top of page

Bill Crabtree, B.Ag.Sci. M.Sci.

Bill is known as "No-Till Bill" for his key role in catapulting the Australian no-tillage revolution. He began researching with the W Australian  Dept of Agriculture on "Minimum tillage for wind erodible soils" in 1985 in his home wind erosion-swept town of Jerramungup. Now they are leaders in no-till systems. Bill then extended this knowledge across Australia which boasts >90% no-till adoption, Bill received the WA 1996 Landcarer of the year award, A 2003 WANTFA Life Membership, the 2006 GRDC WA Seed of Light Award and then the 2009 Premier Australian Conservation award called the McKell Medal.

​

Bill practised as a consulting agronomist 2003-2020.  He farms 5,500 hectares at Morawa (see 2424 Gutha Road, Morawa) and also lives in Scarborough WA.  Bill is a member of the “Global Farmer Network, 2018” and has travelled widely with his wife Monique.

Chris McDonough B.Ap.Sci. PhD

Chris championed no-tillage adoption in the mallee of South Australia (SA) from the 1990's as a Department of Agriculture Officer.  He is a now a private consultant working on soils and agronomy projects as a specialist in farming systems development and rehabilitation of degraded lands, based in SA.  Chris is married to Jayne - they have three adult children and Chris is widely respected across SA agriculture. He has recently completed a PhD on participatory agricultural development in Africa and the middle east.  He is acutely aware of relevant contemporary views and knowledge of working with different people groups.  His desire is to see African Agriculture Arise. He has known Bill for >20 years.

Monique Crabtree, B.Min.

Monique has devoted 20 years to bringing up our four responsible adult children.  She's a Director of Crabtree Agricultural Consulting and has served on the WA Tabor Bible College  Board. She is currently working part time as an Education leader with Esther House, Kalamunda.  Monique has a Certified 3 in travel and Certificate 4 in Workplace Training. She has planned 14 global agricultural study tours and has teaching and prophetic gifts with a heart to help women who are recovering from a difficult past. 

​

Monique and Bill visited 5 African nations in February 2019 on a research and development trip to ascertain where they could assist African farmers to develop more sustainable, large scale farming practices. They then spent time becoming friends with South African KZ NoTill Farmers Association and Zimbabwean  Foundations for Farming.

Peter Hack, Ordained Minister

Peter is a retired penticostal Pastor with a heart to help Africa feed their poor.  Peter has been working in Tanzania for 20 years on leadership development.  Peter and his wife Lesley have three children who are all involved in Ministry and they are Directors of Tiamoyo Empower Project. This is a Christian initiative that seeks to empower farmers in East Africa to lift their communities out of poverty. Peter came to faith in Christ in the midst of drought and financial hardship in his youth on their family farm.  See www.empowerproject.info

​

2020 CMcD.JPG
IMG_8385.JPG
HSXQ4095.JPG
DSC_0150.jpg
IMG_8567.JPG

Our plan to usher in Smart Farming for African Countries 

  1. A 5-Nation stepped plan: While this is a journey of opening doors (Is22:22), we intend to target the DRC in 2022 and scale up in subsequent years.  Each project is intended to support smaller and adjacent local community projects as the local Country board believes is sensible. 

  2. Sovereign risk mitigation: We hope to mitigate against sovereign threats by seeking clear title of land (for the project) and then gain finances from African Banks for the projects. We hope to use bank start-up funds with minimal external investor funds.

  3. Priority countries: We will go where where new technology is most welcomed, where we have trusted relationships and supportive people or agencies and where we can inspire local peoples. Burundi has a clear need for food security but they have a fertiliser company with a monopoly on fertiliser which has made phosphorus fertiliser way too expensive. Other countries where we believe that we may work in include; Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia. James 4:15 decides!

  4. Partnership, background and linkages: As an speaker on sustainable no-tillage agriculture Bill is well known and respected.  We have expertise in agronomy, soil amelioration, plant breeding, research, book-keeping, management and budgeting. We have strong relationships with our Perth outreach churches of Hillside and Victory Life.

  5. Budget proposal: We had hoped to attract private funds and match these at 2:1 with an African bank.  However, private funding is problematic in Africa. 

  6. Governance: The Arise African Agriculture Pty Ltd is registered in Australia with Bill and Monique as Directors. The Advisory Board will consist of Bill and Monique Crabtree, Peter Hack (Western Australian) and Accountants.

bottom of page