Farmer Advisory Panel

Tristan Godfrey - Financial Planner 

Tristan is a Certified Financial Planner with the Financial Advice Association of Australia who has been a financial adviser for over 20 years. He commenced his career in one of the major banks and after 13 years started his own financial planning practice in the Sydney CBD. Tristan has enjoyed helping busy professionals planning for their future and solving their financial problems for the last 10 years in his own business.

Prior to working in finance, Tristan worked in the music industry and also as a music educator.  His teaching experience has helped him develop excellent communication skills with a natural ability to put his clients at ease, especially when explaining the pros and cons of various financial options. 

Financial planning is not a well understood profession, however this is a short list of how Tristan can help:

• Being a Sounding Board for Major Financial Decisions
• Helping You Get Financially Organised
• Financial Strategies to Grow or Protect Your Wealth
• Tax-Effective Investment Advice
• Superannuation Advice including Self- Managed Super Funds (SMSFs)
• Retirement Planning Advice
• Estate Planning – Wealth Transfer strategies within families

Tristan has a vast knowledge of tax-effective strategies and estate planning, having helped many families with their inter-generational wealth transfer.

After spending several years living in rural locations, both as a child growing up in country Tasmania, recently in the Hunter Valley, and now in the Hawkesbury River Region, Tristan has developed an affinity for rural life, experiencing first-hand the plight of agricultural animals. This was the catalyst that led Tristan and his wife to adopt a vegan lifestyle and to rescue a menagerie of different animals.

At this stage of life, Tristan now wants to merge his interest in animals and financial planning by giving back to his community. He feels passionate about the opportunity to help farmers wanting to transition and assisting them to making sound financial decisions for their future.

Rebecca Knowles
Stockfree Farming UK

Rebecca Knowles is the founding director and head of farm transitions at Stockfree Farming in the UK - a Scottish-based charity that assists and supports farmers in transitioning from livestock farming into alternative forms of land management.

Having honed her skills through hands-on experience in various farm settings, Rebecca's passion for nurturing the earth has guided her journey from studying Agriculture at the University of Aberdeen to her current pivotal role at Stockfree Farming. Rebecca's wealth of knowledge will undoubtedly play a crucial role in guiding and empowering our beef and dairy farmers as they navigate the path toward more sustainable plant-focus practices.

Harrisson Lee & Lauchlan Grout
Founders, Hemp Farms Australia

Hemp Farms Australia (HFA) is an Australian leader in hemp seed genetics, combining over 20 years of traditional breeding, data driven selections and agribusiness knowledge to supply premium registered industrial cannabis genetics suited to or suitable for sub-tropical climates. Harrisson Lee and Lauchlan Grout established Hemp Farms Australia in 2013, assisting Australia’s mainland hemp industry to transition from plot-farming to commercial cropping. Today, Hemp Farms Australia is the base of Australia’s cannabis value chain.

Harrisson and Lauchlan are valuable assets to farmers wanting to transition their own farms, able to offer insight into the hemp farming industry along with advice to optimise supply chain and processes whilst avoiding costly mistakes.

Jailene Santana
Founder, Rewild for Resilience

Jailene Santana is the founding director of Rewild for Resilience, where she works with landholders on projects to restore ecological values to help them increase resilience against the impacts of climate change. She also consults and conducts research on sustainable development issues. Jailene has a background in Environmental Policy, Economics and Sustainable Development, as well as Environmental Conservation. She has expertise on the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and food security. She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Environmental Studies, a Master of Science in Environment and Sustainable Development, and a Master of Public Policy. Jailene is passionate about human rights, the rights of nature and wildlife, and educating the public about how nature is inextricably tied to our economic system. She is also currently working to specialise in Biodiversity Finance and is currently working with a landholder to transition their property from a cattle property to a commercially successful bush tucker orchard. 

Emma Håkansson

Emma is an author and the founding director of Collective Fashion Justice, working for a fashion system which values life on the planet before profit. She has lectured on responsible production and supply chains internationally, and her work has been featured across The Guardian, Business of Fashion, Forbes and many others. She has engaged with the farming community, and helped to promote sustainable production of Australian cotton, among other plant produce. 

Joanne Lee - HR and Career Path Development 

Joanne Lee is a seasoned HR professional with over a decade of experience supporting organisations, their leaders, and frontline teams during rapid growth and significant change. With a vast expertise in career path development, mentoring, and assisting individuals in finding the right career opportunities to match their skills, Jo brings invaluable insights to our farmer advisory panel. Passionate about affecting systemic change at grassroots levels, Jo is eager to utilise her skills to assist farmers in carving out new career paths. Her dedication to empowering individuals and organisations closely resonates with our mission to assist Australian dairy and beef farmers seeking to transition or exit the industry.

Kyra Fabianke

Kyra is a doctoral researcher and teaching associate at Monash University where she forms part of an important Australian Research Council funded project that seeks to find ways for businesses to transform themselves and adopt sustainable business models. Her research explores and supports innovative strategies for managing business pathways to a more sustainable society. She holds a Bachelor (Hons) in human geography and a Masters in global studies. Prior to commencing her PhD, Kyra worked as project manager as well as a sustainability & corporate responsibility consultant. She is also an internationally certified trainer, coach, and consultant according to ISO 17024 with a keen interest to accompany individuals and organisations through processes of change - such as transitioning into future-focused, sustainable farming and finding employment that is both personally fulfilling and societally beneficial.

Casey Clifton

Casey Clifton is the founding director of Alive AI, an Australian technology company established with a mission to build AI for people and the planet. Alive AI has deep expertise in building advanced AI vision and language systems to support carbon development, biodiversity monitoring, and animal welfare projects. Casey has worked in AI for nearly 10 years, and has a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Western Australia. He is passionate about the potential for AI to help Australian farmers smoothly transition to regenerative and sustainable practices by automating time-consuming tasks, processing complex information, and assisting with data-driven decision making.