National Ag Day

“I think as growers, we have to be innovative. We have to search for and implement new technolgy due to input costs and gross margins that are forever increasing and decreasing respectively. You need to do a lot more than you ever have before. It reflects back to our spraying methods and fertiliser decisions and updating our machinery to be more efficient.”

“Farming is the foundation of how the country works. I spend a lot of time in the city at the moment and marvel at how easily accessible everything is in terms of our food. None of that would be possible without farming. If you took out even a quarter of farming in Australia that would be a massive hit to the food supply chain. It’s the same as the toilet paper situation during – it disappeared and people struggled to understand why. I imagine when I think of all the different parts of Australia as a big engine working together, farming is the big cog in the middle. As soon as something moves out of place it stops things moving.”

“Ag’s really rewarding, and it can open up career opportunities in science, tech, research, services, contracting and more – there’s a myriad of things. People have this idea that we have a bib-n-brace and straw hat and pitchfork. It’s not a reality; we do a big variety of things. Agriculture employs a huge amount of people – and there’s more opportunities than those who you first think of working the land. There are also the scientists, researchers and city people who support from an administrative side.”

“The first thing to understand about farming is that it's not a typical 9-to-5 job. It's not confined to a Monday-to-Friday schedule; rather, it's a demanding lifestyle that requires hard work year-round. Sometimes lucky to get away for a weekend in a quiet period. However, when the season is favourable, the rewards can be substantial.”

“I would like people to come and look at our farms and see what we do and how we do it. I’d love to help people understand that farming is a really great industry and there’s a lot of careers to be made in agriculture that are not just a farm hand in overalls. I’m lucky, I enjoy what I do – I like working outdoors and I like the industry. It’s not the same as when I was a sparky back in the big corporate game. There’s a bit more freedom in how you work and what you do with it."