David Matthews
Founding & Executive Director
David Matthews farms in Victoria’s Wimmera region and has been a long-time innovator in Australian broadacre cropping. He was an early adopter of pulses such as chickpeas, lentils and faba beans in crop rotations, recognising their agronomic and market potential well before they became widely established.
David founded The Wimmera Grain Company (WGC), which grew into a successful export business supplying more than 100,000 tonnes of pulses annually to markets across the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and North and South Asia. Through this work he helped connect Australian growers with global markets while contributing to the strength and resilience of regional agricultural economies. WGC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Adelaide based Australian Grain Export.
Alongside his farming and business experience, David brings extensive governance expertise as a Non-Executive Director and has been actively involved in community-owned and cooperative models, including community banking. He was foundation chair of the Rupanyup Minyip Finance Group, the company that opened the first 2 Bendigo Community Bank branches in Australia. He held roles as Co-Chair of the peak body of community banks, Non-Executive Director of Rural Bank and Non-Executive Director of ASX listed Bendigo & Adelaide Bank.
David has deep connections across local farming communities, national industry bodies, and international grain markets. These relationships have enabled him to build trusted partnerships and open new opportunities for growers and regional businesses. He strongly believes a farmer-owned agribusiness like FTA can play a key role in creating more transparent markets. And by doing so, can achieve our objective of reshaping supply chains so that farmers and rural communities retain a greater share of the value generated from primary production.