He was one of two people bestowed the honour at the Australian Rice Growers’ Conference in Yarrawonga Mulwala last Thursday and Friday.
Honorary councillors of the RGA are recognised for their “dedicated and meritorious service to the rice industry”.
The other inductee was Yanco branch member Iris Herrmann.
The conference brought together more than 200 rice growers, industry representatives and stakeholders together to celebrate the exciting future of Australian rice.
Mr Fowler was also a judge for the Rice Industry Awards, held on the Thursday evening.
The night was a great celebration of the successful 2022 harvest and results of growers across the region.
The main award of the evening, the 2022 SunRice Grower of the Year, was awarded to Burraboi growers Neville and Brooke Hollins.
The evening also recognised other growers who each had exceptional yields in crop year 2022 (C22).
These results were no accident as they were achieved by outstanding managers who sowed on time and did everything right to pull off a great yield.
The highest short grain yield went to Burraboi growers Michael and Felicia Chalmers, who grew a 12.45 T/ha crop of Opus on 81.5ha.
The highest long grain yield was awarded to David and Nancy Lashbrook from Coleambally, for their 12.28 T/ha of Langi on 24.2ha.
Winners of the Port of Melbourne Overall Highest Yield Award was Kevin, Nancy and Nathan Cauduro from Yenda. The trio yielded an impressive 15.20 T/ha of V071 on 58.2ha.
This year the RGA Annual Conference saw a revised format, with the Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia (RGA), SunRice Group and AgriFutures Australia taking a collaborative approach to host the new Australian Rice Growers’ Conference.
The two-day event focused on ‘Transformational Change, Grower Owned and Grower Led’ with a stellar line up of guest speakers and panels delivering a range of key messages.
Speakers included Mark McKeon, who delivered the keynote address on transformational change, MotherLand Podcast founder and host Stephanie Trethewey, National Farmers’ Federation CEO Tony Mahar, SunRice Group CEO Rob Gordon, Murray Darling Basin Authority CEO Andrew McConville and James Wagstaff, Oli Le Lievre and Zoe Carter who featured on a panel about sharing our agricultural stories.
Exciting launches and announcements were in abundance, with the RGA president Rob Massina and executive director Graeme Kruger unveiling a new brand and vision for the RGA.
The address also included the launch of two great resources for the industry — the updated Water Tool Kit and the Australian Ricegrower Magazine, a new annual publication telling the stories of the industry, its people and highlighting the success and challenges they face.
Rice Breeding Australia chair Dr Steve Jefferies also launched the new rice breeding entity to growers.
Rice Breeding Australia will drive the development of new varieties for the Australian rice industry, with an increased focus on water productivity improvements and acceleration of rates of genetic gain in rice breeding in Australia.
“The conference provided a great platform to showcase, in person, the many great stories and projects to growers off the back of a bumper harvest,” Mr Massina said.
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