J. A. Andre

John Alexander André of Millicent, South Australia, is the inaugural recipient of Lincoln University’s Alumni International medal. John came to Lincoln University in 1959 as a 19-year-old intent on gaining qualifications for a farming career and following in his father’s footsteps as a pastoralist on the family property ‘Ceres’, a 3200 hectare spread on the Millicent Flats. Lincoln University was chosen because he wanted to return to the land with a degree in agriculture and Lincoln in New Zealand offered precisely the right mix of farm management, science and practical farming. At Lincoln John served on the Students’ Association executive and graduated with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in 1963. In his public career three areas of service and achievement stand out — John’s contributions to preventing the entry of exotic livestock diseases to Australia; his commitment to the enhancement of product quality assurance in the beef industry; and his dedication to the elimination of chemical and undesirable residues in Australian meat. John served 11 years on the executive committee of the Cattle Council of Australia, including three as the Senior Vice-President; he is the Chairman of Cattle care Limited, developers of the on-farm quality assurance programme for beef producers; and served nine years on the board of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory. John was a member of the exotic diseases body that developed the Australian Manuals of Procedures to deal with exotic diseases, served on the National Federated Farmers exotic disease committee that considered applications for imports of animals and genetic material and developed protocols for such imports; and the steering committee that developed the ‘Meat Standards of Australia’ beef tenderness guarantee scheme. At a state level John was also on the ministerial Cattle Health Management Advisory Committee, the Meat Industry Development Board and the Brucallosis and TB Eradication Committee. John was also a working farmer on the family property ‘Ceres’ that runs 2000 head of cattle and 19,000 sheep. In 1998, John was appointed a Member of the 0rder of Australia.