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Welcome to Humans of Agriculture. This podcast series is dedicated to discovering more about our food system, from the people involved in it.
Along the journey we'll be meeting people from all walks of life from Australia and from afar. Join us as we find out how our communities and our culture shape what we eat, and ultimately who we are.
More people, More often, Identifying with Agriculture
Tessa Chartres - Humans Of Agriculture
Tue, Mar 26, 2024 1:18PM • 21:16
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
bathurst, danny, work, love, communities, region, mi, basin, farm, learn, drought, river, life, big, part, understand, nippers, move, people, water
SPEAKERS
Oli Le Lievre
Oli Le Lievre 00:00
Welcome back to the humans of agriculture Podcast. I'm joined today by Tessa charges the 2024 Xander McDonald Award winner for Australia. Sounds like quite a Regal, like title, doesn't it now but there's an Australian and New Zealand winner does.
00:12
It does Australian winners. Yeah, it's pretty exciting.
Oli Le Lievre 00:16
It's very flat. Now before we get into finding out and asking you a few different questions about who you are, there's Anna McDonald award, your mentoring trip all of that, I guess a little bit of context. For listeners you're based in Dunellen in South or southern New South Wales. You're the chair of the Southwest music regional Conservatorium, and you're the general manager of Business Development at Murray irrigation limited. So test I think we probably need to start with a really big question. It's coming into Easter weekend. It's the annual Danny rams versus Finley cats, who's gonna win the netball and who's gonna win the footy. I've
00:52
got a call rounds both I mean, I've got some pretty tightly wed allegiances to their brands. When I first moved to Delhi. I played a season of netball there and so I've got a better hands on that one.
Oli Le Lievre 01:05
I think I'll wouldn't be allowed back in the Riverina. If I said Finley is not going to win. So we might just have to make a wager on this one.
01:11
Well, you've showed Yeah, we'll touch base.
Oli Le Lievre 01:13
the Robertson family won't allow me ever to go back near them.
01:17
So I know where you can back them in. We'll we'll go into a Red Hawk challenge.
Oli Le Lievre 01:22
We'll come back to the results next week. But tell us I guess it's good. You said when you first went to Danny, whereabouts Did you grow up? What have been your connections to AG growing up?
01:31
Yeah, sorry. I grew up in Bathurst. Mom and dad both stocking station agents there in Bathurst that's where they knit so pretty heavily tied to AG whole time growing up. I grew up on a mixed grazing farm there. And mom and dad are still on the farm out towards Icahn are there. So yeah, really grew up on the farm. Loving life outside, not too worried about getting inside too much just like being out there chasing the shaking cattle around. But then I ended up downing Danny for the pretty fun New Year's Eve for a few years ago. And mutual friends drag me down here and said, sounds like a pretty good party. So I came on down and met my now husband at that party that he was throwing so love the Riverina since I came down here, really, really warm community and I really enjoyed the lifestyle on the river. So I made the move down here. The end of 2017 probably
Oli Le Lievre 02:26
wasn't the 2015 ball, or 2014 15 is the
02:31
second one. There was two. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it was the second of the two and everyone jokes now that Benny did all work. So we didn't need to throw another one. So
02:43
that's pretty clever by him. Really? Yeah.
02:45
No, it did. Well did the job. And
Oli Le Lievre 02:47
what were you doing before you obviously met Ben, like moving to Danny, what were the options? What are you doing work?
02:54
Yeah, so back in Bathurst, I was an accountant, I did my Bachelor of accounting at CSU. And I was working at a local firm there in Bathurst, working full time studying part time, pretty common in accounting to do that to do study and work at the same time, do an undergrad role. So I did that for four years. And that was just off the back of some I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with my life and my career. But I knew I wanted it to be around I knew I wanted to stay in the regions I didn't want to be in the city. Now one of the partners they gave me some great advice and just said test if you can be a good accountant, then you can do whatever you like you can be involved in whatever industry and turns out that was the perfect advice. So I did a little bit of a stint at a feedlot there in Bathurst as their cattle analyst and love that sort of assessing what genetics and what rations and all the days on farm and all that kind of stuff. So love that but then the opportunity came up to move down to Danny and jumped on it so and that's how I ended up at MI L. So it was the middle of the drought 2017 18 drought so not a lot going on in the region. So just jumped into mid oil and started learning about how it worked and how the channels worked and how the region worked with irrigation I thought I thought I would be fine moving to Danny only three and a half hours from Melbourne and not being used to farming my whole life I didn't think it would be that much of a change but water and irrigation was certainly a pretty big change for me and a really interesting learning curve that I've really enjoyed
Oli Le Lievre 04:27
before we jump into what Maria Goshen Limited is an MI L as you refer to what did you learn about the town because I've only ever been kind of in and around any I guess when there's been an abundance of water? Like what was the town like what was the vibe and how's that impacted by the drought?
04:43
Yeah, it was. You could see the shops shutting down. And you can see that the impact that the drought has had it just there wasn't that sort of workforce that was around to keep farms turning over and the labour required to keep them active. You know harvest and irrigating and dairy cutting right back. And I think you could really see that economic downturn in the community, especially being new to it, you could see just it wasn't thriving in the middle of the drought. Whereas you look at it now. And has he been new cafes have popped back up, the shops popping back up, it's just really different economic viability going on when there is water in the basin. So yeah, it's it's so dependent on it. So all of those economic impacts.
Oli Le Lievre 05:34
And for you joining Mia or what, what what kind of your initial takeaways and there might be some of the assumptions you came in with coming from that Bathurst area, down into an area which is so reliant on water? Yeah,
05:46
I, I didn't really understand the mechanics of the Basin Plan, and how much policy could have such a critical impact on operations for fun? I think that's something I wasn't aware of. And I remember when we were young hearing about the Basin Plan, and seeing that on the news, I hadn't realised that that was really something that went on until I started living and breathing it a bit more. Whereas once I got into it, I could really see how policy was really having the effect on how people were living their lives and structuring their businesses. And how cautious of it and careful along with the opportunities of it as well. So there's just so much more to it. And it was far more complex and strategic, I guess, than what I had expected. And I guess being an accountant as well, the concept of water accounting is quite interesting to me, like all those frameworks that are going into it, and particularly in MI as well. So applying what I knew about accounting for money has been really interesting applying for accounting for water, it's, it's, in the end, quite similar. And just another way of having a commodity. So that's been a really interesting part of it, too.
Oli Le Lievre 06:55
For us outsiders, can you explain a little bit about what mi L is and what the role is for you guys in in the area?
07:01
Yeah, so I guess mi L is essentially a series of channel networks, we take water out of the Murray River at Yarrawonga. And then we deliver it to all of our fans across the footprint. So I've got structures right from fer won't go all the way out, to walk all almost one hill. So it's about three and a half 1000 kilometres of gravity channels. 720, odd 1000 hectares of farming country that we deliver to. And we also deliver to the environment and help out with river operations for one New South Wales and we MDBA as well. So it's essentially a water delivery company. So that's at its core, what we do just deliver water, simple as that. And
Oli Le Lievre 07:44
plenty and plenty of stakeholders across all sorts of industries and communities as well.
07:53
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, you can just see how reliant everyone is on the resource. So making sure that we do a good job. So critical to the whole region, and everyone that lives here. And I mean, these are really long life assets as well. So I think that's something I've found really interesting as an accountant, making sure that these infrastructure is here for future generations, and that people can keep farming for a very long time. So, you know, a lot of our assets are sort of 50 year assets. So I probably might, I might see them get replaced, but I probably I may not. So just that sort of forward thinking around what this region looks like that far ahead of time is something that I really enjoy.
Oli Le Lievre 08:33
It's actually remarkable here. I'm trying to work out what we're doing in the next 1218 months, maybe in a whisker out to kind of five years. But the true impact of what you guys are working on, really is multi generational.
08:46
Yeah, it Yeah, multi generational is the word that we use. And that's the word now strategic plan that I spend quite a lot of my time thinking about. And, you know, I've got the twins. And I'd love for them to be able to be here when they grow up and have a viable community to live in. And that's really what I think about it's back in the day when Mao was built way back before the Second World War sort of thing. Those people had the foresight to build this for us. And now it's out and kind of make sure that it's here for the next few generations to come. Do
Oli Le Lievre 09:22
you think and yeah, if you don't mind me asking, do you think like going through your 20s and I guess having friends in the river and and all of that like coming in and out. But then when you move down there full time, and then having kids and being a mum, has that really changed the way you look at the work you do? Yeah,
09:39
I think I think it definitely has. I think that's got to be there for them. But I also think regions like this, and the regions in general are so critical to solving some of the problems for Australia as a nation. I mean, we're seeing at the moment such pressures on cost of living housing prices, food prices, These are national issues. And I think if we don't do a good job of making sure these regions aren't here and doing what they need to do that, those issues are only gonna get worse, further metropolitan areas. So I'm just, it probably goes even bigger than that for me now, I think the future of Australia is quite reliant on these areas. And the basins are big thing, right? Like, it's not just the MRL footprint. But altogether, the basin is essentially providing most of the food that is going to say, Australia, and I'd like to keep seeing people move a little bit more regionally. And that looks like these communities being somewhere that people want to live. And that's why I do my work with Southwest music as well, because I think the arts is such a critical part of making those communities, some where people do want to live, you know, doctors and teachers and all those sorts of things that the professional services that need to come into our businesses and support our families and our lifestyle. They need to be there as well. So we need to be making these communities as good as they can be to facilitate them.
Oli Le Lievre 11:03
How has like the original music conservatory benefited you like having moved at any? Were you aware of it beforehand?
11:09
No idea it was there beforehand. I grew up playing at the Bathurst regional Conservatorium. So I started there when I was six. I think so musics always been a massive part of my life. But I didn't know we had the Conservatorium in Danny, and we're very lucky to have it, we've just been fortunate enough to get a grant from the New South Wales State Government to rebuild the con in town. So we're in the process of doing that at the moment. So it's gonna be amazing to have facility like that, in the main street of Danny, where we can have brilliant artists come I mean, there's great music cultural around any with the master. And we're well known for that probably better than anything else. So to expand on that sort of education and culture, in the arts into the community, is something that I think it's really important for us.
Oli Le Lievre 11:59
Have you got a vision, like for what the region and maybe what Danny could be as a town where you weave the agriculture side and the music, cultural arts, I'd like what if Yeah, if it was a blank canvas, and anything was possible, but would you love to create indeni Fools?
12:13
I think the foundations of it already there. And I think when you describe something like that, I I see it as almost quite cyclical. I don't I don't know that it's a static being for Danny, will regional communities like it? I think it looks like continuous growth. And I mean, we're kind of seeing it in the bigger regional hubs, right. Like, if you think about all I think about Bathurst, I can see that there. I think about orange, I think that Dubbo I see it in a trucker and Aubrey a little bit closer to where we are now. Those places are all kind of gaining momentum, but they're also filling up quite quickly. I think there's a really big piece of me that wants to keep the country charm of Danny, we kind of let that get away from us. But what I'd really like to see is a collaborative space where we're just targeting continuous improvement. I don't I don't know that I could fix it down to one solid state. Yeah, that's
Oli Le Lievre 13:12
cool. So definitely a special spot down on the Edward.
13:15
Yeah. Yeah. No, it's awesome. Yeah, I think I didn't, the rivers down here so special to the beaches. My kids keep asking me go to the ocean beach at the moment. And don't just keep reminding them that we've got the river beach right at their doorstep. So that kind of understanding of what's out there is we've got national parks out in our doorstep. And we're so lucky, but to have forward thinking and collaborative approaches to solving problems. I think we're so close. So we can just keep working on that.
Oli Le Lievre 13:48
Do you guys have like nippers in town at the river beach? Because I've seen it in Wagga?
13:52
No. So we shouldn't do that though. I
Oli Le Lievre 13:55
like that. Yeah. So we're gonna do it where they have like, you might even just be a school holidays kind of thing. Because obviously kids near the coast, learn about ocean safety and whatnot. And they do the nippers. Yeah. And all of that on the rampage. Isn't that idea?
14:09
Yeah. I love that. Yeah, it'd be so far. We we sponsor swimming lessons as part of what we do. We obviously we so much water around our footprint. That's swimming lessons are a huge part of what we push for. But I like that I think Allah Jaime business development show I can have a crack at that one. Yeah,
Oli Le Lievre 14:27
perfect. Good luck. Oh, what's this? For flags? Sounds good. Now, with your application for the Xander award, or with winning it, you get a mentoring trip? Yeah. Did you have a specific project or a specific area in mind that you're really looking to kind of work on and develop?
14:48
Not really I think there are there is one part that I have thought about which I think with the base and being so big, I would really love to see how the policies impacting people in other parts of Have the basin that I'm not quite so exposed to. So I'd love to get down to South Australia and learn about the challenges they have. And I'd love to get up north towards Queensland and understand the floodplain harvesting concepts and what they need from them water as well. So, for me, it was really an opportunity to get out there and see things beyond my own backyard and understand other people's opinions. And also just broadening my horizons around how people are doing business in ag at the moment. I think that's one of the downfalls of being in regional communities. And it helps having technology so much better the way it is and the work that you do. But there's nothing quite like going into someone else's business and understand the challenges they have and how they might be applicable to what you're doing. Even though on the surface that might not be obvious. But usually they are taking policy in particular, which are both under my rain minute work throughout everyone's business. So just seeing how they're facing those challenges. I think golden go culture is another one that I'd like to see how other people approach tonight would be great. Yeah, and just sort of finding out what great things people are doing.
Oli Le Lievre 16:12
Well, I don't think there'll be any shortage of that. Based off the people in the network. Absolutely not. What did you take away? We had the summit, just recently over in Queenstown. What would you take away?
16:25
Yeah. who it was. There wouldn't be couple of days, I think. I don't think that was any one point of what someone said that I took away from it. I think it was more the feeling in the room, though it was and the value of that network is what I walked away. So appreciative of. And I mean, I think I mean, you've been in that network for a little bit longer than me, but was quite humbling, and really took me aback how sort of willing people were to share their knowledge and their experience with you to make you a better person, but also so interested to hear and what you were doing for them to learn from as well. So I think that's a really rare culture. And I'd be shouldn't be, but there is something really special in that room that makes you feel like what you're doing is values. And that your opinion what other people are doing is valued as well. So yeah, so I started thing on Instagram. And I one of my favourite people to follow is Adam Grant. And he's an organisational psychologist in America, and he has posted on I got back, which was uncannily timed was about unplugging to recharge, and for burnout and stepping away from stressful environments. But it was about not only unplugging, but also plugging in to things that charge your battery. And I think that's what that room was last week, when you plug into people who are so forward thinking and looking for solutions to problems, and are so positive about what the future holds. That's not just unplugging anymore, that's plugging into things that fuel your energy. And you can come back to normal life and have another crack at it. And with a new sense of recharge energy.
Oli Le Lievre 18:13
Go to you should have done the summary at the end of it. That was That was so good.
18:19
Couldn't be a couple of weeks or reflection now, though. Oh,
Oli Le Lievre 18:23
it was? Yeah, no, I think you've now got I think it is it's kind of it's stepping away. And it's. And it's like it's work. And it's intense in terms of some of the topics and the conversations and things you have. But at the same time to it's, as you say, it's around positive positiveness and progressiveness. Like it's kind of going how do we be better? How do we support people how we make ourselves better so we can have a better and bigger impact and everything that goes with that? Yeah,
18:51
and how do we do that together? You didn't I? Sometimes I think we all get into our own lives, and we firing away trying to make good of the world. And you kind of forget that you're not by yourself. And that's what that really hit home for me as well was. We're not in this alone. There's lots of people even though it might not be your specific industry. There's new ideas out there that can help you get on the right direction. And that was just so reassuring and beneficial. I'm sure for everyone.
Oli Le Lievre 19:21
Absolutely. Yeah. And I think I was chatting to someone afterwards. And I said are I surprised how many CEOs were kind of present for the two days in there. I was like, you just don't see that. Normally people are on their phone or whatnot. And he was like, well, we've just got we've got just as much to learn by sitting there and being present as anyone else in the room. And sometimes we actually need to listen more. So
19:42
yeah, and even the speakers too, which I found interesting. Like often when you go to a conference, the speaker will just pop in and then pop out, do their piece and go back to their job. But that wasn't the case. Those people were also invested in sharing what they know but then also learning from everyone else. They were there for the whole two days. so engrossed in what was going on.
Oli Le Lievre 20:02
It was amazing. It was it was we'll have to run a little follow up later in the year when applications are back open. And you're a little bit further into, you might have checked out different areas of the basin or you might have had a nother trip over to New Zealand. Who knows?
20:14
Yeah. That's on the cards. It is now tests.
Oli Le Lievre 20:18
Thank you so much for joining us for a chat. And congratulations on being the winner. And we can't wait to see what you do.
20:26
Yeah, thank you.
Oli Le Lievre 20:27
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 guest recommendations topics, or things you'd like us to talk and get curious about.
20:45
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.