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Our board of directors

Farmers for Climate Action is a movement of farmers, agricultural leaders and rural Australians working to ensure farmers are a key part of the solution to climate change.

We represent more than 7,900 farmers across Australia. Our supporter base includes over 35,000 Australians committed to climate action for agriculture.
Our farmers and our Board can be found across the country: from the tropical north of Queensland to the cooler climes of Tasmania, and from the wine growing regions of Western Australia right across to the sheep and cropping farms of New South Wales. Our staff members are spread across the east coast of Australia. Read on to meet the people that make up Farmers for Climate Action.

Chair

Charlie Prell

Charlie Prell is a sheep farmer from Crookwell, an hour north of Canberra in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. He is one of four farmers under the Crookwell 2 windfarm.

Charlie Prell is a sheep farmer from Crookwell, an hour north of Canberra in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. He is one of four farmers under the Crookwell 2 windfarm. He has had 20 years of experience in renewables, focusing on wind farms. He is a strong public supporter of the benefits wind and solar farms can bring to small regional communities. He is a passionate advocate for an inclusive “benefit sharing” model for renewable energy developments, where the
whole community benefits from the infrastructure, not just the few who host it. He worked as the NSW Regional Organiser for the Australian Wind Alliance (now the RE-Alliance) for 5 years from July 2014 until August 2019.

Charlie was part of the working group and then the steering committee that formed “Farmers for Climate Action”. He was previously co-chair and deputy chair of Farmers for Climate Action. He has been Chair of Farmers for Climate Action since October 2020.

Charlie is passionate about the health and well-being of small regional communities and in assisting these communities to meet the challenge of climate change. He also promotes the opportunities that meeting these challenges can bring to individual farmers and the small regional communities where they live.

Board Director

Angus Emmott OAM

Angus Emmott is a third generation grazier, who ran Noonbah Station near Longreach in outback Queensland with his wife Karen.

Angus Emmott is a third generation grazier, running Noonbah Station near Longreach in outback Queensland with his wife Karen. An expert in water management, he is former Chairman of the Lake Eyre Basin Community Advisory Committee and a former member of the Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee, a government advisory body. He is also a self taught naturalist fascinated by the flora and fauna of the Australian arid zone. In 2004 Angus was awarded an honorary masters of science degree by the University of central Queensland.
Deputy Chair

Anika Molesworth

Anika splits her life between her family’s arid outback sheep station in Far Western NSW, her PhD crop trials in central NSW, and lush green rice paddies in Southeast Asia working as a researcher in international agricultural development.

Dr Anika Molesworth is a recognised thought-leader of agro-ecological systems resilience and international farming development. With a passion for rural communities and healthy ecosystems, she is committed to help create sustainable and vibrant rural landscapes now and for the future. She is a Founding Director of Farmers for Climate Action. She has presented the TEDx talks “Farmers are key to a better future” and “Reparing the Broken Food System.” She is also the author of the book, Our Sunburnt Country, and was the Winner of the Royal Societies of Australia and New Zealand Writer’s Award for Outstanding Writing on Social Change. Awards include Young Farmer of the Year (2015), Young Australian of the Year, New South Wales Finalist (2017), and Young Conservationist of the Year (2022).
Board Director

Michael McDonald OAM

Michael has a farm in Kangaroo Valley in partnership with his wife, Jane. He is a Legal Practitioner of the NSW Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia. Michael has held senior leadership positions in the private and government sectors.

Michael has a farm in Kangaroo Valley in partnership with his wife, Jane. He holds bachelor degrees in Economics and Law, Graduate Diplomas in Employment Relations and Legal Practice and a PhD in Political Science. He is a Legal Practitioner of the NSW Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia. Michael has held senior leadership positions in the private and government sectors.
During his working life he has been a member of not for profit boards including fulfilling the role of chair.
Michael has had a lifelong interest in agriculture and primary production. He has been working on improving the long-term productivity of his farm through care of the soil, encouraging increased biodiversity over the entire farm and capturing increased water on farm. Responding to the clear change in climate and working at ameliorating its impact drives Michael’s approach to agriculture.
Board Director

Brett Hall

Brett is Chairman of the Tasmanian Beef Industry Trust, a Director of Cattle Council, and the Inaugural Chairman of the Tasmanian Red Meat Industry Council.

Brett is Chairman of the Tasmanian Beef Industry Trust, a Director of Cattle Council, and the Inaugural Chairman of the Tasmanian Red Meat Industry Council. He is a former director of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, the former Inaugural Chairman of the Southern Australia Beef Research Council, and a Brigade Chief at the Pawtella Fire Brigade.
Board Director

Brett Hosking

Brett Hosking is a fifth-generation farmer running a mixed farming business in Quambatook, Victoria. Brett is the former Chair of GrainGrowers and has had long-standing involvement across the Australian grains industry.

Brett Hosking is a fifth-generation farmer running a mixed farming business in Quambatook, Victoria. Brett, his wife Jane and their four daughters grow wheat, barley, canola, lentils and field peas as well as run sheep and cattle. Brett is the former Chair of GrainGrowers and has had long-standing involvement across the Australian grains industry. Brett is the former President of the VFF grains group, and former Vice President of the VFF.
Board Director

Anna Rose

Anna Rose comes from a family with a long farming history in the Hunter Valley, Liverpool Plains and North-West Slopes of NSW.

Anna is a well respected leader in the environment movement who has worked for more than two decades to help Australia make progress on climate change. Her work has taught her that bipartisanship is key to creating lasting policy change.

Anna’s background is in community engagement, including leading Earth Hour working with councils, schools and small business. Anna is a Director of Farmers for Climate Action, a Governor of WWF-Australia, a visiting fellow and former lecturer at the Australian National University and an associate at Melbourne University Sustainable Society Institute. Anna is the author of the book "Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic" (MUP, 2012), based on a journey with former Finance Minister Nick Minchin that was also turned into a broadcast documentary. She is a Churchill Fellow, a former Myer Foundation Innovation Fellow and was named one of the Australian Financial Review/Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence for 2019. Anna has a combined Bachelor in Arts and Law with first class honours from the University of Sydney.

Anna comes from a farming background on her Mum’s side, with family properties in the Hunter Valley, Liverpool Plains and North West Slopes of NSW.

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