Australian first recipient of new Lincoln medal

Australian first recipient of new Lincoln achievement medal

Australian farmer and beef industry leader John Andre of Millicent, South Australia, is the first recipient of a new Lincoln University achievement medal to rank alongside the prestigious annual Bledisloe award.

John will receive the medal at a special campus ceremony on Friday 24 October, launching the Labour Weekend events to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Lincoln University’s founding.

Known as the Lincoln University International Alumni Medal, the new award is for international alumni who distinguish themselves in their home countries. The terms of the Bledisloe Medal, introduced in 1930, have always confined it to contributions within New Zealand.

John Andre, graduated from Lincoln University in 1963 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree and returned to Australia for a farming career, following in his father’s footsteps as a pastoralist on the family property “Ceres”, a 3200-hecatre spread on South Australia’s Millicent Flats.

In addition to being a working farmer on this property, running 2000 head of cattle and 19,000 sheep, John has made an outstanding contribution to Australian agriculture and agribusiness in three areas - the prevention of exotic livestock diseases entering Australia; the enhancement of product quality assurance in the beef industry; and the elimination of chemical and undesirable residues in Australian meat.

Among many roles, he served 11 years on the executive committee of the Cattle Council of Australia, three as senior vice-president; he chaired Cattlecare Limited, developers of Australia’s on-farm quality assurance programme for beef producers; and he served nine years on the board of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory. He was a member of the exotic diseases body that developed the Australian manuals of procedure to deal with exotic diseases and he served on the committee that developed the “Meat Standards of Australia” beef tenderness guarantees scheme.

John’s distinguished service to farming and the beef industry was acknowledged by his country in 1998 when he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

At the same campus ceremony as the award to John Andre, a posthumous honorary Doctor of Science degree will be conferred on the late Professor Suranant Subhadrabandhu of Thailand, a Lincoln University horticultural science graduate. In addition, 61 special 125th anniversary medals will be presented to a group of outstanding contributors to the life and well-being of the University over the past 25 years or more.

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