0:06

This is Seeds for Success, a

0:08

show where we have a good yarn about ag life

0:11

with producers who are having a go.

0:14

On the show, you'll hear from farmers in New South Wales

0:16

who are out there battling the elements, making

0:19

tough calls, and getting the job done.

0:22

You'll get a laugh out of some of their stories,

0:24

and also pick up some know- how along the way.

0:27

I'm your host, Neroli Brennan. Today,

0:34

we're sitting down with Katrina Swift.

0:36

Katrina, or Trine to her friends, is

0:39

a director and agronomist in her

0:41

family's farming business, Kebby & Watson,

0:44

with farms at (Nelungaloo) and Tichborne near

0:47

Parkes. Trine and her

0:49

family operate a dry land farming

0:51

operation, which has a huge diversity

0:53

of crop types, including regional

0:55

staples like wheat and canola, but

0:58

also summer crops, including mung

1:00

beans and sorghum. In

1:02

this episode, Trine talks to us

1:05

about how the diversity of crops grown

1:07

is a risk mitigation strategy,

1:09

but also means that their operation

1:12

is busy year round.

1:14

While it has supplied some challenges,

1:17

it has allowed them to reduce

1:19

casual labor and utilize machinery

1:21

and permanent staff more effectively.

1:25

She shares with us some of her tips for

1:27

growing summer crops in the central west,

1:29

and highlights, while they can be very profitable,

1:32

they aren't for the fainthearted. You'll

1:35

also hear Trine talk about how utilizing

1:37

her business and banking background has

1:39

influenced the family farm with

1:42

a focus on professionalism and

1:44

safety in their business. Local

1:46

Land Services meets farming advisor,

1:49

Rohan Leach. Caught up with Katrina

1:51

for a chat around the kitchen table

1:53

at Parkes Plains.

1:58

G'day, listeners. Today, I'm with

2:01

Trine Swift out at Malangaloo.

2:03

Trine, welcome to the Seeds for Success

2:05

podcast.

2:06

Thanks, Rohan. Great to be sitting around the kitchen table.

2:10

Could you just start off by giving me a bit

2:13

of a rundown of your farm

2:15

here at Parkes Plains?

2:17

Look, we're cropping with

2:19

my family farm. I grew up at Tichborne in

2:21

Central West New South Wales, obviously, south

2:24

of Parkes, and one of our blocks

2:26

here is at Malangaloo. I'm farming

2:28

with my parents, my

2:30

brother and my husband.

2:32

That's everyone involved in the business?

2:33

No. My sister- in- law's also in the business,

2:36

and then we have a number

2:38

of fantastic employees.

2:40

Big family operation.

2:41

Yeah, keeping us out of mischief.

2:44

So, how's that dynamic

2:46

working with family?

2:48

We've probably been here 120

2:51

years south of Parkes when

2:53

my great great grandfather moved up from Victoria.

2:56

So, yeah, multi- generational. Well,

2:58

I find it a bit unique in my position

3:00

where I've got a husband that's come back into

3:03

our business, which doesn't happen that often,

3:05

but, no, good fun. It's

3:08

got its challenges, but you work through

3:10

those, like any business.

3:12

So, you've got the property at Tichborne

3:14

here. Any other properties?

3:16

No. We're mainly spread west and south

3:18

of Parkes. So, yeah, fairly

3:20

close now. We had branched out

3:22

to Eugowra, but we've consolidated back

3:24

in one spot just because of logistical challenges.

3:27

How many hectares have you got on those

3:29

places?

3:30

We've got about 4, 000 arable or hectares

3:33

in the Kebi & Watson aggregation.

3:36

And maybe talk me through your enterprise

3:38

mix.

3:39

Look, we're all dry land cropping, Rowan.

3:42

We can grow up to 13 different crops at any

3:44

time. We're all about

3:46

opportunity, keeping our rotations

3:49

fairly consistent amongst

3:51

broad leaves, pulses, oil

3:54

seeds and cereals, so

3:56

just in terms of being able to mix it up and

3:59

make sure that we're using the tools

4:01

we can to reduce resistance whilst

4:04

remaining profitable. We'll grow wheat,

4:07

barley, canola, so the staples

4:09

around here. We'll also

4:11

throw in pulses such as chickpeas.

4:13

We've doubled in lentils, we'll probably go back into

4:15

them again. Field peas,

4:17

we've had a double in cotton

4:19

in the past, but we can't manage the

4:22

drift or chemical trespass with it in this

4:25

area. We've had challenges with rail

4:27

and all sorts of things around that with

4:29

a new enterprise in a new area.

4:32

We also grow mung beans and sorghum

4:34

over summer. We'll grow lupins

4:36

as well. Fairly broad

4:39

range of crops. Triticale for

4:41

stock feed and for dairy. Lots of different pies.

4:44

That's a really diverse range of crops.

4:46

Yeah, that comment you said about

4:48

bringing a new crop into a new area, a

4:50

lot of people have had that same challenge with

4:52

particularly cotton being so sensitive to four

4:55

Ds, haven't they?

4:56

And it's a lot of things you just don't think of. We have had

4:58

to set up areas with rail.

5:00

Especially growing summer cropping with ARTC,

5:03

we've set up sensitive areas for spraying rail

5:05

corridors, things that we just didn't know we'd have

5:07

to venture into. We're

5:10

in an area where winter crop comes

5:12

off just before Christmas, everyone's in

5:14

a hurry to get crop sprayed

5:16

to actually have some downtime, which is really important.

5:19

So, we're still working on

5:21

getting drift like everyone in the state, and we've just

5:23

got to try and work with the tools we get.

5:25

We can grow cotton here, and it'll be

5:27

fantastic when we can, but

5:30

just not yet.

5:31

Lots of different crops. Which one's been

5:34

maybe one of the more obscure or more

5:36

interesting ones that you've dealt with?

5:39

I love growing mung beans. They're one

5:41

of my favorite crops. It's

5:43

a challenge. They're not as

5:46

specific with their growth stages

5:48

as something like cotton that you can particularly work

5:50

through. There's a lot of work growing

5:53

mung beans this far south, for starters,

5:56

and dry land. There's

5:58

a lot of challenges with what chemical we can

6:00

and can't use on them, it's a food grade crop,

6:03

and then what's our end uses for them as well. So,

6:05

really developing that market, hopefully. Everywhere

6:08

I go in Asia when I'm traveling they're

6:11

eating mung beans, and we just don't eat them as much here,

6:13

whether it's in your sweet and savory desserts.

6:15

You probably have a pretty diverse soil type across your

6:18

farms?

6:19

We're mainly sandy clay loams,

6:21

and we go into silty

6:23

clay loams over here. Sandy

6:26

clays, look, they're fantastic

6:29

in a wet year. We can get back on them.

6:32

They do hold moisture at depth, so that's fantastic.

6:35

For summer cropping, we can

6:37

virtually crop most of the place as well, so

6:39

that's good. These heavier crop types

6:41

over here, there's

6:43

just some diversity across the program. We have

6:45

got acid soils. We've been working since

6:47

about '94, '95

6:50

with Sydney Water BioSil program to

6:53

with amended product initially,

6:55

and now one of the few places

6:57

have got a hard stand EPA

7:00

registered to

7:02

actually hold BioSil product,

7:04

and then we'll use that as part of our fertilizer

7:07

program with lime (distin) at this

7:09

time of year in front of crop.

7:10

You've talked pretty technically about crops

7:13

and soil regimes there.

7:15

Maybe you've tipped your hand already, but what

7:18

is your role within the business?

7:20

I'm a director in our business, so in the family

7:22

operation. I've got a banking

7:24

background with NAB Bank, and then

7:26

I also did a few years at Sydney Uni

7:29

with ag science, so I've also got

7:31

a strong agronomy, well, not a strong agronomy,

7:33

but I've got a strong agronomy-

7:34

And that's the train in the background.

7:37

And that's the train going past, straight to Perth. Look,

7:40

I've always had an interest in agronomy.

7:42

I did a few years at ag science at Sydney Uni.

7:46

Look, that's always been a passion. I went banking

7:48

for a number of years, so my role in the business

7:50

has probably reflected that.

7:53

When we started summer cropping, we really couldn't

7:55

find anyone that was willing to take on the

7:57

agronomy for it full- time because

8:00

that's the normal down season in this area

8:02

at that point, and for this area it's

8:04

a little bit obscure. Go to Forbes, which

8:06

is not far away, but that's all irrigated. I

8:08

took on the agronomy for the summer crops here,

8:11

and then, yeah, a bit of the general

8:13

business management within the farm.

8:15

Probably ag and agronomy have typically

8:17

been very male dominated industries.

8:20

What's been your experience?

8:22

It's been mixed. As I said, I started at

8:24

Sydney Uni, I went to women's college,

8:26

and look, my ag group,

8:29

it was lots of women.

8:31

I may believe that you also went to uni with

8:33

Neroli Brennan.

8:34

I did.

8:36

The voice of Seeds for Success.

8:38

Yes. Nes actually grew up

8:40

across the road from where I live now, so I've

8:42

known Neroli for a long time. But

8:45

I then went to Marcus Oldham down in Victoria

8:47

for my third and fourth year, and

8:51

there was two women in my course,

8:53

so it was a big change from Sydney Uni.

8:55

That probably hasn't changed really

8:58

since then. If you go into the service industries,

9:01

there's a lot of women also in

9:04

livestock, but not so much

9:06

in cropping, and that probably reflects

9:09

the difficulty to stay involved in

9:11

cropping through your childbearing years,

9:13

and when you've got small children it's

9:15

not a enterprise that's very

9:18

family friendly.

9:19

I know from experience from friends

9:21

of mine in the industry, and it's hard to

9:23

be a part- time agronomist

9:25

working two or three days a week, which is what

9:28

a lot of young mothers want to do, isn't it?

9:30

It is. We went

9:32

down the track of getting au pairs when my children were really

9:34

little so I could be out the door at

9:36

5:00 and 6: 00 AM when bugs

9:38

are out for checking and it was a bit cooler,

9:41

but that was a period

9:43

of time. But when you're half

9:45

an hour to town, so you're an hour

9:48

travel in the morning just to get back to the paddock by the

9:50

time you drop off to daycare, often they don't

9:52

do breakfast. There was just too many

9:54

challenges in that. Then heavy

9:56

machinery is not the best spot

9:58

for small children, so everyone's

10:00

different on how they take that, but we

10:03

made the choice that we wouldn't have

10:05

kids around trappers a lot when

10:07

they're little. We live on a train line and

10:09

there's just very little room for mistakes

10:12

and if people are running tired,

10:14

it only takes two seconds.

10:16

So, you've got a fairly strong focus

10:18

on safety in the business then as

10:20

well.

10:21

We try to. I think we've all

10:23

got a duty care to make sure that

10:26

our family and our employees come home

10:28

to their families safely every

10:30

night. We are trying to put

10:32

new things in place. Last year

10:35

I started bringing in Apple watches if people

10:37

have got their phone in a tractor

10:39

and something happened when they're out checking up a (inaudible) or something,

10:42

they could still make a call. Little things

10:44

like that. It's becoming more challenging.

10:46

We've got lots of challenges with the special activation

10:48

precinct coming into parks with reduced

10:51

Telstra service, so we've had to go to

10:53

repeaters all of a sudden on

10:55

a lot of our vehicles, because our

10:58

service has been reduced with parks growing,

11:00

the radius of services come back. So,

11:03

that provides challenges with safety.

11:05

But, yeah, we've put everyone through first

11:07

aid and we're just in

11:09

the process of building some silos. As

11:13

part of that, everyone's doing their working with heights

11:15

training. Yeah, it's fantastic

11:17

that we've got access to that training through Tocal

11:20

and other service providers.

11:22

Farmers are probably accused a lot of the time of being

11:26

probably pretty fast and loose, especially with their

11:28

own family members. But I guess when you've got

11:30

other employees to think about, you just can't

11:32

afford not to take those measures, can you?

11:34

No, we can't. We

11:37

have fantastic employees and we've got

11:39

to value their time. They're long, long- term

11:41

employees. It's their career, and

11:44

they're skilled people. They're qualified

11:47

mechanics, they've come from a

11:49

professional background, and

11:51

if we want to retain those staff, we've

11:54

got to try and up skill and provide

11:56

that professional workplace for them where

11:59

they have access to training

12:02

and to safety.

12:03

How many staff are you running at the moment?

12:05

We've got four at the moment.

12:06

And what's your retention? I know probably you're very

12:09

busy during harvest and sewing.

12:11

There are four permanent staff. We

12:13

just run with those four permanents. We

12:15

don't actually bring in casuals usually during

12:18

harvest and sewing. We just push through.

12:21

We try and manage our shifts around

12:23

workflow, and we find

12:26

that we've got better productivity without

12:29

having to train up backpackers or casuals.

12:32

With the detail in our machinery

12:35

now, it's very hard to bring someone

12:37

up to skill. We only get one chance at things

12:39

like sewing. If we get it wrong, we

12:41

don't get another go for another six months to 12

12:43

months. We've retained good staff,

12:45

we've got some staff that have been with us over 10 years

12:48

now, and young staff, we value

12:50

them.

12:50

It'd probably be fairly unique in the cropping

12:53

industry in not having any casual

12:55

staff. Are you able to have those

12:57

full- time guys on because you've

13:00

got such a diverse range of crops that you grow?

13:02

Because we have summer and winter cropping,

13:04

we are virtually busy 12 months of the year.

13:07

That's our biggest challenge, and

13:09

probably our biggest challenge is making sure we do have downtime

13:11

and structuring that in. We're still learning that,

13:14

because isn't a definite

13:16

downtime for us now, and now that we've

13:18

got families that have got kids in school

13:21

and working around that shared load around

13:23

school holidays, and school holidays don't always

13:25

work. This year we'll be sewing

13:28

Easter holidays, so it provides

13:30

challenges. If it's dry, we won't be,

13:33

but if it's wet, it's all hands on deck.

13:35

That probably leads into my next topic really

13:37

well. Maybe just a recap of the

13:39

large scale ones that you do regularly.

13:42

We normally grow sorghum,

13:44

mung beans, mung beans more when the season

13:46

presents. Sorghum is grown on a long fallow.

13:49

We've probably got about 1, 300 hectares

13:52

of sorghum in this year, which is a fairly

13:54

big plant for us. It could have been a bit bigger, but we

13:56

had significant damage with the floods in November,

13:59

so some of the crop didn't

14:01

actually get in, and then some crop, it

14:04

started raining in April and didn't stop

14:06

for us, so some of our winter crop didn't get in, so

14:08

we left it out and then put it in

14:10

for summer crop. So, we're a little

14:12

bit out of sequence there, but

14:15

that would be a bigger area for us. We also

14:17

grow mung beans on opportunity. Yeah,

14:20

they're all obviously export for human consumption.

14:23

We try and grow top grade if

14:25

we can, so that's our usual program.

14:28

What is your sequence? You've talked about your

14:30

sequence.

14:31

Look, we'll normally go in following

14:33

something like BioSil, go into canola and

14:36

then back into wheat and then potentially

14:38

into a legume or barley. We'll

14:42

throw in sorghum

14:44

towards the end, and then

14:47

we might go back into canola and then disc

14:49

it up again. It just varies. But it is fairly

14:51

set in terms we try not to grow

14:54

a cereal followed by a

14:57

cereal and cereal or wheat, barley,

14:59

canola. We're just finding we're having too many issues

15:02

with disease pushing up, and

15:04

we haven't got that pasture phase,

15:06

which we might have to bring back in again to

15:09

mix it up, because nature's got a great way

15:11

of working out systems. My

15:13

husband did a Nuffield scholarship and we spent

15:15

a bit of time with Dwayne Beck in the US

15:17

looking at his systems and how to

15:20

work around bugs and weeds.

15:22

Yeah, his big

15:24

thing at the time was make sure you've

15:26

got a double great crop if you can in between.

15:30

What have been some of the big challenges in the past few

15:32

years?

15:34

Drought and then too much rain, really, and mice in

15:36

between. It's been a challenging five years.

15:39

We got heavily impacted by mice

15:41

in 2021. Sorghum

15:45

was baited quite a lot aerially. I've

15:48

got two springer spaniels that are asleep underneath

15:50

the table. I used them to find mice holes when

15:52

I was checking.

15:53

Just as long as they're not finding the bait as well.

15:55

Yeah, no, no bait at that point. I

15:58

think mice are going to be an ongoing

16:00

issue, especially when we haven't got stock

16:02

in our system to eat that excess grain. Other

16:06

challenges, particularly last year, was any sort

16:08

of weed control. We really

16:10

averaged an inch every week last year. Throughout

16:13

winter it rained every week, which we never

16:15

thought we could blow out September with

16:17

too much rain in October, but last year

16:19

I think we did. We've

16:21

got some weed legacies, weather we

16:23

couldn't get on crop last year and

16:26

on fellows, and also

16:28

that have come down in blood waters. I

16:31

think feather top roads grass is going to be an ongoing

16:33

challenge. Windmill grass is definitely

16:35

a challenge that we've got to work through, and

16:37

general resistance, we just need to pull

16:40

into the toolbox and use some of these new technologies

16:42

rather than just relying on herbicides.

16:44

What herbicide resistance are you fighting with

16:46

at the moment?

16:47

I think everyone's fighting in this area.

16:51

A lot of people are picking up glyphosate

16:53

resistance, they're also picking up

16:55

other group resistance, so it's

16:57

fairly widespread. I think most people

16:59

that think they haven't got it potentially do,

17:02

and you mightn't have it, and then you

17:04

get a flood and you've got it all of a sudden. That's

17:07

just the way we've got to keep on mixing

17:09

it up with rotations. Rather than

17:12

just going to the newest chemistry all the time, use

17:14

a bit of steel, and we can't be purist.

17:16

We went down the purest road

17:19

with minimum tillage, and

17:21

we've been burnt with frost and

17:24

we've got challenges.

17:24

Because your stubbles were too heavy?

17:27

Stubbles are too heavy, especially in front of canola.

17:29

Yep. You just don't get that. You've got the...

17:32

I think it's new cleaning bacteria

17:34

they found in WA. We

17:36

noticed with a neighbor that had plowed

17:39

in front of his canola, he was

17:41

across the fence, we'd kept all, we'd done the purest

17:43

thing and kept our stubbles, he didn't get

17:45

frosted and we did. So, it

17:48

gave us the chance to delve deeper

17:50

into that from there.

17:52

The central west is fairly renowned for having

17:54

hot dry summers. In particular

17:57

this February just gone has been

17:59

very hot and very dry. How

18:01

have your summer crops fared this year?

18:04

Summer cropping has been very challenging this year. We

18:06

planted and then got

18:09

a major flood three days later on country

18:11

that in 60 years

18:13

has never been flooded since we've owned it. We

18:16

had some banking of water behind railway

18:18

and railways gave, so we

18:20

had water that would normally go down one

18:22

creek system actually go cross country

18:24

to another creek system and flood

18:26

whole new areas. So, we lost a whole sorghum

18:29

plant there that had to be resown,

18:31

and lost a lot of top soil nutrition

18:34

and our pre sewing herbicide.

18:37

So, this year's been a

18:39

challenge. We've also not

18:41

had any rain since virtually we

18:43

planted, so we've had

18:45

some pollen blasting. We have

18:49

a fairly varied sewing,

18:51

so not all the crop is flowering.

18:53

We don't get pollen blast all at one point, so,

18:57

look, it won't be anything fantastic. Last year

18:59

we pulled up to eight tons off, this

19:01

year won't be anywhere near that. But last

19:03

year was one of those seasons where you pinch yourself and you

19:05

say, " I probably won't see this

19:07

again for a while." But we can do it.

19:10

What are some strategies that you use to minimize your risk in

19:13

the summer cropping?

19:16

The main things is to not be flowering

19:18

in those peak heat periods

19:20

in January. Mung

19:23

beans are a bit the same. If

19:25

you grow a bit more of an indeterminate crop, it will

19:27

have another go at flowering if you get the rainfall,

19:30

but not necessarily. It's

19:34

very much we'll

19:36

sew mung beans usually in

19:38

late December, early January. We

19:40

won't go with the earlier spring plant, usually.

19:43

It's just been too hard in this area. Sorghum

19:46

will actually plant usually in November, and

19:49

we'll probably push a bit later into December.

19:51

We are just in the process of setting up a

19:54

grain drying system on

19:56

farm that we won't be

19:59

limited at the end of the season by

20:01

drying down and getting our moisture down,

20:04

and it also helps us manage sewing

20:06

and harvest if we can harvest

20:09

a crop a little bit greener or when it's not

20:11

quite at moisture or a bit later when

20:14

we hit winter and we can get it off.

20:15

So, when are you aiming to harvest your sorghum?

20:18

Probably in the next month. By

20:22

mid- April we'll be wanting to have some of it off. Yeah.

20:24

Some of the later stuff won't be there, but

20:27

it was delayed with soil

20:29

dried out very quickly after the flood. It was

20:31

too wet and then it was too dry. We

20:33

don't normally have that challenge, but we did this year. I think that's

20:37

just the nature of everything just baked

20:40

after that flood.

20:41

So, growing maybe a risky summer crop

20:44

in this mixed farming zone, what

20:46

do you have to say to maybe

20:48

people that put the blinkers

20:50

on and don't want to know about it?

20:52

We're trying something new. We're also

20:55

trying to remain profitable. We're trying to

20:57

grow food in a changing

20:59

environment. We're getting more summer rainfall down

21:01

here. Parks can get rainfall

21:04

any month of the year. We're not really summer or winter

21:06

dominant, like we used to be, and

21:09

I think the last 50 years of

21:11

the 1, 900s was a lot more winter

21:13

dominant. But my career, since

21:15

2000, we've

21:17

been spread throughout any

21:20

time of the year, so we are

21:23

really trying to push the system. We've

21:25

got new varieties. When we went to minimum

21:27

tillage and control traffic and moisture

21:29

retention, it opened up another

21:31

whole box of moisture

21:34

management for us and what we

21:36

can do with that. So, it

21:38

means that we can grow a whole lot of different crops

21:41

that we didn't think we'd ever be able to grow before.

21:43

How long have you been doing this summer cropping

21:45

thing?

21:45

I think we started back in about 2006.

21:49

And you haven't gone broke yet.

21:52

Trying not to. Sometimes

21:55

you've got to go, " Well, this is our break crop

21:57

too, and it's not going to be the most

21:59

productive or profitable crop, but

22:02

it's providing something in a rotation

22:04

to manage challenging winter

22:06

weeds over a fallow or

22:09

giving us a chance for a long fallow to manage some summer

22:11

weeds." But the main thing is just to keep our

22:13

stubble up in front of those summer crops

22:16

just so these red soils radiate

22:18

a lot more sunlight and

22:20

we're open to

22:24

a different system to what the

22:26

northern gray clacking or heavy

22:30

vertisols have.

22:32

I know the GRDC almost

22:35

advocate in the northern half of the state

22:37

that long fallow and sorghum break

22:40

crop as a risk management

22:43

strategy. Have you got any comments on that?

22:46

We will always have a

22:48

long fallow just to get some moisture up

22:51

in front, but it allows us to

22:53

get on top of some of those challenging weeds

22:55

like dry grass, where it

22:58

does move. We've inherited

23:00

some challenges. In the nineties, we had a

23:03

great advisor called Alan Umbers, and he gave

23:06

my father some very good herbicide strategies,

23:08

and we didn't have rye grass resistance

23:11

early in the piece, but

23:13

we've inherited some of that and some of it's probably

23:16

generated as well. So, by

23:19

mixing it up with summer cropping, I'm

23:21

hoping that we are going to hold

23:24

it at bay and not hopefully improve

23:26

as long as we don't get too much downstream

23:29

and we can lift up our whole community. Hopefully,

23:32

people that do look across the fence go, " Well,

23:34

maybe that'll work for us too." But

23:37

some are cropping in this area is not for the fainthearted.

23:40

It's full on, it's 12 months of the year, and

23:42

you need to have a good team

23:44

around you. Probably

23:47

another topic is probably you really need to be really careful

23:49

to make sure you do have enough rest and you don't burn out.

23:52

That was going to be my next question, but that's some

23:55

really good advice for

23:57

people maybe thinking of dabbling in it. It's

24:00

not for the faint- hearted.

24:02

My advice last year was a few people were looking

24:05

at growing summer crops after

24:08

the challenging not being able to plant last year

24:10

and having to replant, and still not getting great

24:13

establishments was prior to

24:16

putting that crop in, make sure you get away for a week,

24:18

because it's a long hot summer

24:21

of checking and keeping attention

24:23

to details. Things happen faster with weeds

24:25

and insects in summer. You need

24:28

to be on the ball. You need to be able to pull out a

24:30

spray rig to deal with heliothis

24:32

or grasses straight

24:35

after a rainfall, because they will just out

24:37

compete a crop within a few days.

24:40

Earlier in the chat, you talked about your business structure

24:42

and how you've got fairly defined

24:44

roles within each

24:47

member of the family.

24:49

We have a number of skill sets

24:51

within our business, and we are working towards

24:53

definite defined roles. We're still on

24:55

a part or journey to get to

24:58

a very firm business structure

25:00

around those defined roles and responsibilities,

25:03

but we are working towards it. I'm

25:06

mainly responsible for summer

25:08

cropping. My brother has a ag

25:11

economics background, and his

25:13

passion has been grain marketing, so

25:16

he's in charge of grain marketing

25:18

as well as operations, and my

25:20

husband also shares that. We have a fairly

25:22

level structure. Mark's

25:26

been pulled out for the last

25:28

12 months building a silo complex,

25:31

but prior to that he was in

25:33

charge of getting crop up

25:35

very much the machinery operations

25:37

management. He's got a strong

25:40

skillset in business planning and working

25:42

out business cases for machinery

25:44

acquisition as well. My sister-

25:47

in- law, Karina, does a great job in the

25:49

office and keeping accounts

25:51

paid and keeping us

25:53

all in check with where

25:55

money goes and the day- to- day running

25:57

of a business there.

25:59

It's maybe not as conscious as

26:01

each of your passions, really.

26:02

It is. It's been an organic process.

26:05

We've also started bringing a bit more

26:07

structure in with our employees.

26:09

They've got a lot of autonomy. We brought to

26:11

new employees on in the last few years,

26:14

so the two more established

26:16

employees are mentoring the

26:18

younger employees more and taking more

26:21

autonomy and responsibility, managing

26:23

their day- to- day activities.

26:25

You're using terms like director or operations

26:27

manager. Is that conscious

26:29

and that aiming for a bit more professionalism?

26:32

Potentially, but then we all get to have

26:34

to fill out forms, we've all got to create something at some

26:36

point. I'm

26:38

not really sure if I'm a farmer or a grain grower or

26:40

what I am, but I think we

26:45

need to move towards having a bit more rigor around

26:48

our roles and responsibilities. That

26:50

can be a pitfall of having a flat structure,

26:53

but also having the flat structure's given

26:55

us a lot of freedom to

26:58

try new things. I'm forever grateful.

27:00

My father has always

27:02

encouraged us to get involved.

27:04

Go back to women in ag, very

27:07

few farmers out of the eighties encouraged their kids

27:09

to come back into agriculture, and I was very lucky

27:12

that mine did after the challenges

27:14

then. But I think we've

27:16

been given the room to

27:18

be able to make decisions to fail

27:20

and to succeed, and I'm very

27:22

grateful for that.

27:23

Trina, I've really enjoyed today's chat. I love

27:25

getting back to my glory days of agronomy.

27:28

But for my final question,

27:30

I like to ask, what is the big issue

27:33

in Australian ag at the moment?

27:35

At the moment, it's really staying profitable.

27:37

We're seeing, especially in this area,

27:39

we did have a miss last year with the floods.

27:42

We're still playing top dollar for

27:44

all of our inputs. We're paying top dollar

27:46

for good staff, and we've just

27:49

got to be really conscious of our numbers, really

27:51

conscious of making the good years

27:54

really kick goals and also

27:57

pushing back with industry

27:59

and that we're all in this together. We

28:02

need vibrant communities, we

28:04

need to keep agriculture, we

28:06

all need food, we need to keep it as a relevant industry.

28:09

I have just got back

28:11

from Singapore for a long weekend

28:14

visiting my best friend, and

28:16

just realizing how

28:18

much they value food and land over

28:20

there. We just have a plethora

28:22

of that, and I don't think we value it enough as Australians.

28:26

I think we need to ensure that people

28:28

see us as relevant and

28:31

ensure that we do stay viable,

28:33

because we have a responsibility to look after

28:36

this land and this

28:38

environment.

28:40

I really like that answer. You've talked about the

28:42

local level of farmers

28:44

needing to be viable and profitable, and that

28:46

then creates a vibrant community

28:48

and able to look after the

28:51

land and lots of layers to that answer,

28:53

Trine. It's a good answer.

28:54

I want my kids to come back into agriculture. I don't

28:56

care if they go and do aeronautical science

28:59

and they come back and learn and develop

29:01

drones. I want to be able to provide

29:03

great research opportunities. I haven't

29:05

talked about it today, but I work with a little

29:08

not- for- profit out of Narrabri

29:10

called Wheat Research Foundation. We lease

29:12

land to Sydney Uni. We've just spent $

29:14

16 million building a new

29:16

research facility up there, and that is to try

29:18

and embed relevant

29:21

agriculture in a farming area

29:24

so we can continue to

29:27

lead the world in our research and

29:29

capacity.

29:37

And just provide a destination for those highly skilled, educated people in the bush.

29:37

Absolutely. We need to be able to encourage, we need to be

29:39

like (inaudible) in

29:41

Mexico, which is one of the leading wheat

29:43

breeding facilities, we need to be able to encourage people

29:45

from there to go, " Look, there's great

29:47

destinations in Australia, and it's not

29:49

a big culture shock for me to come here, and

29:52

I can develop my career." By

29:55

doing that, we become a

29:58

career of choice, and we get the best and the

30:00

brightest to grow food, which

30:03

we all need food every day.

30:04

Great. Thanks for your time today, and thanks for coming on the

30:06

podcast, Trine.

30:07

Thanks, Rohan. It's been fun.

30:12

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