Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor graduated from Sydney University with a Veterinary Science degree (Hons I) in 1987. He then spent two years working with the Mackinnon Project, a farm advisory service based at Melbourne University, during which time he completed a Masters in Veterinary Studies, with a focus on livestock production and genetics.

Since the early 1990’s he has been Managing Director of a family agricultural business which has expanded to now run 50,000 sheep and 5,000 cattle across 15,000 hectares in SE NSW and NE Victoria.

He was a co-founder, and remains a director of Growth Farms, a farm management company, which acquires and manages farmland for both private and institutional investors. Within Growth Farms he had a key role of managing operations and acquisitions for MH Premium Farms, which commenced life as a Growth Farms client, but has now grown into a $750M farming business in Eastern Australia.

He has always had a strong interest in incorporating science into agricultural decision making, and is a past director and chairman (2015-2019) of Monaro Farming Systems, which delivers region specific R&D and extension to its farming members. He also served as chairman of the Next Generation Forecasting project, a consortium of CSIRO, farming groups, and LLS, which is delivering probabilistic pasture forecasting to farmers to allow earlier and more accurate decision making. He is also a former director of Discovery Ag, an Agtech start-up focused on water measurement, management, and decision making.