BRADLEY Cripps is confident he can give his all if elected to the District 1 position of the CBH board in the upcoming member director election.
After 34 years of farming, the father of three sons is leasing his 3600 hectare Northampton property in 2017 and hopes to free up more time to focus on his family and a potential position on the CBH board.
"Without having the worries of the farm I can commit to this job 100 per cent and give it my full time - I reckon that's a great attribute," Mr Cripps said.
"I'm still a farmer, but I think this gives me the opportunity to really sink my teeth into the job, whereas people that are trying to juggle family, farming and a position as a director - it's very hard to do."
The fourth-generation farmer spent four years on the Northampton Shire council and has been involved with the Northampton District Agricultural Society, both as president and treasurer.
He has also been engaged with several local community groups, including the local football club, Parents and Citizens and the fire brigade.
Mr Cripps said he would like to see the new-age grower represented on the board to ensure the co-operative continued to progress.
"It's important to get fresh faces and fresh ideas on the board if the co-operative is to keep growing," he said.
"It's amazing what the younger generation have at hand with technology and the development of machinery so if we just stand still the co-operative will get gobbled up - we're not moving fast enough."
If elected to the board Mr Cripps said he would focus on improving the supply chain.
"We've got to satisfy our customers and to do that, we've got to improve our network to get our grain to port much quicker, and increase the amount of grain being delivered to ports," he said.
"If we haven't got what the customer wants at the port when they want it, they'll go elsewhere."
He said it was important for the board to follow through on its intentions to cut grower costs.
"Growers have heard the same old rhetoric year- in, year-out about cutting costs but our costs have actually gone up eight to 10 per cent in the past few years," he said.
"There are a lot of things we can do - cutting red tape is one of them that really has to be looked at.
"Every CBH employee has a high level of process and other people telling them what to do.
"There are too many just watching others do the work, it's bureaucracy overkill and consequently the frontline staff have lost the ability to think for themselves - if you cut out people bureaucracy, there's a lot of savings there."
Mr Cripps said a clear vision was needed for the board to make smart investments and ensure continued growth of the co-operative.
"There's so much room to grow but I think a lot of people are a bit gun-shy because a lot of the investments that have been made by CBH in the past couple of years haven't been that successful," he said.
"I believe that the board might be making decisions on the run - they really haven't got a vision.
"You've got to be a team from top to bottom, and I just don't reckon the board is moving at all in the same direction.
"You've got to define the direction and you've got to have a vision - that's half the battle, and then we can work towards what we go and invest in."
If elected Mr Cripps said he would foster an open and honest approach to ensure members were well-informed.
"I think the board has got to be a bit more transparent and inform the growers about future challenges," he said.
"It's all good news stories, we're not actually being told about what lays ahead."
Mr Cripps said he believed he had the experience and the capacity to be a valuable addition to the board.
"I think I've got leadership attributes - I'm open, I can listen and communicate with growers, and I'm proactive," he said.
"Stability is great, but a revolving door is great too, so you always get new ideas and you never get stale.
"The co-operative has been strong for the past 83 years, and we've got to make it strong for another 83 years. "