A call to purpose in agriculture

“There’s an exciting role in the agriculture industry, even starting your working life with us, say, handling livestock; there’s a myriad of jobs it can lead to,” Mr Rowe said.

“Just because you start out working in cattle yards for a year or two, it doesn’t mean you can’t go on to become a livestock nutritionist or go to uni or any range of agricultural careers.

“I’d like to see more young people come through my door and make a career out of it, rather than just work without any purpose moving forward.”

Diverse operations in South Australia’s Mid North

The Rowe family run a large feedlotting, grain and pastoral operation in South Australia’s Mid North. Such has been their growth and success, they were recognised at number 13 in the 2023 Beef Central Top 25 Lot Feeders.

Along with the main homestead property, Princess Royal Station, located just south of Burra – a couple of hours north of Adelaide – the family owns land to the north, east and west of the town. They also run a pastoral property in the Flinders Ranges, and a feedlotting property at Sedan, about 20 kilometres west of the Murray River.

Closer to home base, near Burra, the Rowes’ own farming land, almost 40% is cropped mostly to cereal grain. Together they have a variety of farming landscapes, with rainfall ranging from 200mm up to 460mm.

Some of the land lies outside of Goyder’s Line – a boundary line established in 1865 by George Goyder to determine areas of South Australia that were arable, and those ‘outside’ more “liable to drought” and less suitable for cropping.

For the Rowe family, the ‘outside’ country provides a good winter grazing option, and the diversity of their land enables them to move stock back to the ‘inside’ country in the hotter months.

From feedlots to carob pods: sustainable practices at Princess Royal

The main focus for the family is growing out and fattening beef cattle and sheep for the export market, and growing grain.

And in terms of sustainability, much of what goes around, comes around in the diverse enterprise.

Manure from the feedlots is used on the cropping country, grain and hay grown is fed to the cattle and sheep, and even a large orchard of carob trees on one of the properties purchased by the Rowe family in more recent years is used for their lambs.

“Everything we grow – with the exception of canola – is kept on farm to feed our livestock,” Mr Rowe said.

“We ‘recycle’ the manure from the feedlots and, particularly on our red clay soils, it helps open it up and does a similar job to gypsum, but the difference is it’s got phosphorus and nitrogen in it.

“Using the manure is something that really goes back to the old vegetable growers around the Adelaide Plains who once used manure to enhance and help their soils.

“At the Mackerode property, lambs are put under the trees in the summer time and they eat the carob pods that drop on the ground – they’re 30 to 50 per cent sugar – and we supplement feed the lambs under the trees where they also enjoy the shade in the summer.”

About 90% of the cattle produced at Princess Royal are exported to Europe and China, with much of their lamb also exported overseas.

Princess Royal employs about 85 staff, plus seasonal workers during busy periods.

A rich history and a promising future

Mr Rowe grew up around the livestock buying industry, learning the trade from his father Bob, who passed away in 2013.

The family bought Princess Royal Station in 2000, in a partnership, later taking it over solely.

It is a property that is undoubtedly steeped in history.

Once part of the copper mining settlement, alongside the Monster Mine which became one of the biggest of its time and responsible for the establishment of Burra itself, there were grand plans for Princess Royal to do the same and for a township to be developed in the same name.

But the mining was not so successful, and it was sold off as pastoral land in 1860.

And while this history is not lost on Mr Rowe, as current custodian who now lives in the property’s heritage-listed homestead, it is what the future holds for future generations – his three children, and his grandchildren – that most excites him.

Along with his wife, Andrea, Mr Rowe says he is proud that his children Jack, Katherine and Rebecca, are making their own mark in the family business.

All three children were keenly involved in mustering and working with livestock in their younger years before heading off to boarding school in the city.

But Mr Rowe credits his passion for the agriculture industry for instilling the same drive in his children.

While he is still involved in the day-to-day running of the property, he is excited that the future is in their hands.

A family legacy to future generations

“The main responsibility for the property is with (the children) now, I know I can’t rule it from the grave so it’s up to them to take it forward or decide what they will do in the future,” Mr Rowe said.

“But I’m very proud that they’ve all come home. There’s not many operations where they can get a walk-up start like they have in a reasonably large business.

“I used to hear comments from farmers who said if they had all daughters they’d sell the farm, but it’s a different world now, and in many ways I think some of the girls can run properties better than the boys – they have a real ability to make common sense decisions.

“But for all my kids, and now my grandkids if it carries on, they’re going to have an exciting time going forward in agriculture.”

Do you have story like the Rowes – or know someone who does? We want to share the stories of innovation and farm life with the rest of Australia. Drop us a line: content@nff.org.au.

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The history is not lost on current custodians the Hayes family, who took over the pastoral lease in 1906.

But as the dust rises behind a mob of cattle being gently walked in, quad bikes whirring at the rear, ready to truck them south to market, the focus is firmly on the future for the family cattle enterprise.

Baby Hudson, the latest addition to the family, is settling into life on the station, and family matriarch Nicole Hayes says there is plenty to be excited about for the future. 

“Now that we’ve got four grandchildren, I suppose you think even more about the next generations coming through and it is exciting. It’s a time when there’s so much research being done to make things better for the cattle industry.

There’s a lot of money being spent and work being done to make sure that livestock are well looked after and we’re putting out a great product.”

A haven in the Territory

The Undoolya homestead is 13 kilometres east of Alice Springs, on the property which spans 144,000 hectares across the rocky McDonnell Ranges to the north, to the flood plains along the Tod River and Emily and Jessie Creek systems. 

Ben and Nicole Hayes, who have four daughters and a son, run about 5,000-head of Poll Hereford cattle, depending on the season.

The first to introduce the Poll Hereford breed to Central Australia in the 1940s, it is another reflection of the Hayes family’s pioneering approach to Northern Territory agriculture. 

Across the station, buffel grass is starting to shoot, feed is aplenty following some timely winter rain, and Nicole reflects on the past that has brought them to where they are today. 

“Ben’s family came up here in 1884, they were doing the Overland Telegraph line, replacing the poles with steel oppenheimers because the white ants had eaten the wooden poles,” Nicole said.

“So the Hayes family have been in the area for a very long time and worked around the place until they bought a property to the south of us and then purchased more land to the west.  

“In 1906, William and Mary Hayes purchased Undoolya and the family have been here ever since.”

Caring for the herd

“The main focus has always been cattle, but in the early days they used to also breed horses to be used as remounts back in the war, and there were also goats and sheep were also brought onto the property as well.”

Life runs at a fairly calm pace most of the time at Undoolya, a far cry from the adrenalin-pumping action some of us might picture thanks to outback docuseries on our television screens. 

Aside from some occasional heli-mustering out in the Ranges country, Nicole said the pace might seem a little sedate, but it was just how the family liked it.

From prime cattle country, the Hayes family remain immensely proud of their quality stock, which are mainly processed in Australia and end up on Australian and international supermarket shelves.

Nicole says we should not let their final destination fool us into thinking they do not care about their stock, it is by far the opposite.

“Sometimes people think that we don’t care about how the animal is raised,” she said.

“At some point we do have to shut off a little when we load them up to truck them for slaughter and not think about that side of it, but when they’re in our hands we want to make sure they have the best sort of life that we can give them.

When they’re in our hands we want to make sure they have the best sort of life that we can give them.”

“And when you think about some of the biosecurity risks, it does scare us a bit that if foot and mouth or lumpy skin (disease) got into Australia it would threaten our industry and we would have to destroy our herd. 

“Ben’s family have spent generations growing the herd to where it is now, and the thought that we’d have to put them all down is heartbreaking, it would be extremely hard and it’s something we hope we never see.

“It is hard to explain the connection (farmers) have with their stock, but they mean a lot to us.”

The changing face of modern cattle production

While the handling of the cattle is one thing that has not changed across the generations at Undoolya, the paperwork has, on industry and consumer demand.

However, if it means the meat can be traced right back to Undoolya, the family is proud of what they are producing and always striving to improve. 

“When we load a truck now it probably takes longer to fill out the paperwork than it does to load the cattle,” Nicole said. 

“It’s quite a process just to make sure there’s traceability, but what hasn’t changed is that we’re still trying to produce a quality product and always pushing for more information so we can achieve that.” 

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Well, it might be surprising to know, berry production has moved a long way from the romantic image we might conjure up in our imaginations of pickers down on hands and knees, gathering the bounty into gingham-lined baskets.

These days, it is a sophisticated operation, and Tasmanian farmer and lawyer Stephanie Terry and her husband Andrew are leading the way, constantly evolving to stay ahead of the game.

AI in farming

“There’s a lot of AI (artificial intelligence) and technology involved in how we’re growing things, how plant health is monitored, how irrigation systems deliver fertiliser and water to plants,” Stephanie said.

“We’ve got a huge amount of skill sets working with our business now, we have a CFO (chief financial officer), myself as an in-house lawyer and a HR (human resources) manager, which are all quite specific and not traditional farming roles, and many other larger scale farms and especially those with intensive production are the same.

I guess a big misconception is that farming is just old men in flannelette shirts in a tractor out in the paddock, chewing a piece of straw.

“It’s actually much more sophisticated and skilled, and it’s all about being sustainable, innovative and ahead of the game using technology.”

Starting from scratch

While Andrew grew up farming, together he and Stephanie started their farm from scratch, learning along the way and working with what was available.

They have built the business to become a leading berry, cropping and cattle enterprise near Exton in central northern Tasmania, with a site at Christmas Hills, and a third site at Bundaberg in Queensland.

The business, Tasmanian Berries, is an independent grower for Driscolls Australia, producing berries from 50 hectares of infrastructure and plants in Tasmania and 2ha at the new Queensland site known as Sunshine Berries, with plans to develop another 8ha by mid-2024.

And the technology they are using is advancing rapidly.

Data collection apps built in-house, along with purchased apps, are helping provide the business with climate data, irrigation monitoring and automation, chemical application and timing, HR, payroll, production and operational tasks, harvest and production data collection and farm safety and reporting.

They are also exploring the possibility of introducing other technology, including automated tractors for fruit collection from the field and delivery to the packing shed, and are building a 4000sq/m shed to enable more efficient packing, with potential to use alterative packaging including heat sealing.

Australian first

Very early on, the business changed its strawberry production to a tabletop system to save on the backbreaking, on-ground work of the past, and they are the first in Australia to construct new gothic-style, fully automated greenhouses.

The new technology enables greater climate control and production stability for five hectares of blackberries.

“There’s two 2.5ha gothic-style greenhouses – they’re a hybrid between a glasshouse and a poly tunnel structure, and are fully-fixed to the ground,” Stephanie said.

“The tops are a gothic-style, they’re much higher than other systems at about six metres to the top of the peaks, unlike a traditional poly tunned which is more of a rainbow shape and ranging from 1.6m-4m at the highest point.”

The top vents are automated, self-controlled, enabling better temperature and humidity control, and they are double-lined for thermal insulation.

Fully-enclosed unlike the open-end poly tunnel system, they rely less on favourable weather conditions for plant growth, and the result is an extension in production opportunity.

Creating new tricks of the trade

Andrew has been working on new techniques of growing – called long cane and green cane – which involves refrigeration of the plant canes to “trick” them into thinking it is winter and releasing them into the controlled climate of the hothouse, enabling production at ‘non-traditional’ times.

For consumers, the good news is, it means more availability of berries throughout the year.

For the business, it means a flattening out of the peaks and troughs in production, also creating more stable work for their staff.

Along with locals and backpackers, many of their employees are sourced through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, formerly the Seasonal Worker Program.

“We have approximately 500 PALM workers from Timor Leste and Samoa,” Stephanie said.

“We directly employ many of the workers providing work either for six to nine months in a 12-month period, or for some, the opportunity to stay on longer-term visas of one to three years,” Stephanie said.

“It gives them an opportunity to work across our different sites and stay in the country a bit longer if they are willing and it’s more economical for them because they’re not having to travel home and come back under a new recruitment.”

Bees to berries

The Terrys have certainly created a diverse ‘mixed farming’ operation, with berries, cattle, potatoes, poppies and pasture, and now even delving into in-house beekeeping – as opposed to outsourcing the service – as a vital cog in pollinating their crops.

It is a long way from her legal career in the city where she established herself as a barrister and solicitor, but Stephanie, also a mum of three, has not looked back since moving her skills into the family business and says it is an exciting time for Australian agriculture.

“Women are making a real difference in the agriculture industry, it felt like the right time in my career to step into the business,” she said.

I knew I wasn’t missing out by leaving the ‘legal profession’ to go and work on our farm, I’m still an in-house lawyer, working in a large operation and it’s exciting because there’s a lot of growth.

“We have a workforce that is motivated and interested, and I don’t see how it’s any different going off to work in an office in town, except we’ve got fresh air and paddocks.”

The post From barrister to berry boss, how Stephanie is changing the farm game appeared first on AustralianFarmers.

Warndu – or “good” in Adnyamathanha language – was founded on tradition, sustainability and authenticity, and is now thriving across Australia and online internationally.

“It really came about through necessity,” Rebecca said.

“When Damien’s Pop was diagnosed with dementia, we saw an urgent need to protect his Adnyamathanha culture and language and knew food was a great way to do so.”

For Damien, Warndu is an opportunity to share what he describes is truly a “celebration of First Nations stories”.

Family and food connections

He said food enabled strong connection, re-connection, storytelling and experience, just as he was able to with his mother, aunties and uncles harvesting fresh urti (quandong) and other food on country as a child.

“Connection to family is the most important thing to me,” Damien said.

“It is something that has been taught to me from as early as I can remember – family comes first.

Food is always the glue, in any family. In mine it was camping on country. Sitting together and eating.

“Pop would find things like witchetty grubs and nori (sweet sap that grows on acacia trees).

“He would share them with us, and with that came a story that was from his childhood.”

Based with their two young sons in South Australia’s Clare Valley – just a hop, skip and jump to Damien’s cultural homeland in the Flinders Ranges – Warndu was established in 2016 with Sydney-based business partner Siobhan O’Toole.

Ever since, it has been making in-roads in the Indigenous food industry.

A pairing with Australia’s oldest family-owned chocolate brand, Haigh’s, offering a native-flavoured chocolate range, and increasing media and event appearances to showcase their Indigenous ingredients and traditionally-inspired recipes is playing a part on the front-line of cultural food awareness.

“Warndu is many things,” Rebecca said.

But our mission is to regenerate culture, tradition, health, seas and souls by championing Australian native foods and botanicals.

“We have a bountiful online store and ship to the world the truly local flavours of Australia.

“Our produce is sourced from all over Australia, and from our home base in Clare’s Armagh valley, we grow produce for use in our catering and education.

“It is amazing seeing people try these Indigenous flavours, often for the first time.”

Granny skills and sustainable agriculture

Rebecca, known for her Granny Skills movement – a ‘back to basics’ approach to food and home life – is a food educator, regenerative farmer, Yale World Fellow, television presenter and writer.

She has a Masters in sustainable agriculture, worked in the United Kingdom Slow Food movement and has taught natural living and cookery at River Cottage UK and The Agrarian Kitchen in Tasmania.

Damien leads Warndu’s cultural awareness and education, drawing on his Adnyamathanha and Dieri heritage of the Flinders Ranges.

He is an artist, and teacher who is now sharing his culture with local school children.

Together, the couple have written two Indigenous food cook books – Warndu Mai (Good Food): Introducing Native Australian Ingredients to your kitchen, and First Nations Food Companion: how to buy, cook, eat and grow Indigenous Australian Ingredients – adding to Rebecca’s collection of 10 books, to date, focussed on sustainable and natural living.

Bright future for Indigenous food

It is really just the beginning of their journey, and Rebecca and Damien see an exciting, bright future for the indigenous food industry.

Rebecca, a former SA Rural Woman of the Year Award finalist, hopes to encourage local farmers to consider integrating native foods into their traditional farming systems.

The couple is also working to introduce native foods to the local schools and childcare centres, and establish the family’s Armagh property into a “model of championing” Indigenous foods and culture.

“The industry has grown exponentially in the past five years and has projected to grow ten-fold in the next five,” Rebecca said.

I would encourage farmers to get on board.

“Personally, I am trying to create a climate resilient program in the wider Clare Valley by getting more farmers to integrate native foods into their systems.

“As an example, acacia or Wattleseed is nitrogen-fixing, high-protein fodder for livestock and there is scope there for Warndu to buy the seed for superfood human consumption.”

Making Elders proud

Warndu has already come a long way, and with a new generation now under his own wing, watching and learning, Damien reckons his Pop would be pretty proud of what the couple is working to achieve.

“I think he would be really proud, and I think a lot of Elders would be proud of what we’re doing,” Damien said.

“It’s coming from a place of love, care, support and respect and it’s a journey for Aboriginal Australians and non-Aboriginal Australians to come together and really take ownership of our history.

“Food is an important part of that.”

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That is where two loveable farmer characters, George the Farmer and his agronomist wife Ruby are helping change the future and put Australian-produced food and fibre in the spotlight.

George the Farmer is the brainchild of South Australian creative agency specialist, and now author, Simone Kain, who initiated the idea for developing a story book about Australian farming for her own toddler son, George, now aged 13.

“When my son George was about 18-months-old, he was absolutely obsessed with the farm,” Simone said.

“I was pregnant with his twin brothers Frank and Louis and I was trying to find some fun farming apps or books for George to keep him entertained when his brothers arrived.

In my search, all I could find were Old MacDonald-style books.

“In my search, all I could find were Old MacDonald-style books that had different terminology because they were from the UK or US and featured old farmers in overalls who collected the eggs and milked the cow by hand.

“That wasn’t what happened on our farm.

“I thought there was a great opportunity to create a character that was telling sequential stories about the real story of commercial agriculture and what really happens on farms in Australia.” 

Two years later, in 2014, the first George the Farmer interactive app was born followed, due to demand, by a series of books.

With the 13th George the Farmer picture book recently released, along with a swag of fun educational videos, educational support materials, original songs, clothing and merchandise, George the Farmer is a resounding success story.

But most importantly, little by little, that loveable farming duo George and Ruby are making a big impact.

Brown cows make chocolate milk?! No!

“Although the original idea for George was to be inspirational, when I was researching the first story, George the Farmer Plants a Wheat Crop, I came across some staggering statistics,” Simone said.

“There was a survey released in 2012 that reported 45 per cent of Australian year six kids didn’t identify everyday lunchbox items like a banana, piece of cheese or bread as originating from a farm.

“One teacher told me that one of her year eight students thought that cows had to die to give them milk.

In the US, a 2019 survey showed that 16 million adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

“These statistics blew me away, and it was then that I realised that George not only had to be inspirational, he really needed to be educational.

“Consumers have become increasingly detached from the source of their food. While there is a growing desire and more discussion around the production of ethical and sustainable food production, many people still lack knowledge of how food is produced and the effort, skill and luck from the weather gods that is required to supply clean, green produce.”

In an effort to help educate, free George the Farmer educational support material is readily available for teachers, fitting perfectly with the paddock-to-plate video series highlighting everything from beef farming to aquaculture, and honey production to apples and food waste.

“The feedback I get from teachers is that there’s so many educational resources out there trying to help teach kids about food and fibre, but there isn’t anything like what we’re doing,” Simone said.

“Our resources are quite engaging and fun and our stories seem to be resonating with kids.

“Eventually I do think it will make a massive difference in terms of kids’ knowledge because they grow up to become adults and consumers in their own right.

“We need to start influencing and educating them younger so that they can dispel those false myths about agriculture and help support farmers.”

Big dreams for George and the farm story

Simone lives near Penola in the South East of South Australia with her beef and sheep farmer husband Justin and three sons, George, 13, and Frank and Louis, 10.

Having grown up on a farm herself, agriculture is in her blood and Simone is as passionate as ever about sharing the amazing and innovative work happening on Australian farms.

“We’re working on producing and releasing a podcast pretty soon on careers in agriculture for kids and another free teaching resource around that, which will come out mid-year hopefully,” she said.

“I’d like to produce another app, and I’m really hoping some day soon we will be able to produce an animated television series and get that off the ground and help make George the next big kids hit.

“I know that one day, kids right around the world will love learning from two iconic farmers called George and Ruby from Australia.”

To find out more and for resources for families and teachers click here.

The post How George the Farmer is changing startling statistics appeared first on AustralianFarmers.

But behind the scenes, the proud family business is working hard to ensure they are using the most advanced and environmentally-friendly technology to get the food they grow onto supermarket shelves.

From innovative glasshouses to tiny “warrior” bugs working away to combat pests, head grower Will Millis says it is an exciting time to be in the industry and he is keen to educate people about how to get the ultimate flavour experience from produce.

For example, did you know Flavorite tomatoes are vine-ripened to perfection and that we should be eating the tomato at the top of the truss first as it was the first to ripen, giving us potentially an extra five days shelf-life for others on the truss?

Or that tomatoes really are best left out of the fridge to maintain their flavour?

Will is happy to chat all day about Flavorite’s tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers and blueberries.

 And there is a lot to know, but perhaps some of the most exciting is what most of us do not see – the technological advances that are continually being made to the way their produce is grown and the varieties they grow.

Things have come a long way since Will’s father Mark established the business with Warren Nichol in 1993, when Will was just 18-years-old.

“It has changed massively over that time, and the actual physical structures and technology is now far superior,” Will said.

With a huge 65-hectares of glasshouses – 650,000 square metres – Flavorite has some of the most progressive growing systems available.

“In the glasshouses where we’re growing the produce, it’s all climate-controlled and throughout the whole glasshouse we’re measuring humidity, temperature and able to control everything about the growing environment.

“They are constructed from diffused glass, which allows the light to spread through the glasshouse, taking away some of the intensity but enabling better penetration.

“The glass is also anti-reflective coated which ensures that 97 per cent of usable light is transmitted into the glasshouse, making a massive difference to production.” 

This means they need less ground space to produce well above what could be achieved three decades ago.

Water efficiency is also vital, and at Flavorite’s Warragul site, they have storage for more than 200 megalitres of rainwater collected off the roof and 100 per cent – “every drop” – of water put onto their tomato plants is either taken up by the plant or recycled.

Those tiny bugs mentioned earlier are like little armies of workers. These naturally-occurring insects are being used in the glasshouses to combat pests, and in some instances eradicate the need to use chemicals or at the very least, significantly reduce usage.

Further advances in technology means Flavorite – also one of Australia’s biggest seedling producers – already has its sights set on taking its environmental responsibilities even further.

“There are new products becoming available overseas now with biodegradable equipment, so at the end of a plant’s life our crop waste could be recycled into compost or similar in the future,” Will said.

One thing that has not changed in the past 30 years is the family’s commitment to providing premium, delicious produce.

“Every little thing we do creates a better tomato or a better tasting tomato,” Will said.

“Flavour was what drove my father to establish this business, and our focus is always on taste.

“The name is Flavorite, and it’s really important that we’re not just looking for high-yielding varieties, but they need to taste fantastic.”

The Millis family is just one of the many Australian agricultural businesses at the forefront of innovation and technology. To learn more about the backstories of Australian farming, check out The Backstory Series.

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