the sector’s Industry value-add of $29 billion was almost three times higher than the next largest manufacturing subsector – machinery and equipment and fabricated metal," Barden said.
“Importantly this report shows that Australia’s $126 billion food and grocery industry is likely to play an increasingly important role in Australia’s future manufacturing base as traditional manufacturing areas of strength like the car sector moves off shore, and export demand for our food and grocery products increases.”
Andrew Metcalfe AO, Federal Government lead partner, and agribusiness lead partner at EY, said that “analysis conducted by EY has found that in Australia’s reputation as a producer of clean and green products remains a key international advantage and combined with rising global demand for food gives Australia a great opportunity to drive jobs and investment growth for the future.”
While domestic conditions remain challenging, food and grocery processing is an area of strong export growth, with an 11 per cent surge in food and beverage exports to $26 billion last year.
