Inspirational people – Page 11 – Clover Hill Diaries

Energy can be contagious if we want it to be

The takeaway message from this years Dairy Research Foundation Symposium held in my beautiful hometown of Kiama was most definitely the key to success is to surround yourself with positive people

This post has been inspired firstly this comment made by Brewarrina farmer and guest speaker Graham Finlayson which I tweeted out

Its only takes one negative person in a room of 100 people to drain the energy from the room

That was quickly pounced upon by life coach Caryn @Menabiilly with the reply

negativity is contagious

then Sarah Grayton @farmersonfilm shared this

Salena Godden performs Limp Expectations, an ironic poem about artists and creative people who refuse to give up.

Watch here http://thespace.org/items/e0000p72?t=cnv5f

For all those people who have a dream and need to reaffirm their belief in themselves

Check it out its amazing, it phenomenal, I love it

Thank you so much Sarah

Now I am off to have lunch with @goaheadgreg who also wowed the crowd at the conference Greg will keep my energy levels up for a week

Fertilise the Tall Poppies

It’s that time of year when awards that celebrate our Australian farmers and the people who support them are opening for nominations.

As a person who has been lucky enough to win some of these awards and benefited greatly from the exposure they bring I have also witnessed the impact on my family of the pressure to “live up” to microscope they feel they are under.

Whilst the naysayers don’t interest me, I do understand when quiet achievers like my husband and son would prefer not to be in the spotlight. My son in particular finds the derogatory comments from some of the local farmers hard to take and I find that very sad.

I remember vividly attending the 2010 National Landcare Awards and being so excited when we won and then turning to my husband who said ‘You collect the award I don’t think what we do is any different to thousands of farmers across Australia’. But I knew differently, it’s not how you farm that counts, its how what you do translates into a community good benefit that counts.

I stood tall and proudly accepted because I knew what we did was something to be proud of.

My speech went something like this

Today most media in Australia generated around food is about cooking and eating, recipes and restaurants, with little attention paid to the origins of the key ingredients.

At Clover Hill Dairies we haven’t been fooled into thinking people don’t care.

We believe meeting or exceeding the community’s expectations to deliver affordable, nutritious and ethically produced food is doing the right thing by our business and our customers

There are plenty of Australian farmers committed to ethical food production… JUST AS WE ARE

But there are some things we are equally passionate about that sets us apart

Beyond best farming practices we are dedicated to

Building lifelong relationships between city consumers and rural providers. Because it is these urban communities who will decide the future for primary produces either as consumers, governments and decision makers or as competitors for Australia’s natural resources and workforce. The next generation of consumers and decision makers must see responsible agricultural production as a legitimate use of land, water and other resources.

Encouraging and furnishing opportunities for young people to enter food value chain career pathways

Forging cross community partnerships to secure our social licence to operate and right to farm

Winning this very prestigious award offers us the very best possible platform to build on this passion – thank you so much for opening this door

In 2013 I would make a very different speech and I would be less nervous because my journey since that night has been so exciting and so fulfilling and I have so much more confidence and met so many wonderful people who are sharing my journey. One thing that hasn’t changed is I would be just as proud.

Most excitingly there was some-one in the audience who heard me speak and believed in my Young Farming Champions concept and invested in it (thank you Ken)

I recently had an email from a young lady inspired by one of these young farming champions to take up a career in agriculture

It is absolutely beyond my wildest dreams to communicate with young farmers (of their nature) and have been so fortunate to be in brief contact with Richie Quigley after being sent his Art4Agriculture video and contacting him and being mentored by him towards the most appropriate university degree for me next year – his input has been invaluable.

We are far from perfect farmers but what our farm has done very well is to open the door to invite the next generation to visit and experience what we do which one of the Art4agriculutre Young Eco Champions Erin shows so beautifully here.

We do need a new way of thinking about agriculture. We need farmers who are prepared to work beyond traditional boundaries and challenge the conventional thinking of primary industries and individuals.

We need a paradigm shift in thinking and a collaborative re-allocation of resources and responsibilities

We must be able to deploy agriculture’s young people like Richie and Erin into schools to build relationships with the next generation of consumers.

So if you know some-one who has a big picture vision for agriculture then nominate them for awards.

As an industry

‘we can inspire and motivate and galvanise our people or we can ridicule and sap energy from them. Its our choice’ Derek Antoncich

Lets celebrate our farmers sharing their stories beyond the farm gate

Nominate some-one you know today

Farmer of the Year Awards http://www.farmingahead.com.au/FarmerOfYear

You have enemies? Celebrate

I recently had a conversation with the dynamo that is Catherine Marriott and the topic of driving change in agriculture came up and that led to a discussion about how lonely it can be when at times the words of your detractors drown out those of your supporters

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. Winston Churchill

In creating the Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions program one of the key things that drove me was the overwhelming desire to provide support for the changemakers. We all know that that driving change often galvanises those who desperately don’t want change.

Whilst the change resistors don’t represent the majority their fear of change can be so draining and so vocal you often allow them to question your judgement and cloud your vision for the future.

Believe me you can never overestimate the power of surrounding yourself with positive people you can learn from.

Catherine has a great passion to drive change and harness the energy of rural women and I feel the same about young people in agriculture .

To empower and provide rural women with the skills sets to be the change that must happen in agriculture Catherine has set up Influential Women

In Catherine words

Influential Women is a movement that creates conversations that connect urban and rural Australia by building confidence, capacity and skills in rural and regional women. Currently, rural Australia has a huge opportunity to connect with our customers, as people are becoming more interested in how their food is produced. We need to take advantage of this interest by being engaging, fun, informative and innovative in our communication and this communication needs to be two way. As farmers, we have so much to share and are so passionate about what we do, but we haven’t historically been very good at communicating this.

The concept behind the Influential Women’s came from watching the live trade ban unfold. I started to reflect on the agricultural conversations that had been happening across the board and realised that we are under increasing consumer scrutiny. It doesn’t matter if you are in the chicken industry where there are questions about the cages are cages, the pig industry with sow stalls, the grains industry with GM or the beef industry with hormones and live export, we are all facing consumer pressure. The time has come for us all to be a part of the conversation. If we aren’t, the space will be taken by people who have an ill-informed, agenda driven opinion that is anti farming.and it mostly comes from ill-informed groups with a negative agricultural agenda.

Now as farmers, I believe we have nothing to hide, we need to share what we do on our farms openly and most importantly why we do certain things. We need to be proud of what we do in agriculture and share it with an intrigued and interested consumers and celebrate the roles that we play in providing the Australian public with safe healthy and nutritious food and fibre.

As farmers we need to have a voice……. and that voice needs to be constant, articulate and concise, friendly, engaging…. and delivered regularly.

How exciting is it for me to find some-one equally determined to not only drive change but most importantly invest in it .

At every opportunity I find ways and means of exposing our Young Farming Champions to the like-minded networks that Catherine gathers around her at her workshops.

In the words of Beef Young Farming Champion Hannah Barber who attended an Influential Women’s workshop recently in Holbrook

Having heard of Influential Women and the fantastic work this organisation does to connect and empower rural women, I was very grateful to the Holbrook Landcare group for their sponsorship to attend a workshop. Flanked by two other Young Farming Champions Steph Fowler and Jasmine Nixon, we met a range of impressive women of all ages, from all backgrounds involved in a variety of industries with one thing in common, our love for agriculture. Of these amazing women, leading the way forward was facilitator Catherine Marriot, who, teamed with her mother Cath, make up the very aptly named Influential Women.

Catherine’s talent as a presenter and facilitator are matched by her personal warmth and genuine desire to help rural women be the best they can be. Nearly every break Catherine forwent the casual conversation and refreshments to personally connect with & continue conversations with attendees.

After lunch on day one, a bare-footed Catherine presented a vital section on social media, something Steph, Jasmine and I were able to assist other women in the room to connect to, and understand the various social media avenues. The isolation of our rural societies was in the past, a major issue and blockade in the quest for farmers to connect with each other and consumers, thanks to the development of the internet and social media we now have the opportunity to be heard in our cities and have our issues recognised and addressed; we have a voice and united we can achieve great things as we have seen particularly over this past month.

I walked away from the Influential Women’s workshop very proud of our rural women, the Art4Agriculture program and with a virtual schoolbag of skills and knowledge I will be able to apply to various sectors of my personal and professional life. The networking of talented and driven women at the workshop and the guidance of Catherine who makes herself unreservedly available to workshop alumni, made the Influential Women’s workshop a very worthwhile way to spend my first two days of uni holidays and I highly recommend the workshops to women of all ages, abilities and industries, you will gain friendships and knowledge guaranteed.

and this from Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champion Steph Fowler

Over the years I have done personality profiling type exercises and have long known that I am an extreme extravert, intuitive, thinker, perceiver or ENTP in Myers Briggs. While I have known what it means for my personal strengths and benefits, I haven’t seen how to apply this knowledge in a social context. Until the Influential Woman’s workshop in Holbrook that is. During the Myers Briggs session at the workshop, once we had all figured out our personality types, Catherine divided us into opposing types for the different sections and gave us a task which highlighted the differences. For me this opened up a whole new world where suddenly I can identify what I can do for other people to help them get what they need out of a situation rather than just allowing my own personality to dominate, objectify and focus on the big picture. The Myers Briggs personality type was one session out of many that provided not only the knowledge but also enabled us to apply it within our context and to things that were relevant to us. I gained so much out of this applied approach to the sessions and after spending two days with some of my fellow country woman who are all amazing in their own right, I am now more empowered and motivated than ever.

Catherine and the rural women who attend her workshops and the Young Farming Champions inspire me to get out of bed everyday, block the detractors from my mind and celebrate change. I salute you all

Robots bring the cows home

Everybody who knows me knows that the last thing I ever wanted to do was farm but when the people I love most in the world decided that was what they both wanted to do I wanted to make sure that farming would deliver the best possible life for them.

Now lets not kid ourselves only the very brave farm in a world where supermarkets control the supply chain and the people who run the supermarkets in the main have absolutely no idea of the challenges and constraints farmers face today to farm in a socially acceptable way in the 21st century.

There is something else about farming that excites me beyond my wildest dreams and that is the innovation and technology and the resilience of Australian farmers and great minds who help them feed and clothe not only in Australian consumers but many other people around the world. So I am so excited to be able to share this story with you.

Now as my regular readers know the Australian dairy industry so frustrates me. Driven by the mindset at Dairy Australia our farmers are forced to live in this cocooned world that means they rarely get to interact with all the other exciting people who not only farm in other industries but also the amazing people who support people in other industries.

One shining light is the Dairy Research Foundation (DRF) team and the Future Dairy Project. These people are amazing beyond belief and I am so honoured to sit on the board of the DRF and have insights into what is happening with the Future Dairy Project

Let me show you what I mean

With increasing numbers of Australian dairy cows now being milked by robots, researchers are looking at a range of exciting ways to use robots on farm, and one that has already shown promise is the use of robots to herd cattle from the paddock to the dairy.

Delegates at the Dairy Research Foundation’s symposium, to be held at Kiama on 4 & 5th of July will get a sneak peak of Rover, a prototype robot, in action.

Cows at the University of Sydney’s Corstophine farm were unfazed by the presence of a robot which herded the cows out of the paddock calmly and efficiently

Researchers from the University of Sydney’s Dairy Science Group and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, have used an unmanned ground vehicle (robot) to herd dairy cows out of the paddock.

Dairy researcher Associate Professor Kendra Kerrisk said the team was amazed at how easily the cows accepted the presence of the robot.

“They weren’t at all fazed by it and the herding process was very calm and effective,” Dr Kerrisk said.

“As well as saving labour, robotic herding would improve animal wellbeing by allowing cows to move to and from the dairy at their own pace.”

The robot was developed by researchers at the University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics for tree and fruit monitoring on tree-crop farms. It was used in the initial trial with very little modification for the dairy paddock.

We are keen to explore further opportunities with the Australian Centre for Field Robotics. They have a range of robotic technologies which could have exciting applications on dairy farms,” Dr Kerrisk said.

“While the robot showed exciting potential for use on a dairy farm, it would need to be adapted to operate autonomously on the terrain of dairy farms and its programing would need be customised for dairy applications.”

In addition to robotic herding, some of the possible applications include collecting pasture and animal data in the paddock; monitoring calving and alerting the manger if attention is needed and identifying and locating individual cows in the paddock.

“The research is in its very early stages but robotic technologies certainly have the potential to transform dairy farming, in terms of reducing repetitive work, increasing the accuracy of data that farmers collect and making data available that we currently can’t capture.

“Robotic technologies will have a role in increasing the productivity, sustainability and competitiveness of Australia’s dairy farms,” Dr Kerrisk said.

Does agriculture get anymore exciting than this and let me assure this is not reducing jobs in the dairy industry it just means we can now attract the best and the brightest minds.

If you want to come and see Rover in action to register for the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium visit www.drfsymposium.com.au

What does it take to reach 18 million people with your story

Farmers in this country are less than 1% of the population and number 10 on Reader’s Digest most trusted professions list.

Above us are ambulance officers, doctors, nurses , pharmacists and fireman. Why is this you ask?. The answer is easy. If you are an ambulance officer, a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist or a fireman there would be a time in most people’s lives when they would be reminded just how important their profession is.

With food in abundance in this country there is little opportunity to remind the community just how important our farmers are.

I recently had the pleasure of sharing the podium with Michael Trant at the Agconnect conference in WA two weeks ago. Michael Trant for those of you who don’t know him is the very passionate sheep farmer behind the #Hadagutful campaign

The conference was attended by WA’s most passionate young people in agriculture. Young, enthusiastic, dynamic people determined to carve out a future for themselves and their peers in agriculture in this country and bursting at the seams to be heard.

Advocacy was a hot topic and number 1 on their list of big ticket issues that must be addressed if we are going to have the dynamic, innovative, exciting and profitable agrifood sector we all crave.

As is the norm with young people there was quite a lot of admiration in the room for the French farmers model. A model we all know that involves quite a lot of militant tactics.

It was Michael Trant’s response that I believe most resonated with the audience. Michael recently had a one on one meeting with Federal Agriculture Minister Senator Joe Ludwig to discuss and hopefully find a solution to that wicked problem Live Export. A meeting which at the time was recorded as quite hostile in the media.

Michael told the people in the room that he listened very closely to what Joe Ludwig had to say and he gave these wonderful young people in the room the same sage advice.

“We can do things that will piss people off like dump wheat on the docks at Freemantle or I can let rams loose in Kings Park or we can come up with campaigns that actually resonate and generate empathy and understanding with the 18 million people on the Eastern seaboard.

I agree and so should all farmers but farmers telling their story and having two way conversations with the most important people and the white elephant in the room otherwise know as consumers and voters is not something farmers in general have the skill sets or expertise for. In the past we have let anti animal livestock lobbyists tell our story and that has been a disaster of momentous proportions and it is one of the key reasons why agriculture is currently on its knees in this country.

So how do fix this. We can do it. I know because I have found the successful model and I am going to share it with you over the next 12 months. Like any idea its not the concept but the people who make it work and for agriculture it will be our young people. They are out there. I have a whole cohort of them in Art4Agriculture’s Young Farming Champions program. Our Young Farming Champions are now working side by side with our Young Eco Champions to tell agriculture’s story in a way that DOES resonate with the 18 million people on the Eastern seaboard.

Like most farmers (and like me) not all these young people were born these skills sets and expertise. They need to be identified, engaged and nurtured and supported every step of the way. It is imperative we invest in them I know this because this is my journey to where I am today and I relive it though them by sharing my learnings, positive and negative, by introducing them to the wonderful people who support and nurture me.

I am using Art4Agriculture as the vehicle to introduce them to the people who can supply them with the necessary skills sets to deliver on behalf of industry. I introduce them to supportive industries, the key influencers, to the doers and most importantly I introduce them to the most important people in the room, the people who give agriculture its social license to operate and they are the people who buy our goods and services and the people who vote

What does it take to have young people who can talk like this, who can inspire other young people to follow in their footsteps. What does it take for our young people to be the change that agriculture so needs to have?.

I have the formula and the results speak for themselves?. Listen to the video. Follow their journey

THE 2012 YOUNG FARMING CHAMPIONS

BEEF

Sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia Target 100 program

Stephanie Fowler
Wagga Wagga, NSW

Steph grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales in a small coastal suburb, Green Point. A decision to study agriculture in high school created a passion for showing cattle and in 2012 she started a PhD in Meat and Livestock Science, with a project that is looking at the potential of Raman Spectroscopy in predicting meat quality.

“When I was growing up I never dreamed that I would end up joining an incredibly rewarding, innovative and exciting industry that would take me across the country and around the world.”

Read Steph’s Blog post HERE

View her video HERE

Bronwyn Roberts
Emerald, QLD

Bronwyn is a Grazing Land Management Officer with the Fitzroy Basin Association. Her family has a long association with the cattle industry in Queensland and her parents currently run a 5500 acre cattle property near Capella.

“I believe consumers have lost touch of how and where their food and fibre is produced. In these current times where agriculture is competing with other industry for land use, labour, funding and services, it is important that we have a strong network of consumers who support the industry and accept our social license as the trusted and sustainable option.”

Read Bronwyn’s Blog post HERE

View her video HERE

Kylie Stretton
Charters Towers, QLD

Kylie Stretton and her husband have a livestock business in Northern Queensland, where they also run Brahman cattle. Kylie is the co-creator of “Ask An Aussie Farmer” a social media hub for people to engage with farmers and learn about food and fibre production.

“The industry has advanced from the images of “Farmer Joe” in the dusty paddock to images of young men and women from diverse backgrounds working in a variety of professions. Images now range from a hands-on job in the dusty red centre to an office job in inner city Sydney. So many opportunities, so many choices.”

Read Kylie’s Blog post HERE

View her video HERE

COTTON

Feeling Part of the Family

One of the things that really saddens me is the dairy industry’s inability to move out of their silo, celebrate success and genuinely work towards building a ‘family’ mentality.

My role with the Young Farming Champion’s program so excites me as we have put a bomb under this silo mentality for youth

“I have found that being an Art4Ag YFC has helped my University this year. This was my first year at University and my first time out there and finding my feet. Taking on this role helped give me a lot of confidence and it has also broadened my own knowledge about my own industry. It is amazing how many things you take for granted until you have to tell someone about them! I was elected President of the Ag Club at Uni in the middle of the year and it is a role I thought I never would have had the confidence to take on. With the opportunities I have been given this year through Art4Ag, I have a new-found confidence to have a go at tackling anything.” Sammi Townsend 2012 YFC

One of the most rewarding aspects is seeing our program funding partners Australian Wool Innovation, Meat and Livestock Australia and Cotton Australia’s dedication to excel in this area of investing in youth, cross industry collaboration and celebrating youth .

See People in Cotton

Beyond the Bale

MLA Feedback Magazine

One of amazing benefits of being a Young Farming Champion is the industry insights and the cross industry networks they generate.

They are embraced by so many other Youth in Ag programs like YAPs, Horizon Scholarship, RAS of NSW Foundation, RAS Youth Group, ASC Youth Group, AgConnect and Women Influential. Twitter, Ask An Aussie and the Climate Champions program, Landcare Australia, the ARLP, Rex Airlines OutThere, NSW Farmers Young Farmer Council, Future Farmers Network and the Kondinin Group to name but a few. A special mention to Fairfax Journalist Carlene Dowie whose passion for Youth in Ag promotion know no bounds

It agriculture is to have a bright future in this country its young people are pivotal to the success and our focus must be on retaining the talent we have, investing in them and celebrating them

“I believe the future for Australian agriculture will be very bright. I am excited to be part of an innovative industry that is leading the world in technology and adapting it on a practical level. I’m very proud to say that Agriculture has been passed down over nine known generations and spans over three centuries just in my family. My hope is that this continues, and that the future generations can be just as proud as I am that they grow world-class food and fibre. I also hope by sharing my story I can inspire other young people to follow me into an agricultural career.” Stephanie Grills YFC 2012

“Growing up in Moree has shown me is how important it is to have young people in the industry with a fiery passion and a desire to educate those who aren’t fully aware of the valuable role our farmers play in feeding and clothing not only Australians but many other people around the world.” Tamsin Quirk YFC 2012

Celebrating Youth In Ag

VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Wow how energising was it to build that list of partners. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart and if I have missed anybody send me an email. We are here to celebrate

Julia Gillard its time to throw a steak on the barbie

When I started lobbying to get a better deal for farmers, I spent a lot of time being angry and jumping up and down and bashing my head against brick walls (metaphorically of course) and having doors shut in my face. To my credit as many of my admirers and non-admirers know I am one of those people to whom “no means almost yes” and I knew that to get that yes I had to get a lot smarter. I now do as much research as I can, consult those a lot wiser than me and surround myself with people I can learn from so I can leave my emotions (hopefully) at home and help take the solutions to the table.

Last week I announced the start of my new business Farming Ahead of the Curve. (See footnote). As part of this article I said

We (farmers) must rethink the way we engage with the policy makers and the politicians. Politics is the art of the possible and we must have a clear understanding of what our politicians and policy makers can achieve on our behalf and take the solutions to the table.

Just to prove my point along comes WA Premier Colin Barnett in this ABC interview with Belinda Varischetti

Premier optimistic about farming future but critical of WA farm lobby groups.

The Premier toured parts of the WA wheatbelt last week to talk to farmers about the problems facing the agricultural sector and some possible solutions

I am confident you will all agree that he could just as easily be talking about any state in Australia when he said

“Can I say, perhaps a slight criticism, I think that farm representative organisations need to be a lot more articulate in presenting to government what can be done and done simply, and maybe stop talking about issues like daylight savings and the like and concentrate on real farm issues. That would help government produce real results for the farm sector.”

“Maybe one farm organisation would help. The government doesn’t want to see itself as an umpire between two conflicting views. I’m not necessarily suggesting an amalgamation between the two groups, but they need to develop a united voice and express that clearly to government.”

And may I say amen to that Colin. Then he gave a list of things his government could do starting with giving farmers a bit of confidence and moral support

1. We can talk to the banks and ask for leniency

2. The government can do a lot to reduce the amount of bureaucracy and red tape that restricts farmers and therefore adds to their costs

3. We can do a lot more in promoting our agricultural sector internationally to provide sustained good markets into the future and Western Australia with its huge role in resources trade in Asia in particular is in a strong position to do that and we can leverage off our mining and petroleum to try and get a better deal for our farmers,

4. We can attract some more investment into processing and even investment overseas into better structured commercial arrangements to give security not only of sale but also of price that’s another important thing that we can do.

5. We can fund more research too and while research does often mean returns in the future, more work on frost resistant and salt resistant grains is important

It goes without saying that there was the obligatory plug for the government

“I think most people in the farming industry realise that this government has already done a fair bit in farming I mean the Ord River Scheme, the new sale yards that have been constructed, allowing GM canola and other things … but this has been a tough few years.”

But the politics aside he is right. We have to get our act together before its too late. We have to bring a kaleidoscope of solutions to the table and offer flexibility and scope to find workable solutions. We have to participate in the process otherwise we are just leaving the door open for others to put the solutions forward and nobody needs to remind us the trouble that’s got us into in the past.

BTW Has the livestock industry sent Julia Gillard an invitation to the world’s biggest barbeque after she finishes her meat free two weeks? Yes/No???

I think it’s time Merrick Watts paid a call on our PM. Don’t you

Footnote: I would like to thank everybody for the incredible outpouring of support for the ethos behind my new business. I have meet many great minds and passionate people in the farming sector over that last few years and I am so excited that this business will give me an opportunity to work side by side with many of them to be the change that must happen in agriculture

Bringing Arthur Boyd’s vision to life

I just love working with bright young minds who grab life with both hands and run with it. Rachel Walker is one of those young people

I have reblogged this from Art4AgriculutureChat as I am confident Rachel’s journey will inspire you just as much as it does me

Background

Art4Agriculture’s Young Eco Champions have each identified a farmer they want to work side by side with to get best environmental outcomes for Australia’s natural resources

Art4Agriculutre Young Eco Champions (right) with some of our Young Farming Champions and members of the Art4Agriculture network

We were very excited to have the opportunity to pair Rachel Walker with Bundanon Trust.

Rachel’s shares this wonderful opportunity with you today through her guest blog post …

Bringing Arthur Boyd’s vision to life – by Rachel Walker

As a Young person with a love for Australia’s wonderful landscapes and a deep respect of how scarce our natural resources are and the opportunity that young people have to pay an active role in protecting and enhancing them

Rachel left participating in a Face to Camera to camera workshop at a recent Young Farming Champions/Young Eco Champions workshop

I also believe that Australia can play an integral role on a global scale by setting good examples in the management of our scarce resources.

I have learnt that the majority of the Australian landscape and its resources, are managed by our farmers, and much of that includes privately owned areas of native bushland. Hence our farmers also have a very important environmental role to play

As a Young Eco Champion, I have been able to spend some time with the Bundanon Trust in the Shoalhaven. The trust has the unique challenge of rehabilitating and maintaining a large area of native bushland as part of Arthur Boyd’s gift to the Australian people.

The 1,100 ha of river front land was generously left to the people of Australia in 1993, by renowned Australian artist, Arthur Boyd, and featured in much of his artwork. Since the gift the properties have been under the care of the Bundanon Trust, which has preserved the natural and cultural heritage, and developed a fantastic artistic educational experience that is adaptable and applicable to all levels of knowledge. It hosts school children year-round, as well as artists in residence

The Riversdale Property regularly hosts workshops for young people

As well as guests from all over the world who see views to die for

and enjoy fine Shoalhaven Produce prepared by local chefs

Including local wines

And beef grazed on the property

On Friday I was fortunate enough to be taken on a personal tour of the four properties that together form the Bundanon Trust. A stipulation of the bequest was that Bundanon was to always remain a working property in some capacity, and to be accessible to the people of Australia. Today the properties have reduced their beef cattle production in favour of restoring native forest, a tribute to the inspiration in many of Arthur Boyd’s artworks.

Arthur Boyd, Peter’s fish and crucifixion, 1993 Copyright Bundanon Trust Reproduced with permission of Bundanon Trust 1993

During my visit to Bundanon, Riversdale and Eearie Park it became apparent to me what a fantastic job the Bundanon Trust has done in caring for and managing this magnificent resource combining farm, education and culture, and also what an enormous responsibility they have for the environmental management of the properties for the people of Australia. This is particularly so given the length of Shoalhaven riparian zone (boundary between the land and river) that the properties border.

My ever-enthusiastic guide and Bundanon’s education manager, Mary Preece, has been utilising her photographic skills to catalogue the diverse plants species present across the properties, in order to contribute to the understanding of the biodiversity across the 11 vegetation communities in the landscape.

Mary Preece Bundanon’s Education Manager works with local school students at Riversdale

However the management of 1,100 ha of diverse, native landscape has its challenges, and the Bundanon Trust is using theirs as an opportunity to learn and educate others by setting a great example of natural resource management.

Mary Preece is photographing and cataloguing the diverse plant species on Bundanon in order to contribute to the understanding of the biodiversity across the 11 vegetation communities in the landscape.

One of the most apparent ongoing battles that the Bundanon landscape faces is the infestation of Lantana, particularly along the 15km riparian zone.

Pulpit Rock viewed from Bundanon Property

.As luck would have it, Bundanon’s caretaker Gary, who is also the longest serving resident of the properties, was happy to take me up to a place called Haunted Point, where the battle against invasive Lantana has been ongoing for a few years, and threatens the properties’ biodiversity and ecosystem health.

This aggressive weed has been removed from the properties once before, and so there is a strong push to remove it again – this time for good! Landcare Australia, Greening Australia and the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority are partnering with the Bundanon Trust to orchestrate the enormous task of removing Lantana from all the properties. Even from my brief tour around Haunted Point, the difference between cleared and uncleared areas was incredible! The cleared areas looked unburdened in contrast to the dense weed that seemed to be choking the understorey of the uncleared zones.

This task is expected to take 3 years and to be completed by 2015. The removal of Lantana however is not a once off job, and will require constant management once the initial removal is complete, to prevent reinvasion. With so many knowledgeable people on hand, and the enthusiasm of the people that I met on my trip to Bundanon, I’m sure it is a labour of love that will lead to the eradication of this weed and the rehabilitation of the region. I am looking forward to seeing the progress as it continues.

As we drove down the rocky road away from Haunted Point, we were able to identify a variety of vegetation that is inherent to the Shoalhaven region – red cedars for which the area was first colonised, figs, gums, banksia’s and bush lemons were all found along the way, not mention some petrified wood from a rock that had recently been split in half by a falling tree!

Another environmental issue that Bundanon faces is the threat of bank erosion, which is unfortunately exacerbated by the removal vegetation (yes, even lantana) from the riparian zone. The property has taken many steps forward in reducing the impact of their practices on the riparian zone, by fencing off livestock and reinforcing vulnerable areas with local rocks to slow erosion rates. The awareness of such issues and the dedication of the Trust towards developing management strategies not only benefits the local region, but by sharing these experiences with visitors and students as part of the educational experience, Bundanon sets a great example of achievable goals, and such knowledge is passed on to the public where is has no boundaries!

Bundanon Homestead

To add a great end to a fantastic day, I was shown around the sandstone homestead of the Boyd family, completed in 1866. Walking through the homestead was quite a personal and unique experience, with no ropes or barricades to keep you from getting a close up look at the displayed art collection, which includes artworks from Arthur’s childhood and throughout his life, and from all members of the family.

Arthur Boyd’s studio at Bundanon

My favourite things were that children were allowed to play the family’s grand piano, and that the studio light switches were still covered in paint!

Bundanon Trust is in a unique position where they have the opportunity to involve the public and educate students on the impacts that they are having through their natural resource management choices. It was a great day in the Shoalhaven, and a a great example of how the team are integrating the exploration of the artistic heritage of Arthur Boyd and his family with response to landscape and immersion in the natural environment.

Riversdale – Spectacular scenery teamed with an award winning building designed by Glenn Murcutt in association with Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark

Andrea and Mark Hannemann climate action farmers who are designing their own destiny

I love innovators, doers and people who are proud to share their story. Agriculture so needs more people who can combine all three.

One such person is the wonderful Andrea Hannemann who with husband Mark, farms on 1700 hectares in the Cleve region on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia

‘We as farmers are always striving to do things better, improve efficiencies, increase yields, adopt the latest technology and maintain a healthy landscape, all to ensure our farming enterprise remains viable well into the future. This requires constant monitoring and the ability to adapt and change’. says Andrea

I first met Andrea when I joined the Climate Champions program and as regular readers know the program itself has changed my life let alone what I have learnt from all awesome people involved in it

Andrea to me is the quintessential quiet achiever. Follower her twitter feed @andyhann1 and you will see what I mean. In a phenomenally short period of time, Andrea has built up a twitter network of thought leaders who ask the tough questions and challenge each other and the system

Andrea and Mark identified water security as one of the biggest threats to their farm’s sustainability and they weren’t going to sit around and wait for some-else to find the solution

‘The Eyre Peninsula is a huge area and we think it’s up to us as individual farmers to be self sufficient and create our own renewable, reliable and sustainable water supply.’

Andrea’s story* is a testament of what you can achieve when you take a great idea and put it into action…………..

Mark & I are 4th Generation farmers from the Cleve Hills on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. We are in the business of producing healthy food and fibre and we love what we to do.

We crop wheat, barley, peas, chickpeas, vetch and canola and run 900 Merino ewes & 900 cross bred lambs.

Over the last 10 years we have found our weather patterns are definitely changing with more extremes of heat and cold and storms. And our rain events – that’s interesting in itself – we call them rain events now when we used to just call it rain.

We have catastrophic fire days now, and we’ve had some horrific bushfires here. The hot north winds are more harsh and frequent. In 2009 we had quite rigorous thunderstorms, with a lot of hail damage. I guess they’ve always happened but they are more concentrated and cause more damage than they did in the past. Everything seems to be a little bit more concentrated.

Our country here is very undulating with loam over clay soils. Historically the farming rotation used to be 2 years of pasture and sheep and then the third year we would plant a crop. During those 2 years where you had sheep running over your country, it would pack down like cement. As soon as you got a rain event it’d all run off and form gutters and cause substantial soil erosion.

To counter this our next step was to contour all our country. The contour banks gathered the water from the gullies into the dams and controlled the erosion, so we didn’t get gutters forming in our paddocks.

But it was not the answer. The contours created small lands, over-sowing and inefficiencies. They also hindered the introduction of auto steer and GPS technologies. Over the last 13 years we have adopted minimum-till practices with stubble retention and we direct drill straight into last year’s stubble

We found we weren’t getting the water runoff we used to as the moisture was staying in the improved soil profile and so adopting minimum-till practices has enabled us to grow good crops on less rainfall, because of this improved soil moisture retention. This meant we didn’t t need the contour banks anymore and so we took them all out.

Historically we’ve relied on 40 dams on the property for our water. We relied on those dams for our stock, our garden water and for spraying our crops. But we can’t rely on them anymore for stock. We’re just not getting the water into the dams. Over the last 3 or 4 years we’ve had some fairly dry years and we couldn’t rely on any of the dams. On top of this the 40 old dams lost 2 metres of water through evaporation each year, coupled with soakage and seepage loss. When summer came and we really needed the water, they were usually just full of mud in the bottom, which also created a hazard to the stock as they came in and tried to drink.Our house dam has been there 100 years and it’s only ever been empty 4 times. And 3 of those were in about the last 7 years.

Is that climate change or the way we are farming now you ask? Probably a bit of both

A lack of a “good quality water supply” for stock and farm use was identified to be the major challenge that would restrain our long term viability in agriculture. We had little chance of securing a SA Water supply connection as we are on the far western end of the River Murray pipe system, which is already an over-allocated and depleted water source and is in very poor health. ‘The Eyre Peninsula is a huge area and we think it’s up to us as individual farmers to be self sufficient and create our own renewable, reliable and sustainable water supply.

We were carting water from 14 kilometres in a little truck all summer for stock. It was time consuming and expensive. We thought the best way forward was for us to be self sufficient.

We needed to change, we did not want to change our farming practices, so we had to change the way we collected the water. We have now developed a water-harvesting scheme which is, hopefully, going to satisfy our water needs for stock, for spraying and for domestic use.

We selected a site which is the highest point on our farm and we had some major earthworks done to prepare the catchment area, which is 80 X 40 metres. The catchment area gravitates down into a 3-metre deep holding dam which is 30 X 30 metres.Both the catchment and the dam are lined with 1-mm high-density polyethylene plastic.

It’s 98% efficient in catching water. For every millimetre of rain, we collect a litre of water per square metre. Even with a heavy dew, we’re collecting water. On our average rainfall, which is a bit over 400 mm a year, we should get 1.6 million litres of water, which is enough to run our property for a year. We’d probably be ok with even 300 mm. We’re still going to get 1.2 million litres of water because we’re not losing any through evaporation and soakage.

From the dam, water gravitates down to the house and throughout the entire property. On the way, we’ve got feeder troughs going off into every paddock. We’ve got a tank at the house into which we collect and use water for spraying, for our domestic use, for gardens, and for stock. From the house, we feed water to another block, which already had poly pipes on it. We just had to put troughs on them. Now our whole farm is fed by these feeder troughs. So this one dam has the potential to service our whole property, whereas before we were using 40 open dams.

The Hannemanns’ lined catchment and dam before the floating cover was installed

The catchment area has to be lined if you want to get close to 100% runoff. The 1-mm polyethylene is reasonably stiff. We had to get FABTECH from Adelaide to weld it onsite. There’s $50,000 worth of plastic invested in the catchment and dam area.

The reason we lined the dam is mainly for quality of water and to minimise soakage. We use the water for spraying so we don’t want suspended clay particles in it. We don’t use it for drinking water, but the quality would be up to doing that if we wanted to. When the dam was full we installed a floating cover on the top at a cost of $10,000. That cut our evaporation losses by 100% making it a hugely efficient system.

Dam at capacity, awaiting the installation of the floating cover The water is then gravity fed from the dam throughout the property via a pipe system, supplying water for the paddock troughs, which are only turned on as stock movements require.

With the cover now on the dam, the quality has improved even more. When you keep the sunlight off, you get no algae. And there’s no chemical seepage into it. It’s good quality water. Better than what we had before.

Floating cover installed – job finished! Because the water scheme is based on gravitation, there are no pumps involved. No working parts. It’s minimal maintenance. You go to a paddock and switch a trough on if you’ve got sheep in there. It’s so simple.

If it sounds exciting, it looks really ordinary. It’s a lot of black plastic and tyres!

When you bring it back to dollars and sense and return on investment carting water was costing us about $11,000 a year and it’s really unsustainable to cart water in a truck up a hill on a 30-km round trip. It was leaving a huge environmental footprint. We hated that. It was very inefficient and very time consuming.

This harvesting scheme is going to cost us about $100,000 so the payback period is 10 years. We feel we can’t afford not to do it. Our water security is good for the next 25 years; that’s how long the plastic lasts.

A video of the catchment during a thunderstorm can be viewed here

We would also like to go into the area of further improving our soil and improving our soil carbon. For every percent that you increase your soil carbon, per square metre, you can hold an extra 8 litres of water. That stored moisture is productivity and profitability. It’s also sustainability. So that’s something that we’d like to work on. However increasing soil carbon by 1% is not as easy as it might sound and so we’ve just got to take it a step at a time.

We manage our sheep numbers to coincide with rainfall events and availability of feed. For example if we have a really good rain event in March, we can sow some forage crops for the sheep. If we get plenty of feed the we actually buy in more sheep. This means means the sheep had more cross-bred lambs which we can then feed on our crop stubble later this year. Farming sustainably is about wisely making the most of every opportunity

We make hay when the season’s good. If we have a lot of feed, we’ll cut that for hay and store it. We also store oats and barley seed for feed. We just do it year by year depending on what the year’s looking like.

Frost is a major issue in our region, but it’s pretty hard to plan for it. Different crops are flowering at different times and it depends on when you get hit.

Our crops do hang on here a little longer. We’d be 3 or 4 degrees colder through here on average than 10 or 20 kilometres away, so we’re always starting harvest a couple of weeks later than everyone else. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, it’s just a matter of timing with frost.

We do use different crop varieties that flower at different times. That lessens our risk. Of our 2 wheat varieties, one has a bit longer growing season, the other one is a bit shorter. So if one gets hit the other is spared. It’s like a hedge.

Canola’s the same. We’ve had canola varieties with different growing seasons and one variety did get hit with frost, while the other one got through because it wasn’t flowering. So I guess that’s how we manage frost, and that’s about the best we can do. Because even if they forecast a frost there’s nothing you can do about it.

Paddock of Canola

Our hot north winds are getting more severe. Our crops were heat stressed two years in a row in September on Grand Final day. It knocked everybody’s yield around. It would be terrific if we had new and better varieties of crops that can withstand heat stress because I guess we’re going to have more of that.

We rely on the internet a lot now for our information to run our business so it’s really important. We need accurate forecasting, long term and short term. We need a seasonal forecast. But it needs to be accurate.

We rely on the seasonal forecasts, mainly at start of seeding. A few years ago we just about did our complete seeding dry, and that worked out well. We dealt with the weed issues later on, which was good but fairly expensive. In this country if you leave seeding until late it can get too wet, and if you’re well into the middle of July with your seeding program you have a fair yield penalty by leaving it that late. So we have made the decisions with the help of forecasts to go in early. We just have to deal with the weed issues later on.

Application of nitrogen is another thing we use forecasts for. If you want a rain event to wash some urea in, you’ve certainly got to rely on the forecasts for that. It helps us plan and gives us the opportunity to use our inputs as wisely as we can and hopefully increase our yields, our productivity and our profitability. With better forecasts you can move forward with more confidence and make those decisions that are so important to your business. So, accurate forecasts are really, really important to the viability of our business.

This is why Mark and I put our hands up to be Climate Champion farmers so we could share our highs and lows, the good and the bad and have the opportunity to feed information from farmers back to researchers about what they need to better manage risk on their properties

*Andrea wrote me a short version of her profile on the Climate Champions website but its too good a story to shorten so I have reprinted the majority of it for today’s post

Andrea and Mark are also 1 of 100 Farmers sharing their story on Target 100 here

They are also inspiring thousands of school children through this fabulous study guide

‘Water our most Precious Resource’ which you can download here

Special shout out to all the women in my life

Today is International Women’s Day and there are too many women for me to mention who inspire me

So I would just like to simply use this quote to say thank you to the doers and the supporters who light my fire and keep it burning

‘Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the people who get out of shower, and dry off off and do something about it who make a difference’. Patricia Nolan

I would also like to salute our cows

They inspire me. Every day they produce that affordable nutritious nature’s perfect nutrient cocktail that is milk on our farm for 50,000 Australians

Thank you cows – the queens of the dairy industry

They are an integral part of our team. They are part of our family. They are like a child you want to give them the best possible life you can afford to give

This is why the $ a lire milk marketing campaign upsets me so much as I feel it completely devalues what our cows do and I believe we all need to reflect on what our definitions of value are when thinking about Australian grown products.

I would also like to say a special thank you to the girls on our team who worked so hard on all those record breaking hot days in January to ensure our cows were comfortable and happy. I was there and I was moved by your super human efforts.

Sprinklers in the dairy – says cow comfort on hot days

Chrissy in the dairy shows the Young Eco Champions how to milk and care for cows on hot days

The girls would like to thank John who arrived with the super cold watermelon just at the right time