New Pilbara beef officer’s BIG promotion
The Northern Beef Development project has welcomed the appointment of Stephanie Coombes as Development Officer for the Pilbara region.
Stephanie joins the department after spending 10 years working in various roles throughout the beef value chain in Australia and overseas.
With the release of a second round of funding for the Business Improvement Grants (BIG) program, Stephanie travelled throughout the Pilbara in late July and early August to meet with pastoralists and discuss the grants program.
BIG is an incentive program for commercial cattle producers in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions to increase their market competitiveness and growth, providing business advice and mentoring support.
The program supports pastoral enterprises to embrace practice change and grow their businesses with 48 pastoral enterprises participating in round one of the program which was launched in late 2015.
The BIG program contains two parts.
Part 1 is the business improvement review which allows reimbursement of up to $10,000 to engage a consultant to review the physical and financial performance of the business, develop a new business plan, or update a current business plan, prioritise implementation strategies to improve business performance and provide mentoring support to the business.
Part 2 is the business improvement implementation stage which provides reimbursement of up to $15,000 to implement prioritised strategies identified in the business plan, such as specialist consultancy advice or equipment to improve station management.
Stephanie’s travels took her to 18 stations across the Pilbara where she discussed the BIG Round 2 grant program and engaged with pastoralists and their staff to identify key areas of interest for future activities.
For more information contact Stephanie Coombes, Development Officer, Broome, on +61 (0)8 9194 1330.