Ken Rich

Managing Director

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Ken Rich has spent most of his working life developing new products and markets in agricultural industries. After graduating from the University of Queensland, Gatton College in 1975 with a business degree in Rural Management, Ken worked for Fisons (United Kingdom) in Australasia developing new products for public health including Ficam animal health (Ficam Buffalo fly control products) and a range of specialty pesticide products for crops and turf.

In 1981 he returned to the University of Queensland to complete a post graduate diploma in Integrated Pest Management. The next few years were spent with Diamond Shamrock, developing markets in South East Asia and Australasian plantation crops for fungicide, Bravo. Elders recruited Ken in 1985 to lead the push into the horticultural market in coastal north Queensland. After successfully establishing the framework for this new business, Elders transferred him to Sydney in the role of Marketing Manager for the merchandise business in New South Wales.

Ken moved to Queensland in 1988, as Marketing Manager for Saltbush software. The business was purchased by the University of New England and he joined Moree Seed and Grain Sales as Feedlot Services Manager. Seed and Grain was sold to a new owner and he moved on in 1991 to set up Quality Silage Systems Pty Ltd.

In 1991, silage was a relatively new feed product and local knowledge resources were limited. Ken grabbed the opportunity to co-ordinate growers, equipment and silage feeders into a production system that is still a mainstay of the QSS business.

According to Ken, Australasia's livestock industries have also responded to the demand for high quality food and fibre products by developing reliable, intensive feeding systems, in which silage continues to be a significant element of this evolving system. "Australia and our Asian neighbours experience dramatically fluctuating weather patterns and our livestock industries are expected to produce consistent food products in this radically variable environment. High quality silage can be part of a feeding system that helps to control these variables and meet food standards," Ken said.