WAGGA WAGGA, AUSTRALIA — Three new faces will appear at the Southern Ag Grain (SAG) board table starting July 1, as part of the board’s corporate governance policy for regular board renewal, SAG said on May 30.

Mick Cattanach and Hideki Hijiya will be joining the board from Emerald and Andrew Bouffler will join the board from Southern Agventure.

Retiring from the board by rotation are Emerald's Mike Chaseling and Brian Dalitz, and David Hodge from Southern Agventure.

Cattanach will assume the chairman's role vacated by Chaseling. Cattanach is the managing director and chief executive officer of Emerald. He was a founding executive director and continues to hold significant ownership interest in the company. Cattanach has over 20 years’ experience in corporate agribusiness and primary production and has overseen grain marketing and wool production activities for several businesses. He also held senior trading positions with DR Johnston and ConAgra Inc. during the 1990s.

Hijiya joined Emerald as an executive director in 2010. He has a wide range of experience in international grain marketing and has been involved in the grain marketing team at the Sumitomo Corp. for 25 years. In recent years, Hijiya was project manager of various international mergers and acquisitions in agribusiness across Vietnam, China and Australia. Hijiya set up the first foreign invested wheat flour premix company in Vietnam.

Bouffler is a non-executive director of Southern Agventure, with over 25 years’ experience as an owner/manager of a mixed farming enterprise in Southern NSW and strong understanding of the opportunities and threats faced by farmers in his region.

Existing directors Clifford Ashby, Geoff Breust and Richard Carn all remain on the board, with Richard Carn continuing as deputy chairman.