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We're going behind the scenes to see and understand modern agriculture, because no matter whether you're in it or not, you probably don't know all the pieces to just how incredible, diverse and multi-layered agriculture is. We do this by uncovering the real stories, experiences and voices of modern agriculture.
Oli Le Lievre 0:00
The Better Business series is supported by the farm business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's future drought Fund, and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. Across these next few weeks and episodes, we're going behind the scenes and chatting to some people who are making some serious impact in inroads across Australia. And they're not just limited to agriculture. Our aim is to uncover what's worked for them, discuss their learnings, and through their stories provide ways for you to get some of those aha moments or things that might be able to benefit you, your business and your community. Welcome back to episode two. Now, if you haven't listened to the first part of this conversation with Ed Bradley and Bay, Litchfield, jump on back, it's 2025 minute conversation, in that we understand a little bit about handling their business, how the business has evolved over the years, some of the history behind it. And that carries us forward into Episode Two, where we're looking to understand how they've approached acknowledging what it is that's made the business successful over the generations, but making sure they remain innovative and adaptive while acknowledging legacy but also ensuring that they adapt to the way that modern agriculture is evolving. Now, what I thought would be interesting would be to ask Edie a little bit about what it was like coming as an inlaw into a family business, how he approached it, but also how he's different background and skill set was actually incredibly valuable to the business. Now one of the other things I was keen to understand was, as a family business, how do they work together as a family, but also knowing that the importance of having external people coming into their business, so I wanted to understand how they bring their employees on that journey. Let's get into it. Let's jump straight back into the systems and what you guys were chatting to. How much has that probably been influenced by the two of you and having that outside experience, but also fresh perspectives? And probably being closer in age to some of your time?
Unknown Speaker 1:54
Literally all of it?
Oli Le Lievre 1:56
You guys have come up with all of it? Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 2:01
Mainly, obviously had like, you know, we've got a pretty strict agenda board meeting fit all this sort of day to day operations, communication. That's all been Yeah, since I got home.
Oli Le Lievre 2:13
Yeah. Wow. And it was this stuff that like you'd stay up late googling trial and error? How'd you actually, I guess, work out what to implement or how it worked?
Speaker 2 2:22
Well, yeah. And I the shared calendar, I just thought was pretty obvious. I mean, you know, that everyone, I think it just, yeah, that's fair answer. But I just thought it what was kind of obvious for, you know, I was more for me actually, coming in and not knowing you know, what's coming? Well, I didn't know what's coming up, but not in the amount of detail that I needed to. And so it's probably a factor of me working out, you know, when you first come home, you so green, and you don't know how much you're planning, like you're not planning ahead at all, you're sort of looking a week to two weeks ahead. But then as you've got to take on more, and you've got to think about more, you've got to be looking three months ahead. And so, for me, I just I found it easier having an iCloud calendar, and being able to put it all in there and be able to see what's coming up and being able to, you know, base management around that. And then I suppose it just was a natural progression of well, why shouldn't everyone else who's working here have access to that? And then, you know, you're lucky, just lucky that, you know, you can so easily share it a lot of that technology, when you know, when dad first started obviously wasn't there. So you know, it's all been just what's available? And then yeah, I agree Webb's accurate, we had a false start with, I tried to get a guy when I like, be in 2015. And it's only as good as whoever's putting the information in as you would know. It just didn't work. Because Dad, we got moved something and then it just be like incomplete tangled mess, and you try and fix it. And you just can't go back, you know, so many steps. But then we got going again, two years ago. Yeah. And it's been really good. But I suppose that's also been just a difference in, you know, how much responsibility I've had, compared to, you know, 2015,
Oli Le Lievre 4:03
and also like, introducing a level of accountability to your old man as well that he actually needs to abide by the system for it to work for everyone. Yes. That'd be a fun conversation.
Speaker 2 4:15
Yeah, well, we didn't he still doesn't do it. But if he does it, you know, I know that he's done it. Like, you know, it's been willing to move extra here. I know that he's done it so that I can do it. But if he was saying we need to move this, there was no follow through. So that's just sort of, I suppose. progressions.
Oli Le Lievre 4:36
Coming from your background, you've said in a few bigger businesses and things that have had to run literally like clockwork, what have been some of the aspects which you've learned outside and actually bought in as well?
Speaker 3 4:47
Yeah, I think yes, it's been really really valuable, especially rebel A's, you know, 1100 full time staff. So you get in those bigger companies that have just got really good systems in place. If you learn how to use different software and you know there are really good bits of software out there that you need to learn how to use a new software can be really daunting. But I think anyone who's onboarding a business just needs to get training quick. And whatever it is, you just need to learn as fast as you can use it as best as you can. And I think it's, if you can trust those systems, it's really good, thick, developing good culture and management culture. I think it definitely liked your work for some really cool people. And you work for some harder, harder to work for people that you and yeah, I mean, you learn what not to do and what to do and things like that. And you, you soak it all in? And I don't regret a bit of it. I think it was every bit of it was valuable. Yeah. Especially across different industries.
Oli Le Lievre 5:46
Hugely. You touched on onboarding that how do you guys actually, is it quite a formal structured process that you run for? Anyone? New joining? Yeah, very,
Speaker 3 5:54
it's us recruiters or just general advertising it find people, two or three rounds of interviews, reference checks, and then kind of another final decision across the management team. It's kind of Yeah, I think the best good bit of advice we've learned is hire slowly and fire quickly. I think it's Yeah, your business is only as good as your people and people that by far, the biggest asset we've got. So because you
Speaker 2 6:20
couldn't get done what we need to get done without a really good team.
Speaker 3 6:24
Yeah. It's not just ability, it's culture, attitude, making all that sustainable and efficient to the end of the day that your, you know, you can do it all and still make $1 At the other end.
Oli Le Lievre 6:36
So when someone comes in, say, for their first day, like, is it a lot of hand holding with them for those early days, just to be like, This is how we operate? This is what we're trying to achieve, etc?
Speaker 3 6:46
Definitely, yeah, first month, really? Yeah, first month is
Speaker 2 6:50
pretty like a slow introduction. But we do like, you know, we've got a formal induction and, you know, making sure that, you know, they're fully inducted in all of our machinery, for example, and, you know, the way we handle our livestock and, you know, just, you know, water infrastructure, and, you know, it's all pretty detailed of what they've got to go through. And, you know, every farm is different, and everyone has different threshold levels, I
Oli Le Lievre 7:15
guess. Yeah. So in that onboarding, and I guess the finding employees that fit into your business and your culture, how do you guys go with that? Because obviously, family owned business, you guys have family, your man's family, but then, as you say, to actually achieve what you guys are trying to do you need others? How do you go? And how do you approach getting them on board with the vision of what you guys are trying to create? And get them passionate about the business?
Speaker 3 7:38
Look? Well, yeah, we try and be pretty picky. Obviously, everyone knows that agmarkets been pretty tight. As far as labor goes the last couple of years. So yeah, there hasn't been huge swathes, but you want to be an employer of choice, you want to you know, have good facilities, good houses, good work conditions, and be nice people to work for, I don't know if we are some, hopefully the people think we are. But yeah, you're trying to make the right decision at the time for what you've got. Also fit your time schedule, sometimes, you know, you can wait a couple of months to hire someone. And other times you need someone yesterday, so you just gotta go with what's around. But we did run a scholarship with Microsoft, and we get an intern out there every year. So there's always a fresh settle exam, you build a network through those guys. And we've actually re hired an intern from last year to come back into a management role for next year. So that's really good that you've, you can kind of keep fresh people coming all the time. And
Speaker 2 8:34
I think it's also like, you know, when they hear that you're basically giving them the experience that you'd like to have. And, you know, they just trying to get them enthusiastic about what we're doing. And and that's all part of how much communication you're providing to them as well, like, you know, having things like agri web in the shared calendar that they can access and, you know, like, that helps a lot. If they feel like they know what's going on. Yeah.
Speaker 3 9:00
And you make a bit of fun, like eggs, a lifestyle job, you'd do pretty big hours and some here you're weighing carbs in the snow and stuff like that. So there's definitely days or hearts if you make it rewarding and make it as fun as you can. And low stress. I think people like that. Yeah. And
Oli Le Lievre 9:18
from your involvement with Microsoft and what have so obviously, the students, you guys get access to an interesting bunch of students, they get support while they're studying, but then also a job. What have you guys learned from interacting with kind of that next gen that are coming through because I know you're both young, but this next generation coming through a few years younger than us both? All three of us?
Speaker 3 9:37
I'm not I know I'm not that young. Thanks very much. I'm actually an old fellow.
Speaker 2 9:44
And they've been great because you know, they're actually come because they're at Marcus and they're studying farm management. They're coming in to be a plant manager. So it's been naturally quite refreshing, refreshing and committed and yeah can like impressive as well because you know, at the start of the year, you You know, they're often green, like a lot of, you know, young 20 Somethings. But you know, towards the end of the year, they start taking on more responsibility, and they are really kind of showing, you know, management skills, which is a big part of it. It's, I think it's really refreshing. And it's a great, yeah, great to sort of be involved with them. Yeah, I would love to be able to follow them through for the, you know, the rest of their career and sort of, you know, sort of see where they go and, you know, have that as a network as well, which is giving, you know, works both ways,
Speaker 3 10:30
especially in start gangs, a lot of it's kind of has a bit of reputation involved and enough people. Yeah, hold the genetics in high esteem that kind of flows on which is nice. The other thing I was gonna add is that generally, these guys that we've that we come through a bit more tech savvy as well. And we try and stay at the forefront of, you know, like, automatic recording of, again, everything electronic, there's kind of the there's not much paper in the yards anymore as scanned files emailed around each other and having that data collected Well, and, yeah, it's been a benefit. Yeah, having a high quality data handled by people who get it, it's been really good.
Speaker 2 11:10
Yeah. And also like that interaction with the rest of the team, when you've got someone fresh, that's really keen to learn, you know, and kind of improve themselves from a management point of view that flow on to the other team members has been really positive. Yeah. Because, you know, sometimes they haven't had the same opportunities and haven't maybe had the same education. But they'd start learning a lot from, you know, typically new people coming in which that's been really cool.
Oli Le Lievre 11:36
Another question I've got, this is one I'm trying to work out for myself, I'll preface it. How do you maintain so when you've got those people coming in? Whether it might be for a short term or longer term, whatever it might be, but how do you manage when you guys are busy, and I guess, under pressure for people wanting your time and whatnot, from different places, to actually be enthusiastic, but there for those people in those early stages, because it might be a like a summer internship that actually could turn into a career with you guys? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 12:03
it's really hard.
Speaker 3 12:03
Yeah. It's just good time management and delegating, peeking through what you've gone on, you know, if you've got a two page list that day, pick this, this non negotiables that you have to do, push the rest or reschedule and prioritize things. And if you can find good people around you that you can delegate to, especially here in our base, or don't I need to do that. But then you give someone young him came say, Look, I'm trusting you to go and do this for me, please pay attention to this, this and this, and call me if you've got any trouble. Generally, people do really well. And they, you know, you give them a little bit of kind of rain, and they bolt along with it. So it's having good people around you, I think that can swallow up what you can't handle
Speaker 2 12:45
more. Yeah. And I think it's also I mean, I've learned a lot from having run, becoming a mom. And still being in a business, your brain really does change when you have kids, like baby brain is not a joke for those ladies out there. Fighting seriously, like it really reduces your kind of speed of thinking and everything. So I've really had to kind of be able to delegate because you can't actually at home feeling a baby, you can't actually go out and do everything that normally you'd be like, I will do it because I'm faster at it, and I'm going to do it properly. But you get to a point where it's like, well, I physically can't actually get there. So you need to get someone else to do it. And they might not be faster at it. They might be, you know, three times this way that you would do it. But so long as they do it, well, it doesn't matter. Like you know that if that's the situation you're in, that's what you've got to do.
Oli Le Lievre 13:36
And so learning that now be Is it frustrating or empowering, knowing that you can hand those things off, and the job can still get done without you having to do it yourself.
Unknown Speaker 13:45
But it's frustrating and empowering, but you're talking
Speaker 3 13:49
to a perfectionist, yes, you can't everything's got to be right 199% saying
Speaker 2 13:55
that there might be slower, you know, they don't want and and they'll be faster than next time. So everyone has got to learn, and you know, go through, it's just experience, but it sort of forced me to become a better manager, but people
Oli Le Lievre 14:09
that's cool. A question for you guys. Is there anything that you're well not necessarily struggling with, but something that you're trying to work out something that you're curious about that you're questioning or whatnot that you could throw out here at this stage, and there might be some people listening that might have a few ideas or something to a potential problem that you guys are having?
Speaker 3 14:27
So I can give me your accurate 10 year rain forecast? That'd be great.
Oli Le Lievre 14:33
Look, historically, don't you just run through averages and somewhere in between? Anything from a like a business management perspective?
Speaker 3 14:40
I think personal skills and staff skills or the likes no one's we can always improve on that. So he has the more development we can get on that the better. I think he is definitely like I said before staff at UBS assets and I think the yeah the more development there, the better Oh,
Speaker 2 15:00
yeah, yeah, I think that's right. I mean, we're we are, as we said to you before, Ali, we're kind of going through, we've got an outside consultant that's helping us with a few changes within our management structure. And basically just fine tuning and making the overall management a little bit more, be more formal and a bit more structured, just to for the purpose of being across more, it's basically to make it more efficient, so that you've got your across more, I'm trying to say, but, you know, I mean,
Oli Le Lievre 15:31
across more of the business without having to be is that we may well be
Speaker 2 15:34
across more of the business without having to make consistent phone calls to people, like, you know, you get to the end of the month, and we're going towards I mean, we have been doing monthly reporting, but having a bit more detail in the report so that you can get you know, it's known from all our managers, at the end of the month, they're getting, they're sending out a report with X, Y, Zed, and you are across that
Speaker 3 15:57
information that you need and generates bit more accountability in the business. Especially as things change. If we're going into another dry season, you got to kind of make decisions on the hop and Information is power. For sure.
Oli Le Lievre 16:11
So one final question to finish on. As you mentioned, it was six generations, isn't it?
Unknown Speaker 16:17
Yes. I'm 16. Well, yeah, six generations? Seven. So hopefully, you still want to be?
Oli Le Lievre 16:25
How do you guys maintain and honor the legacy of the business of what it has been, but carry it forward? What are the dreams and aspirations moving forward?
Speaker 2 16:33
Why they were lucky that it's always been, you know, the innovation is the way forward. And you know, we've got a very good product, but it's only as good as your improvement, basically, because you want to be the most profitable genetic source. That's our goal. So in continuing the family legacy, it's always been to, you know, along that line of being progressive and, and, you know, utilizing new technologies as they come up. So I think we're quite lucky in that it hasn't, you know, our thing hasn't been like, oh, let's just do it the way that granddad did it. Well, grendon always wanted to make it new and innovative. So we've got to do if we're going to do what he did. Keep being new and relevant.
Oli Le Lievre 17:11
Yeah. Cool. Well, guys, thank you so much for taking the time to have a yard this morning. on doing it. How are you guys feeling?
Unknown Speaker 17:17
Well, yeah, good. Thanks. Oh, really good.
Speaker 2 17:19
platform like mine blanks with you know, baby for but that's okay.
Oli Le Lievre 17:24
Perfectly Imperfect. By now, I'd just like to say a huge, huge thank you to all our guests that have been part of this series. It's been fascinating to understand a little bit more about your backgrounds, your businesses, how you've evolved, and how you've led your business forward in new and innovative ways to make sure that it's relevant today and into the future. I hope there's different aspects of these conversations that you can really take and draw on. And if you've got any questions, please reach out to us at humans of agriculture. You can find us on our website humans of agriculture.com and keep your ears peeled because we are going to have more and more series like this coming out to help get you in the know, wherever you are in was it just bloody easy to understand. This series is supported by the farm business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's future drought Fund, and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. And our aim is to sit down and chat with various people who have lived experience in business management, through their stories. It's our aim to share their learnings, their approaches, and how they've supported developing themselves, their businesses and their teams.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai