COLUMN: A real journey of learning on return trip Down Under
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From the farm by Victoria Ballantyne
The first farming column of the year comes from Western Australia where I will spend the next 10 days visiting farms as part of my Nuffield Farming Scholarship.
I’ve spent the Christmas period with my family in northern New South Wales. It has been a long three years since I was last here.
I left Brora in early December, skipping town just before the first snow arrived, leaving Jason to deal with frozen troughs and icy conditions.
Arriving in Christchurch, New Zealand, I tried to put my imposter syndrome aside, starting with a meeting the first morning after a long flight.
The saying at Nuffield is “doors slamming open” and I was incredibly fortunate to visit and stay with farming families, who along with being at the top of their game were wonderfully hospitable people.
The productive Canterbury plains showcase what really good rotational cropping combined with livestock grazing can look like. Further north the high country farms are all about scale and enterprise diversity, though the scenery is equally as impressive.
My nine days flew by and I would love to have stayed longer. I look forward to returning in the not too distant future.
From there I went on to southern NSW for a whirlwind tour of some excellent livestock businesses.
Nearly all of these were in the process of expanding, mostly through buying
more land despite the rapidly increasing prices. I have noticed before that along with being very resilient to challenges, Australian farmers tend to have a different approach to risk.
Most farms I visited were producing breeding animals (rams, bulls, ewes, heifers). Though I also visited a dairy and a few commercial (non- breeding) farms which proved just as thought- provoking, particularly around human resource management.
If I were to sum up what I’ve taken away so far the strong messages are:
Labour challenges are not going away and all farmers will need to develop lower input systems that allow them to reduce and retain employees.
The right genetics will enable the management systems required for the future.
Succession (future planning for family farming businesses) is vital and must be addressed early to prevent both relationship and business breakdown
Data is king. Businesses using data to drive decision- making and investing in high-value genetics had more profitable animals and better animal welfare outcomes.
Shedding/no wool sheep are likely to become the dominant crossbred worldwide in the coming years.
Food security, environmental considerations and rural culture must all be considered when planning future policy.
We can’t compete on scale so Scotland must target high-end markets by producing high-quality, good eating, high IMF (intra muscular fat) meat.
I have a lot of interesting visits lined up in WA before heading back to Scotland. However, with temperatures hitting 40c this week, it may be hard to take it all in.
In many ways it is not the conversations around my topic (maternal animal selection) but rather all the other titbits you pick up from people along the way that make this a true learning journey.
I’m so grateful to my wonderful and supportive husband for encouraging and enabling me on this adventure. Let’s hope 2023 is a more settled year for everyone – though I’m not holding my breath.
