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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 0:06
Fionna and lay a man of the 2023 Syngenta growth award winners in the category of innovator farmer. Their fulfil their dream of becoming farmers after starting from scratch, everything they own and operate today has been a dedication of hard work, perseverance. And today, we're here to sit down with both of you to hear your story, how it started, where it's come from what's driving, you guys. I guess what kind of the impact is you want to make? So, Jana, welcome all the way from Western Australia, the humans of ag podcast.
Unknown Speaker 0:31
Good morning. Thanks for having us. Cheers.
Oli Le Lievre 0:33
Now, I guess a pretty good place to start is at the awards night itself. I do remember you standing up and speaking Fianna you said a few words. So maybe I'll throw this one to lamb lamb what was running through your head as they were going to read out who was the winner in the innovative farmer category.
Speaker 1 0:48
I was just hoping not enough to talk really not a big talker. But I just couldn't believe we weren't really here. I was quite blown away by all and of course, feeling I've been bit more organised. But awesome. Some things to say. Otherwise, I probably would have just got up. Oh, thank you very much.
Oli Le Lievre 1:10
What was the day like in Sydney? Because the different I guess different people and winners that I've spoken to everyone said it was they kind of felt small in a room of all these other people who had done such big accomplishments. What was the day like for you guys?
Unknown Speaker 1:22
Yeah, I agree with that very much felt like we are the smallest farmers in Australia, what are we doing here, but also, on the flip side, understanding how different agriculture can be. So we're very much we brought acre. So you know, gation, and then you talk in a room like that, and they're talking about cotton, and they're talking about viticulture, and they're talking about irrigate, like, you know, just all these other side of things that we just don't see in the ag region and why it's a lot more broad, broad acre. And then you know, there were businesses that had lots of staff and they were spread over huge areas. And yeah, it's very easy to think like that was what I focused on was how amazing and how broad it was, rather than getting too bogged down in the oil were so small, I don't think I did say to Liam, we think we spoke to one of the other farmers in our category. And I think their land HC days was actually quite similar to ours, to a completely different farming, I think it was trees or something. But I remember thinking, Oh, wow, like, you know, we are that size, were the same with one of them. So that's okay, we're, you know, small is good. But it was a really good session actually got a lot out of it.
Oli Le Lievre 2:21
And then probably like a lot of them are probably sitting there who have maybe commodity growers looking at you guys going. I can't imagine what it's like to deal with everything of the growing but then also selling to consumers as well. Yeah, I
Unknown Speaker 2:32
think we do get a bit of a bit of that. I think our industry is different in that in that respect, we do do a lot more of that. I think that's probably how this whole thing has almost evolved is shifting for us to be a farmer of commodities. Shifting to a we were growing the food, you know, that's with our value added oil. It looked at it with a different hat on it's that we're sort of shifting more to I suppose, like a horticulture where you know, you're growing a carrot and you're selling the carrot to the consumer, we're growing the canola and we're selling the canola oil rather than just, I'm not sure if you're familiar. But generally speaking over here, your grow the crop goes on a truck, it goes to the port gets delivered to CBH. And that's the last we see of it. And then we sit in an office and sell it. That's how it works over here. So yeah, it just for us, it's to shift that mindset and get involved in selling to the consumer. And that's where all that branding. And that's been a real learning curve for us. And
Oli Le Lievre 3:21
I'm so keen to flesh it out with you guys. I think I chatted to a dude in New Zealand a few years ago. He's a dairy farmer. But he described himself as a food producer. He's like, Yeah, I'm selling commodities, but the end of the day, like the commodity, which is going to end up as is food. So that's how he thought of himself. And I think like, for me, it was like, well, language is so important in terms of how people describe themselves and ultimately, like, yes, you might be curating the cows and looking after them. But actually at the end of the day, that's going into milks and cheeses and everything else. So tell me like for you guys, where did you start? What are you? What are your backgrounds and Liam obviously a Scottish accent. Like Scotland time?
Speaker 1 4:00
Yeah, Scotland's home grandfather was a farmer. An old mom wasn't so interested he's a quantity surveyor. Yeah, so grew up on the family farmers small little family farm over there and Grandpa rented out but I was always just trucking mad like as a kid, it's all I want to do is drive tractors. So that and that stayed through didn't my 20s I suppose. It wasn't those in my 20s I started looking at a lot more what what you're actually doing and taking more interest in the actual farm. And of course, by that time, I was sitting over here so 2004 I came over here so just came to have a drink and look around and did that pretty successfully for a while
Oli Le Lievre 4:40
and was that to come up with for harvest or planting came
Speaker 1 4:42
for harvests? Did a harvest season ended up, turn around and come back the same place for seeding, which was next door to where Fiona's Old Man Farm So on day while our brother nah so yeah, so that's how we kind of met.
Oli Le Lievre 4:55
What were the things that you noticed maybe that were like similar between maybe the Scottish almonds in Australian farmers, but maybe also some of the differences as well, the
Speaker 1 5:02
differences are a lot more obvious. It's almost like opposite. You know, like, as far as the weather, it's almost opposite the farming system. You know, we grow a crop here or whenever, as we grow a crop home summer, so yeah, that was, that was a big bit of an off it maybe started me thinking about different, you know, when you're in your own little bubble, you just think that's where the whole world is until you get out and about and see other people doing it completely differently. You know, and what you think what you think you knew, doesn't really matter over here. It was a whole big learning curve, how this system works. But then it goes again, what Fiona was saying, you know, we're not rumour all those people. There was every different farming system you could think of just about which is very varied.
Oli Le Lievre 5:53
Absolutely. And what about for you, Fiona? So obviously, you ended up with this Scottish backpacker ish, if we can call him working next door. But for you, were you working on the farm at the time?
Unknown Speaker 6:02
No, I wasn't. So I went to uni natural resource management degree came home to mom and dad's farm for a year briefly just so I could have my fix. And then I ended up being an agronomist for three years. So it further south was down there. And then I got transferred from there back up to melawan. So local town, and I was branch manager merch manager there for four years. And in that time, that's when we, you know, met at my local pub and got together and then married and I started having kids. So when I was pregnant with the twins was when I finished working. And yeah, then we've sort of gone from Yeah, I suppose the rest of the story. So Liam, we got married, Liam's always works for, like, you know, inagh in different farms. And it wasn't until I was pregnant with our third and the opportunity came up for this property, which my parents were very fortunate enough to be in a position to purchase. And we sort of made the decision to let's give it a go. So we leased it off them. And we bought, we shifted over and we borrowed some machinery off my brother and my parents and bit of cash from lambs, parents, and we started. But yeah, the contract with the contracting. So the big thing that Abby are being first purchase was our first secondhand self propelled sprayer, Liam had a lot of experience driving sprayers up in his previous employment. So that was our you know, Liam's got that skill set, let's see if we can get some cash flow happening with that. So that's been our, I wouldn't quite say our bread and butter, but we've built it up. But it's now a significant, it's probably worth half of our revenue is our contracting business. And we need that for cash flow, because we lease this property off my parents, but then we don't have that opportunity then to borrow for seasonal loans and things like that. So we have to generate our cash flow a little bit differently to the majority
Oli Le Lievre 7:45
hasn't really been the cash flow of that contracting business that has allowed you guys to, I guess, establish yourself and build block to seven, five on the side as its own business and brand.
Speaker 1 7:56
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, it's been for the farm as well, you know, like so gradually, we've, the first couple of years, we had to borrow a lot of gear off. Sam and Zach and Fiona's old man and brother. And then over the years, we just bit by bit, got bits of gear of our own and just got ourselves to the situation now where we don't need to borrow too much. And yeah, just kept building the contract. And so far, I haven't gone silly with it, but keeps me well driller mischief. And then yeah, we the oil came a little bit later on. Couple years later, we bought oil press, which sat around in the shed and a pilot for a couple of years, we seem to never either neither either didn't have the time, but had the money or didn't have the money but had the time or it was one or the other. And we eventually had a good portion, got it all happening, and just hopefully another little revenue stream that with any luck isn't sort of fastened to rainfall. And
Oli Le Lievre 8:58
because we chat to lots of kind of young farmers, and I think what's interesting is people will say odd, it's impossible to get a starting in farming, but it seems like did you start off with kind of a big plan on a page of going rather, the end goal? Is this this what we're going to do it or did you really start quite like practically and go for loans or anything like that? People want to see cash flow? What's the way to get cash flow?
Unknown Speaker 9:20
Ah, so we're completely winging this. We perfect there's no rulebook for us where I like to tell we've sort of described it as being a square peg in a round hole. So we've tried banks banks weren't really like us. We don't have any equity to put forward so but don't worry, there's always there's always ways to do it. If you're keen enough. We've share fund we've leased other properties. This has been our core block, but we've done other things. There's CBH prepays there's no backing up your fertiliser and your chemical for deferred terms until the after harvest. Look, we pay the interest but we don't really have another option we have to pay the interest in to get the cash flow working for us. We're doing I think we've just done nine seasons. I think this is our 10th season now. So I pretty much know all the tricks. And yeah, I've got them under control as to how to get cash happening. So you just, yeah, look, it is really hard. It is hard to get into ag 100%. There is no, it's quite funny doing this. Oil. You know, we talked about business plans. And I'd love to see a farm that actually had a business plan, there is no business plan, there is just, you know, for us, it
Unknown Speaker 10:25
was a basic Well, there
Unknown Speaker 10:26
is a basic plan, but it's not written in, it's not a piece of paper you would give to a bank, here's my business plan, like it's, it's mostly up here. You know, we know where we want to get. But for us, it's the sky, is it gonna rain? Like it really comes down to the weather? And I think that's just the hardest part. Our kids were talking about it this morning. And we were like, oh, you know, we've got a budget review on Thursday. And we'll, and that, well, how does that work? Mom, I was like, Well, Mom puts a budget together. And then consultant has a look and sees if she's got it right, or she's missing something, and then dad asks for things. And then we can fit the things dad wants into the budget. That's kind of how it works, you know, just very, very, that was very broad for children. But, you know, just try and explain to them that, you know, we put numbers in the budget, but if it doesn't rain, you know, we booked all this stuff up, potentially. And then if it doesn't rain, then where, you know, it makes life a lot harder. So you have to really, you know, money doesn't grow on trees. And yeah, you just have to look at a little bit differently. Absolutely.
Oli Le Lievre 11:20
And I think simple is kind of always best when it comes to those things, isn't it you can get so caught up in overcomplicating business plans or financials or anything like that. And it's like, you need revenue to be more than costs. Right? Yeah. Let me mention you had lots of time, little money, bit of money, little time. What stage did you guys kind of pull the trigger and move into actually establishing the brand and building the press and getting started on it? All?
Speaker 1 11:46
Right. So the whole year was tight on 1015?
Unknown Speaker 11:50
I reckon. 16 or 17? I reckon we bought the person imported it because came from Germany. Yeah, no, it sat there. And we still had to like concrete the shed and get power down there and stuff like that. And by sea containers, you know, then we got to see container and we couldn't afford to put flooring, and it was it just felt like it was going forever. Sorry, if it was 2019 we that was that we really blamed like, we have to find the money to make this start happening. Like we just have to do it as
Speaker 1 12:16
a revenue stream. It wasn't making any revenue sitting in the shed. So yeah, we had a big push out here and got it all happening. And that was a year that had a bit more time. And yeah, just made it all happen eventually, then with one way or another.
Unknown Speaker 12:30
Yeah. So that we that was the year where we sort of started, you know, playing with labels. And yeah, didn't launch until October 2020. But had started, you know, started. Yeah, I remember the that was the arguments, the conversations around labels, couldn't decide on a label, I'm hopeless with this, you know, I did make a decision. You know, I'd have girls here, I'll come for a glass of champagne. I've narrowed it down to six, what do you girls give me some input? Oh, like, you know, three bottles of champagne letter later, no one's made a decision. And I still don't know what label we're going to pick. And, you know, it was it was a period of that just we didn't know, we knew the product was good. All that kind of stuff, we're getting really good feedback from that we spent the time to get the smoke point tested, all that kind of stuff just to get that right. That was when we did the branding. So the background with the branding Ollie is that so we're blocked 2751275 Kent roads, that's our physical address in Urdu. And then I'm not sure if you've seen the familiar with our logo. So it's got a sort of a rectangular with the line going through it. So that's a direct representation of the Greenwich river which comes through our property. So if you were to look at our property on an aerial map, you would see that the it's very easy to pick our farm just because it takes a specific loop through our property. So it's like a snippet. It's not the exact farm. It's a snippet representation, because we wanted to really focus on the provenance of our property in our product. And this all came about remember it was that we went, I think, was an arts festival at UWA in Perth, which has been a random thing for us to go to. But it was about food. And we went listen to a few things. And we got in the car on the way home and it's been about our What was your take home from that, you know, those things, we both went to different sessions. And it was very much around provenance and food and people wanting to know where their food came from. And that was sort of where the conversation I think originally started. Yeah, and then so the idea between with the oil Liam's got friends back in home back in Scotland, and they do a very, very similar thing with their product rapeseed oil over there, obviously, but very similar. So that's that's where we sort of got the concept of the idea and thought Liam was like, I can do that that mechanical setup boy stuff and he was like, that's easy.
Oli Le Lievre 14:42
What I love the provenance side of things. Like obviously, you've got to get the product right. Like you could do all the marketing say that this is the story evil, whatever. You had to get the product right. So is that right that you guys lead with that like as you said, the smoke test done? smoke point test.
Unknown Speaker 14:59
We wanted to make sure it was right. So we don't want to say I was a bit concerned. So canola oil has this high smoke point. But I was concerned that given we don't refine it, so we just press filter package. That's it. So commercial canola oil, they use hate solvents, hexane bleach is God, I think it's really refined process for obvious reasons. They want to get as much out so they want quantity, right? So they rent stuff. That's just how the product is, is made. But it does have a high smoke point. And it's very neutral. You'd be familiar with canola very clear. So I wanted to make sure that if we weren't doing any of that processing, did that affect our smoke point, because if we still got waxes and natural stuff in there, did it bring it down, but I sent it off, and it came back and it's 212 degrees. So it is still high smoke point, which is really good. I think, did you get sent to a sample? Well, it just so you can see the bottle and the branding and stuff. So yeah, it's a very different product. It's really golden. It's got a canola smell to it. It's quite natty on the taste. So it's a very different product in terms of its commercial competitor. But it's still got those you know, it's high smoke, it's good. Got all the other things that still good for and
Oli Le Lievre 16:06
well, there's a whole story behind actually getting the bottle because the person was like it's been dropped off somewhat. So we work on a big court in the state, but it's a big old industrial area, and they'll just drop it into safe space. Anyway, the rigmarole that started of us running around trying to find where this package was, because I said to me, like I was like, Millie, it says something's come from Gerald and like, do you know, like, have you got something coming from Gerald? And she said, Oh, and she's like, No, it'd be the oil anyway. So we got it. And we've seen it. And I think yeah, that the black packaging, like it's just slick. And looks also quite like quite elegant. And something that you'd see just as a bit of a features on the kitchen bench that people would be using. Yeah, so
Unknown Speaker 16:45
we wanted to position it very much in that premier market, it's a very different product, we wanted it to be standalone from commercial canola oil, so we didn't want to use plastic bottles, we wanted to use dark coloured bottles that would and this was a conversation we had. So we've gone with the dark coloured bottles because they protect the oil that we have it so it doesn't degrade. On the flip side, you can't see the beautiful colour. And it's you know, it's a conversation we definitely had, should we use clear bottles so that people can see the amazing colour. But then you have a hard decision to make. But we've just decided to go with note we're going to use Amber coloured bottles or to to protect the oil, it's more important. So that's what we've done. We've tried to make the branding quite premium, just a really differentiated against commercial canola oil, and place it up with an extra virgin olive oil. Basically, we're trying to put it up there. So it's a really healthy product. So lower saturated fat of all the dietary fat. So it's actually heart health, heart health healthier than olive oil. Canola oil, in general is healthy for you. It's the processing of the commercial canola oil that's given it the bad name. So there there the hurdles we have to get over is to show is to probably educate people on what it can be used for, what its features are, what its benefits are and why it's different to commercial canola oil, is price completely different as well.
Oli Le Lievre 18:02
The beautiful complexity with food isn't that there's always these different avenues. And it feels like like, Oh, if people just knew it's such a huge amount of effort that goes into one, the marketing for awareness, and then marketing for education, and then marketing for an actual sale. And it's like, well, you need to somehow get to the end. Oh, I
Unknown Speaker 18:18
know. You've done enough markets now that you can. It's pretty much the standard standard thing that happens people come wandering past and you go Would you like a taste? And you get this face and it's all back? And it's Oh, canola oil. And you're like nananana nananana Nananana? No. And I've always got both samples, our stuff and the commercial stuff. And I'm like not this one. We're not talking about this one. We're talking about this one. And so instantly, they can see there's a colour differentiation. And then there's sort of peaks a little bit of interest. Okay, I have a taste, just have a taste. It's a piece of bread dipped in some oil, just have a taste, which I think people like yummy bread in canola oil, like yeah, just trust me. It's fine, trust me. And they'll taste it and you just get the most bizarre reactions. It's hilarious. It's quite often some swearing involved and in a good way. You know, like, that's really good. That's really amazing. That is nothing like I thought that was going to taste like and the other thing that piques their interest is when you are able to explain that were the farmers like so were the farmers. We're not just here trying to sell you some crap. We're actually the farmers This is from our product from our property to that picture there. That's our kids. You know, this is assets our dog Bob, is that whole story. We use oil as well. Yeah, so we use it like, love for everything, obviously. So yeah, it's that story, but I'm really like three years of doing events, we still get that pushback every time that's that's the sort of, I suppose the big hurdle we have is trying to get people there's always yes, you know, that can always hear about there's always exceptions to the rule. You'll read a book or health book and it'll say oh, don't use vegetable oils. And sometimes you'll see it's a are called press exceptions, but you weren't going to find that kind of thing you know Some books will actually say so it's it's all about the processing. It's not the canola oil is actually good boy, have
Oli Le Lievre 20:05
you guys got a like a key challenge or maybe like a defining moment that you feel is really shaped, I guess this evolution into this brand and business where it's at today.
Speaker 1 20:16
Our key challenge your key challenge for the oil is logistics like getting to your market to your customers. reasonable price, like logistically getting product from here is a disaster. Yeah, like, if you could have your farm in the middle of Perth. No worries. But yeah, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 20:38
yeah, logistics is definitely hard freight. And it's, this is a challenge for all small businesses, that freights a nightmare freight has gone up with, like more than double. So if I wanted to send a 20 litre drum of oil from here, to a restaurant, south of Perth, it would cost $120 to ship a drum of oil. On the flip side, I know I can send stuff to the eastern states for less than like it's just intrastate, particularly is just ridiculous. So it's trying to build I suppose collaborations and partnerships with people to see if we can get because we're not the thing is only we're not at the point where we've shipping it so regularly that we've got a commercial account with anyone. So that's the problem. And that's what all little businesses have until you can get that scale. You really just have this huge break, you don't get any discounts without so it's trying to build collaborations and partnerships with people that can maybe store some of our oil. Do us a favour, you know, there's a lot of favours being asked, Can you guys check a label on that and get up? I'll get the courier too. But we've had to sort of go down lobby to think outside the square with that, because when we started three years ago, you know, I could ship three boxes down south for 40 bucks. Like that's the difference. And now it's it's just gone ridiculous. And that's, you know, that's a worldwide thing. I would think we'd fuel and whatnot. But that's certainly a big challenge. The other challenge is just me being here. So the sales I suppose side of it is very much me, Liam's we say, lay responsible for getting it in the vat. And then it's my problem. kind of joke between us.
Speaker 1 22:09
So So for where you want to get the vote during harvest.
Unknown Speaker 22:13
Yeah, then I have to also get press done during the harvest. So then I get to a well love you give to yourself. Yeah, the other thing is, I suppose it's yeah, that I'm the face. But we've still got quite young children. So we've got identical twin boys who are nearly 14, and our youngest, George is 10 and a half. So we've, you know, year five, and year nines, we've still got a fair way in their schooling journey. They don't go to boarding school, they stay here, but that takes two hours out of my day, just getting them to school buses, you know, then all the other things sport. And so I've still got all that Mother, Mother stuff that has to be done. And then we juggle all the other stuff. So then I don't do any tractor driving, that I'm I'm office I'm back end, you know, accounts and payroll and all the government like that side of things. But it's just my time, you know, something's on in Perth and event. It's Liam, are you able to? Are you? Are you here to take kids? It's not that it can't take kids, but quite often he's contracting. So he can't be here. It just contracting has to come first. So then is my mom available? You know, it's asking, we have to ask for favours. And you don't want to stretch that too far. But that's what that's probably another. Another problem or another challenge. I'll call it that we have to find the right person that potentially can communicate our story, as well as we can to consumers in Perth at events so we can get that brand awareness out there. Yeah,
Oli Le Lievre 23:36
goal is never ending. It's just always compounding for you guys. How do you go like so? And you have you meet exact numbers, but like, would you say percentage of your crop that's actually going into the oil? How much of that would be Oh, it's
Unknown Speaker 23:48
not much at the moment. So I had a one batch, we just don't we've done batch eight. And that's more than halfway through over three years. So it's about two and a half batches. I think we've done about over a year average. So I think it's about two and a quarter 2000 litres a year, which is not very much. On average, we have we run a rotation wait lupins canola. On average, we're cropping about 150 hectares of canola, which uses two and a half tonnes to a batch. So five time is two and a half like six, seven times maybe a year of that one and we average is 100. Our average is about a tonne. So seven times out of 150. So we've got eight weeks, so we're not we're not at the moment. I suppose valuating very much. My I suppose long term drawing draw. Yeah, so my long term vision would be to turn all the canola we grow here into oil. That would be my long term that would be my Northstar. Yep. And
Oli Le Lievre 24:43
then I guess whilst that was because I was interested in like, with the the cycle of dry, wet whatever season isn't going to impact you but I guess in a good way and actually, that's not an issue for us. It's one less complication that you guys need to worry about not because
Speaker 1 24:55
the scale we're not we haven't got the scale on yet. We're already in hundreds of turns around. So even last year, last year was wasn't a great year this year, like last year, up here for the season, we actually didn't keep any of last year's seed, just because it was small seed, low quality, low oil. And another smaller seed every, every different seed is different to press. So it goes through the press different summer presses quickly. Sound presses slowly. Yeah, so the stuff we got from the previous year, is just beautiful canola. And I just didn't see the point and throwing that out and putting the crops out for grew this year. So we just delivered all that stuff and kept present and stuff, the good stuff from last year. But that's just the flexibility. We've got the minute just having a very small throughput really through it. But really what we need to do is grow sales, but growing sales, but a little bit hampered by the logistical side of it was very
Unknown Speaker 26:00
sad. But the right light. Yeah, so buffering. The reason we sort of went one of the reasons we went into the value add with the oil is to buffer ourselves from the markets from the weather. So you know, I think average rainfall here is about 325. Last year, it was 180 of actually only 130 of mills that was in the growing season. So that's not very much rain. And our average canola yields just over a tonne. And last year, we grew 500 kilos. So it would be a problem if we were so amazing. And we were turning all our 150 hectares of canola into oil. And that was 150 tonnes and then we got a year and we had markets and you know, orders for that. And then we had a year like last year, we'll certainly only have 75 tonnes. So that would be a problem. We're not there yet that that would be a good problem to have. L'amour says to me if you can turn all the canola into canola oil that you think will have different problems by then. So
Oli Le Lievre 26:55
I reckon you'll have people problems. Yeah. So as part of the Syngenta awards programme, you guys get to hit overseas. And I feel like that'll be super interesting, especially in that consumer space that you guys are in walking through airports, shops, supermarkets, whatever it might be, what are you guys looking forward to and really hoping to get out of it?
Unknown Speaker 27:15
We haven't heard a lot about it yet, Ali. So I like I'm not sure where we're going. I'm not sure. We're not actually sure if we both got a ticket? Or if it's just one of us. So were we it? Yeah, I'm a bit unsure just because I'm not sure what to expect where we're going. Are we going to cities? Are we going to look at farms? I think just looking at anything different. Always interesting is obviously a lot closer to lamps turf. So he's probably a bit more familiar with some of the practices over there. Just because it's you know, it's I think we're going here. Oh, no, actually 100% Sure.
Oli Le Lievre 27:44
I believe it's here. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 27:45
I'm just not sure where in your it's pretty big. Yeah, I think you countries and just I think spending time with the other Syngenta growth winners, like they were pretty cool bunch of guys. And lots, just lots to learn from them. I think in general, like, you know, some of them are our age. Some of them are young, I think there's some younger ones. A lot of them are older, those older guys got so much wealth and knowledge. Yeah, they're great to learn from and just, you know, pick their brains about things. Oh,
Oli Le Lievre 28:10
I can tell you, I've had the chance to sit down with a few so far. And it's seriously cool. Yeah, seriously interesting. People who have just done some stuff, especially I'll say, of the older generation that are kind of, I guess, closer to finishing up. What's really blown me away is just how passionate they are. And I'll say as a young person, like in the industry and knowing that, like we're passionate about sustainability, and and making sure there's opportunities, and that we're showcasing that to people not just in ag but also outside of ag what's happening. The older generation, like they're the exact same, the passions. Exactly. And it's so cool. It's like how do we but I've just loved the chance to sit down with all these different people for an hour and just be like, actually, we're all coming from the same place. And I think you've talked about a little bit Fiona of how to actually bring kind of together to then come out from like a united front. Because at the end of the day, agriculture is all agriculture. It is
Unknown Speaker 29:02
I think we do need to get better as an industry in educating or just, I don't like saying, you know, get rid of that divide. I think we do an amazing job. In agriculture. We grow amazing food, it's really safe all the rest of it. We just don't do a very good job of showing the rest of the country and the and the rest of the consumer and the customer. I think podcasts like what you're doing is amazing. I'm saying there's a lady I can't think of her name. She's on Instagram. She does a lot of stories hers more across horticulture. But, you know, there's it's really easy. I think farmers can be their little bit their own worst enemy. They don't. They don't like it's a bit of talk poppy syndrome. They don't like to spruik what they do. And that's just that's the industry. I think you'll find it there'll be a few that do but a lot of people just do what they do. But we just need to get better at going hey, this is what we do. And this is amazing. And I think even you hear about a lot of people trying to get people into the younger kids in kids, young adults into the industry. I heard Someone said that the day I think might be on one of your podcasts, you don't need to be a farmer to be in the ag industry. And that's so so true. There's just so many different parts of this industry and you can be in a you can be an agronomist, you can be a mechanic, you can be a farm consultant, you know, you can be you can sit in an office actually in the in a Metro City and still be involved in the farming. The farming industry, I think you get more out of it if you go bush 100%. But agriculture isn't just the farmers. But I think coming back to the comment you made earlier about, it's hard to get in. Yeah, it is absolutely really hard to get into farming. But if you want it bad enough, and you've got some luck on your side, then absolutely, you can't do it. It's harder. And you have to do it differently to other people. But yeah, I think you can do it. It's just you just got to have the right things in place to help you along. Totally.
Oli Le Lievre 30:48
I've got probably a couple of questions, I'd love to kind of wrap on with each of you. One is that advice. And so for people who are listening, who are that younger generation who are thinking, whether it's a farming idea, or they might have a startup idea, or something that they want to apply in agriculture, what's your advice to them about, I guess, establishing yourselves and actually creating a brand and a business and a product? Really, from a point of passion?
Unknown Speaker 31:11
Ask questions. So I know nothing marketing, I didn't bachelor what I say natural resource management, there was no marketing any of the stuff I did at uni. And then I went to be an agronomist. And then I was a stay at home mom, like I've not done any marketing, I've had to learn on the run. So I'm currently doing a course that was the female founders course, it was co founded by deeper the Department of Ag over here. And it's for female farm like female founders to get their heads around all that marketing side of stuff, your brand awareness and your vision and your mission and customers and all that stuff. Because this going, you know, I thought I I've got a brand blocked his own five single farm, you know, origin produce, that's fine. I've done on my website, and then you start delving into more about what you need to do and how you need to talk to your customer and talk to the consumer. And I'm like, looking at my website now going. Ah, you're I don't have any of that on there. Yeah, it's not actually, it's not talking to the consumer. It's not doing this. It's not answering that. So just really highlights the things I need to focus on. And look, it does, it takes, it takes time. It takes courses, you know, it might just be a webinar, or it might just be a conversation and networking thing. You go to some other conference, and it might just be someone else you've spoken to over lunch. And they're like, Oh, are you that bloke that grows bananas, whatever. And oh, how are you doing that? And all of a sudden, you go, Oh, I can tell you that. And you've just got to continually keep learning like, I'm 44, ollie, and yep. As much as my kids are counting my 10 year old, he's like, every morning, I hate school, when I'm like, oh my you've got so many years left. It's not funny. You've just Yes, you've finished school, tick a box, maybe go to uni, maybe do a trade, whatever. But you just got to continually learn otherwise, it's really easy to fall behind. You know, the 14 year olds haven't quite surpassed me, they still come to me for computer advice. But I'm conscious that they're, you know, the kids learn. They keep up to that technology. And if you just keep learning, just doing different things, asking different questions, put yourself out of your comfort zone. I've really tried to try and keep that as my mantra as much as you're probably not going to believe me when I say this. I hate doing public speaking. But I because I know I've spoken a lot today. But I do put myself out of my comfort zone to do it. Because I think it's important way to grow in a way of me getting brand awareness. And people will come up to me, they might say, Hey, I had this question about your oil. And it might be something I've never thought about. Ah, right. I need to finish your post about that I need to incorporate that into our marketing or, you know, for me, it's just I would just say just continually learn. Don't be afraid to ask questions. You'd have to be pretty unlucky to get some grumpy old bastard that didn't want to help you out for sure. What
Oli Le Lievre 33:54
about feeling?
Speaker 1 33:55
I always think more of the practical side of it. So yeah, tropical side of it. For me, it was just a wreck. And you just got to, if you want to make it happen, you just got to keep grinding away at it. And keep making the moves in the right direction. And eventually things will start moving the right wave. Yeah, yeah. It's
Oli Le Lievre 34:13
amazing. How much Isn't it like that? It's that momentum. I try and talk about a lot of like our cadence. And it's like, if you can get a cadence, it's like, you're not just gonna run and sprint the whole time. But it's like, when you've got that momentum, do what you need to do. Take faster steps, slow down a little bit, but just keep moving. And
Unknown Speaker 34:30
you'll get knocked back slowly. You get, we've had plenty, you get knocked back all the time. Really and sometimes can
Unknown Speaker 34:36
be quite. You got to just learn to ignore that
Unknown Speaker 34:39
you just got to Liam's got to saying what is it what's
Unknown Speaker 34:42
for you won't go by what's for you. It
Unknown Speaker 34:44
won't go by. So I've actually really Yep, taken that by the horns because sometimes when you get knocked back on something you're potentially quite passionate about. It can be Yeah, it can really knock Yeah. But if it's meant to, if it's meant to be it's meant to be and you've just got to keep working towards that.
Oli Le Lievre 35:00
That's a very similar and I don't know if it's quite word for word, but I feel like if my memory serves me well, nearly word for word of what Julius Foster said on a podcast episode very recently. Yeah, if it's for me, if there's an opportunity if it's for me, it was yours if it was for what for you won't get passed? By once. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 35:19
What's more, you wander by, and
Oli Le Lievre 35:21
I reckon heard of the seven ships has was that, well, if an opportunity goes by, it wasn't meant to be for me. And that's our outlook,
Speaker 1 35:27
you weren't in the right position for it, or you weren't chasing hard enough or whatever,
Unknown Speaker 35:31
something's outside or potentially something's outside of your, you know, nothing you could have done would have changed the outcome. So there's, because in the moment, it can be frustrating and gut wrenching, and all the rest of it, but you've just got to be able to just keep a glass of wine. And tomorrow's a new day.
Oli Le Lievre 35:48
Entirely. All right. Let's keep talking to you guys. For a long time, mile boss, I'll throw this on him. He used to say it was like anything good, won't last long and anything bad won't last long. So just know that like, he always gives, and don't let the thing that gives me you know, guys, thank you so much for coming in having to actually feel like I could just keep asking you questions and chatting about all kinds of things. So what we'll do, we'll just take it to Perth at the end of the month, and we'll just catch up there instead.
Unknown Speaker 36:13
labelled top Moreover, BL. We should have done this with a few beers or we
Oli Le Lievre 36:20
could have maybe not in the morning. Now, guys, thank you so much for sitting down and congratulations on being a Syngenta growth award winner and I'm looking forward to when you guys find out more, hearing more about what the trip is what's going to happen and and following that journey as well. So thank you all. Well, that's it for another episode from us here at humans of agriculture. We hope you're enjoying these podcasts and well if you're not, let us know hit us up hello at humans of agriculture.com. Get in touch with any guest recommendations topics, or things you'd like us to talk and get curious about. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. rate subscribe, review it, any feedback is absolutely awesome. We really do welcome so Look after yourselves. Stay safe. stay sane. See you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai