ABRI is an international provider of innovative agribusiness products, services, and technology solutions, with its head office and over 60 staff members based at the UNE.
ABRI’s humble beginnings date back to July of 1970, with ABRI’s founder, the late Dr Arthur Rickards OAM and his colleagues setting out to establish a technology transfer unit at UNE. At the time, this was considered an ambitious move, but with the support of the university and pioneering spirit of Dr Rickards, ABRI was established.
Dr Rickards had initially worked for the UNE Farm Management Service Centre (FMSC) which was run between 1965 and 1970. The FMSC provided comparative analysis services of farm records to farm management and consulting professions. Dr Rickards was instrumental in extending the centre’s work of forward planning using linear programming techniques.
Dr Rickards’ mission for ABRI was to establish a national agribusiness service which would facilitate a connection between the technological advancements being developed by the university and the technology being used within agricultural and rural industries. 50 years later, this ambitious mission has led to ABRI’s position as a world leader in agricultural software solutions.
One of the first major software advancements by ABRI, was in 1985, using a very advanced system of genetic evaluation of beef cattle that was developed by UNE’s Animal Genetics Breeding Unit (AGBU). ABRI gave the technique the product name of BREEDPLAN, and together with AGBU, developed a BREEDPLAN suite of genetic evaluation software.
In the early days of BREEDPLAN’s development, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) acknowledged its potential and began providing considerable support and investment for its growth. The ongoing support from MLA is a testament to BREEDPLAN’s continued success and importance in the industry.
Currently BREEDPLAN alone provides approximately 63 separate genetic evaluations for 40 beef cattle breeds and 14 million animals, across 14 countries. In addition to this, ABRI also have an expansive range of custom software solutions for other livestock, including dairy cattle, sheep, goats, and horses.
In 2015, Hugh Nivison took over as managing director of ABRI, bringing with him a wealth of experience. Mr Nivison’s focus for ABRI is to ensure that the knowledge and expertise of the past continues to move forward with technological advancements to benefit ABRI clients and the wider livestock industries.
A key testament to the success of ABRI are the staff, many of whom have been with the business for over 20 years and uphold ABRI’s goals and aspirations. It is an exciting time seeing their wisdom being passed down and fostered to the next generation of staff, who are equally excited and skilled to continue the legacy that ABRI started, 50 years ago.
While celebrations of ABRI’s 50-year anniversary could not go ahead this year, the ABRI team look forward to belated celebrations with their UNE colleagues and friends in the new year.
