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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 0:02
G'day and welcome to the internet on the go podcast produced by humans of agriculture. Our podcast is designed to get you across the things that matter in Ozzie agribusiness in a way that's just well, bloody easy to understand. Think of me as a friend that is learning with you, as we discover and chat about the topics from farm to fork, and even beyond. Welcome back to the in the know on the go podcast. Our next guest comes with a really interesting background. Katherine sire was the previous CEO of food South Australia. We're sure we've crossed paths somewhere, but we can't actually put our fingers on it. But Katherine, how we actually got introduced to the family business association was through Olivia in your team, and she came along to our women in agriculture event, which is actually just insane to think that it was in March. I feel like we're coming around to it again. But welcome to the humans of agriculture podcast. It's great to have you. Thanks so much Oli, week four and doing podcasts already. It's not bad. How's the start of the new roll? Bang?
Speaker 2 0:59
No, it's really been fabulous. There's so much to do. But it's really exciting. And I think what most people don't really understand is how significant family businesses are in Australia, across Australia and New Zealand, not only from an economic point of view, but the real cultural fabric of family businesses that immerses itself in our community. So it's a fascinating sector and, of course, very broad sector ranging from small to medium to large across any sector that you can probably imagine. So, lots to learn lots to do. But as I've said to you before, I'm on a bit of an adventure.
Oli Le Lievre 1:33
Well, in 12 years in your previous role as in food, South Australia, as this
Speaker 2 1:37
is actually 13 and a half. Oh, my God,
Oli Le Lievre 1:41
how has the transition been to going into a new business? And also, I guess, yeah, leaving somewhere which had been a huge part of your life.
Speaker 2 1:48
Well, it was a huge part of my life, because I was also involved with an organization called flavor Issei for seven years before, so we call it around for 20 years involved in food and beverage associations in South Australia. So I had the privilege of establishing food South Australia in 2010, bringing two organizations together, and we had a very simple mandate, it was about helping our industry grow. And of course, we had strategic pillars that we work towards and grew membership over those 13 and a half years and really was really interesting, because there's not a food essay in any other state. And you know, there's not a food fit, there's not a food New South Wales was not a food Queensland etc, etc. So we held this really unique space on a state based perspective. And then of course, there are regional food and beverage groups around Australia. But we were certainly the biggest one in Australia. So 30 years ago, showing my age lived in Melbourne, when I was very young, and had the experience of working with a couple of multinational businesses and then did move back to Adelaide after the after about five and a half years. So if I was going to call anywhere, my second home, Melbourne would be it. And I have to say, from my life point of view, I've settled right back into it really well. And I'm still got some lovely friends from those 30 years ago. So for me, it was at my age and stage of life and career, it was time to make a move. And I absolutely loved every minute of food South Australia and to go to another job in Adelaide wouldn't have really cut it, it had to be a big change for me. And I was really fortunate when the opportunity with family businesses Association, FBA came up and having that membership background, I think has really enabled me to feel like I understand the business reasonably quickly. I've got a lot more to learn. But the basics are there. And of course, the food South Australia members were a lot of them were family owned businesses as well. So they're members of FBA, as well as food sa so the transition has not actually been all that traumatic or difficult. It's actually been exciting, both from a personal and a professional point of view.
Oli Le Lievre 3:52
One thing I've always been curious to know is when a CEO has their first day, what do you do? Do you just turn up walk into the building? Or what actually happened?
Speaker 2 4:00
Well, that's a really good question. Because I was wondering the same thing myself, and particularly having not been lucky. I've had a very stable employment history. So I don't have many first days. So I suppose I was fortunate again, because there was time that I spent with the FPGA board and some of the team in advance of me starting so. And then the week before I popped into the office to meet people and so when I walked in day one it was, it didn't really feel like day one. So I kinda it was a bit of a soft landing because I'd had that exposure. I wasn't sort of walking into something that I just hadn't had any sort of exposure to in advance. But I have to say, by about day three, I didn't feel like I was new. But I think that was all about really trying to get my head around things before I started and also that transition from a membership base to a membership based organization had a level of familiarity as well,
Oli Le Lievre 4:53
to another question, this food and agriculture scene has been a huge part of your career. What were the influences or what happened? The influences to work in this sector?
Speaker 2 5:01
Well, it's funny, I just continued to be drawn back into the sector. So my grandparents were farmers. And my mum grew up on a farm. So I had some exposure to agriculture when I was very young. And then once I've done the ASCD course, and I've been really lucky to sit on quite a number of boards over the last 20 odd years, and a lot of them does seem to be sort of agriculture or primary production related and particularly in seafood. So I suppose I had my first break from a governance point of view and board point of view in South Australia where I was appointed the chair of the prawn Fishery Management Committee, and I didn't know anything about seafood back then. And I think how gentle these pawn fishermen were with me when I sort of chaired my way through the first couple of years, sort of not really knowing very much, and they were fantastic, but then moved into lobsters. And then fisheries Council, state government once I floated between being on advisory committees and chairing them for government, as well as leading some industry based boards as well. So a lot of it has been seafood. I was on the inaugural rule financial counseling board in South Australia, when that was all revamped across the nation. And that was many years ago. So it has largely been seafood. But there have been other agriculture sectors that I've worked in. But then food and beverage is where I landed with my day job. And, of course, you know, there's a lot of value adding that goes from agriculture into food and beverage production. So it's always I don't know, I think agriculture, food beverage, that whole agri business scene, they're really good people. You know, I love working with them. And I think that, particularly in seafood, I'm currently the Deputy Chair of seafood industry in Australia. And, you know, we need to make sure that the profile of the industry, seafood and broader is really exist in the hearts and minds of the general population. Because, you know, you think back to COVID, and some of the stresses on supply chains, we were never going to run out of food. And that's because we've got a great agriculture sector, a primary production sector, and also a food and beverage manufacturing sector. So, you know, you've got to be proud of being part of an industry that you can't live without, to be honest,
Oli Le Lievre 7:18
it is something really special to be part of, to me, because we haven't done much on this seafood industry at all. In Australia. I've dabbled and done tiny little various feasibility studies in a previous life on things like tree paying sea cucumbers to most people, but and a little bit on Southern Rock Lobster book, maybe what from what you've seen, what are those opportunities? And what does the state of seafood look like in Australia?
Speaker 2 7:42
Good question. It supports a lot of regional communities to start with. So it's a really critical sector from a socio economic point of view. But it also, really, seafood is made up of wild caught seafood or aquaculture. And they have both very different sectors. And then of course, you've got your sub sectors of all the different species. So if you think about wild caught fisheries, we there's a lot of misunderstanding, we have very sustainable fisheries and wild caught fisheries in Australia. So that argument doesn't really wash very well with me when people say, Oh, you're fishing in an unsustainable waters. That's not true. We've got really highly regulated and managed fisheries across the whole of Australia. What it does mean, though, is there's a limit to how much he can catch. And that's part of that regulation. So a lot of the fisheries are quota managed. So there's a cap as to how much you can catch every year. What that then means is, it's very special wild fisheries, I've got really special products. And so you talk about Southern Rock Lobster. And, you know, at times, it's been the most expensive lobster in the world, because of its appeal to certain markets. You've got, I mean, wild fisheries, and I suppose I'm a little bit biased, because I'm from South Australia, and which I call the seafood capital of the world. But you know, it's interesting, even from a flavor point of view, the different regions, tropical fish tastes different to those caught in the southern waters. And I don't know whether this is a wives tale, or in fact, true, but it's so cold, the water that the fish have to swim a whole lot more. And so they've got a different flesh, different tastes, all that sort of thing. So that may or may not be true, but you know, let's run with it. From an aquaculture point of view. There's some incredible work going on in in aquaculture. And again, there's the naysayers around but if you think about the volume, so it's more of a volume piece, although there is definitely that premium side of it, you know, so aquaculture is almost limitless in some respects. Having said that, it's still heavily regulated. So it's not that everyone's going out and setting up new aquaculture farms and environments, but wild catch and aquaculture a very big part of regional communities, and really important to the economy.
Oli Le Lievre 9:52
You've had a fascinating background, haven't you? You've covered so much.
Unknown Speaker 9:56
Oh, it's fun, great news.
Oli Le Lievre 9:58
So I think we've got the decent, we've got a snippet, I guess, of an understanding behind you, Catherine. But then let's chat about the family business association, because it's something that I think we'd love our audience and agriculture to actually know more about. But for you personally, the opportunity came up to be the CEO. Why did you apply for it?
Speaker 2 10:15
Well, there's a number of different answers to that. One was, as I said, before, another job and Adelaide didn't really hold appeal to me, it was time for a move. And my heart ultimately said, Go to Melbourne, and I made a really good choice, because I really feel like I've slotted back in here. So that's been great. I suppose it was then a case of do you choose to continue down the path of sort of membership and association world? Or do you go into the corporate world? Or do you go into something else, and this opportunity came up and I looked at it, and I went, that'd be pretty cool. And it's a same different environment. So for me, what I've learned from a food is a perspective and what I can see that's been done really well at FBA, I'm thinking it can all come together. And you know, there is actually very little voice on family business in across Australia. And I think one of the exciting opportunities for me is the advocacy piece, and really working out what the messaging is for the general community about the importance of family businesses, and what do they look like? It's a bit amorphous, I think. And so to give family businesses, a voice through FBA, I think is one of those things that's going to be really critical and held huge appeal for me.
Oli Le Lievre 11:30
I'm interested in the definition, am I technically a family business, if I'm the only owner person in it,
Speaker 2 11:35
that it's so interesting, I keep passing, you're probably a sole trader. And I reckon we could help you out, potentially, but it's more, possibly. But it's really about, I think one of the FBAs core businesses, our core business is around succession planning, and that piece around how you move through the generations, but I think we call someone like you potentially as a first generation entrepreneur. And so you might end up having family members. It's interesting, because some of the larger businesses, not all our members are family members. It could be the CEO who's an external or but it is defined as a family business. It's actually easier, the more generational it becomes. But there's a lot of first generation family businesses,
Oli Le Lievre 12:24
and there's no shortage of them in agriculture. I think it's more like it's about 90% of all the agricultural businesses are family owned. Well, they're about
Speaker 2 12:31
Yeah, which is fantastic. Because you think about that social fabric that, again, in regional communities, family businesses have a long term horizon that they look at. And that's something really comforting from an Australian point of view, for those that have that very long term perspective about, you know, supporting their family, and then the wider community.
Oli Le Lievre 12:50
And so what are the areas that family business or FBI is operating along? What are your priority areas,
Speaker 2 12:56
so we are first and foremost a membership based organization. But then once you open that door, there's a whole lot of education courses, for example, around succession planning around, you know, the family business dynamics and other things. We have this really good program called the forum program. And what that is, it's a facilitated by someone, small group of people, probably a maximum of 10, or 12. And they get together once a month. Now, some of the people in the FBI membership have been doing this for over 20 years. And, you know, going to the same forum group, obviously, people dip in and out a little bit. But there's that core has remained and I find that incredible, the value that people put on the forum group, and from an agriculture or from a primary producers point of view agribusiness point of view, we've recognized that a virtual forum is something that is potentially accessible to regional communities. So we're definitely promoting the virtual forum. So it's not only the city slickers that get the opportunity to participate in a forum, but and we're now quite used to a virtual format as well. It's different face to face to the virtual. But I think that's a really great opportunity to connect people into what is really a very safe space for those participants in the forum group. We have an annual conference, we've got celebrating our 25th birthday in a few weeks time. And so Angus can add the chair and I attending each of those celebrations in each state. And that's going to bring out some brilliant family business stories. And yes, you know, all the everybody loves the story. So I'm really excited to sort of visit all the states and hear the local stories and their successes, possibly a few warts along the way, as well. So I think for me, the really critical thing is we need to continue to build a really strong family business community and support each other and certainly from an FBI perspective. It's really focused on supporting family businesses.
Oli Le Lievre 14:51
And I'll do like how you mentioned that family businesses are so important to the fabric of Australia. So there are some I'll say economic and macro head beans that are out there that people I think, obviously are aware or need to be aware of. But in terms of through FBA, what do you see as the opportunities for small business? And what does the future look like for them?
Speaker 2 15:11
Well, I think we see ourselves as being there to lend a hand. And whether it be someone in a forum group or someone actually just standing in Marbella dynamics and how they can manage them in their family business, were actually there to support. And it's interesting because a lot of people talk about, say, small and family business, and a lot of government departments put small and family together, what we really need to appreciate that some of the biggest businesses in Australia are also family businesses, and what they give back to communities in various ways is so important as well. So I think, you know, yes, there are headwinds ahead. But I think that's the message of you're not alone, either. And I was only talking yesterday to one of our board members who were saying, someone in her forum group, which is a virtual one is really struggling in business. And that was his safe space to get some help to navigate through some of the challenges and not everyone's going to make it but at least, you know, we are here to support family businesses. And we've got to do that day in and day out.
Oli Le Lievre 16:10
And so if people are looking for more information on any of the services and what you guys are up to, where can they find it.
Speaker 2 16:16
So jump on to our website, family business association.org. And there's plenty of stuff there about events, and we've got regional offices. So we do have representation in all the mainland states. So we can always can end there's a one 300 Or one 800 Number, I should know that off the top of my head.
Oli Le Lievre 16:34
Absolutely fine.
Speaker 2 16:36
So you know, and we've also got New Zealand, so we actually weren't, I'm off to New Zealand, and a couple of weeks. And so we've got this network that we're expanding outside of Australia. So if you're in New Zealand, have a look there. And if you're in Australia, it is a one 800 Number 249357. So plenty of info at family business.org.au. So there's plenty of ways to get in touch with us. And we'd be really happy to help any business with whatever they need. That's what we're here for. It's not about us telling people what they need. It's about them telling us what they need. And we should be finding a solution.
Oli Le Lievre 17:10
You know what you need to remember the number you just need a little jingle because
Unknown Speaker 17:16
you don't want one from me, I don't think
Oli Le Lievre 17:19
or Katherine, thank you so much for jumping on and having a little bit of a chat with us and can't wait to see what's the hidden in cross paths at various events.
Unknown Speaker 17:26
Absolutely. Thanks for leaving. It's been great.
Oli Le Lievre 17:29
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 at Hello at humans of agriculture.com. Get in touch with any guests 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. Right subscribe, review it, any feedback is absolutely awesome. And we really do welcome it. So look after yourselves. Stay safe, stay sane. We'll see you next time. See ya.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai