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ONE third of surveyed secondary school students say they have no knowledge of available careers in agriculture, while only 18 per cent say they know a ‘ fair bit’ or ‘a lot’.

A recent survey of 500 secondary school students across Western Australia undertaken on behalf of Manjimup Shire shows that 56 per cent of respondents who thought a farming career was out of the question do so because they are not from a farming background.

Manjimup Shire President Paul Omodei says the research is unique in that it asks young people what they think of agriculture and what the industry needs to change to attract young people to explore careers and enter the workforce.

“A career in agriculture has a lot to offer, graduates are in high demand, salaries are increasing and technology is taking off but many secondary school students don’t even know the industry exists,” Cr Omodei says.

“What this report tells us is how young people find information about careers and what materials will make them take a closer look at agriculture.”

The report notes that in many students’ minds a career in agriculture is not just a career but a lifestyle change, with 28 per cent of respondents concerned they would have to move from friends and family.

On the upside, 20 per cent of students who said they would consider an agriculture career did so because they liked animals.

Improving people’s lives, and an interesting work environment were the next most common reasons, at 18 per cent a piece.

One young man who has no doubt he wants to be a farmer is Patrick Swallow who is working at the robotic dairy and with beef cattle at WA College of Agriculture Denmark while on holidays from his Bachelor of Agribusiness course at Curtin University in Perth.

Mr Swallow, pictured, a budding fourth-generation Denmark farmer, is a former student of the college who started studying there in Year 10.

“I suppose when I was younger, I looked at the police force or being a mechanic, but I always knew I was going to take over the farm one day,” he says.

“I always wanted to do it, but Mum and Dad never forced the farm on me.”

Mr Swallow said he would encourage any high school student to check out the Ag college system.

“It’s changed my life,” he said.

“Earlier in high school I probably wasn’t quite as academic or driven to do well but when I came here I was actually genuinely interested in it.”

Aside from one day taking the reins at the nearby family farm, Mr Swallow also aspires to become a teacher at the college.

Photo: Chris Thomson

BUYING the farm next door may not be the most profitable way to expand an agri-business in the Great Southern, especially in an era of climate change, a prominent Western Australian economist advises.

University of Western Australia agriculture economist Ross Kingwell, pictured, says  many farms these days expand by first leasing new land nearby under a condition that they get “first dibs” on buying the property when the owner gets around to selling it.

“The advantage of that is you get to learn first-hand exactly what the quality of the land asset is that you’re likely to be buying so that you get very good intelligence about how valuable, how useful the land is,” Professor Kingwell says.

“The downside of buying out a neighbour is that you expose yourself to exactly the same climate variability that you face on your home farm.

“So that if on your home farm you get a dry year, you’re going to also probably get that on the neighbouring farm.”

Professor Kingwell says soils and enterprises that work best on neighbouring farms are also likely to do so on the home farm.

“So, you’re not spreading your risk; you’re just facing exactly the same risks on the neighbouring farm as you face on the home farm,” he says.

“The only advantage you really get is spreading your overhead costs across more hectares.”

Professor Kingwell says few farmers team up with farmers outside their area, but more should.

With colleagues, Professor Kingwell recently published a paper titled: Traditional farm expansion versus joint venture remote partnerships that modelled farm performance across 27 locations in south-western Australia, including the Great Southern locales of Katanning and Ongerup.

“The other way to go is the approach that the paper looked at, which is: ‘Well, what happens if you go into a joint venture with a farmer somewhere else who also wants to expand and can you share expansion opportunities by becoming joint owners in respective bits of land?’” he says.

“It works well if you’ve got two competent farmers who both want to expand but want to spread their risk.

“Both the farmers have to ask themselves a few questions such as: ‘Does this partnership offer economies of size for both our operations?’, ‘Does the expansion offer us potential to get some price discounts on our inputs?’, and probably most impor- tantly, ‘Are the returns from both farms a bit weakly correlated?’

“This would likely be the case if you had a farmer in a sheep dominant area like Gnowangerup go into business with a crop dominant farmer somewhere else.”

Professor Kingwell says in some Great Southern areas including Gnowangerup, Borden and Kojonup, climate change is actually proving beneficial – with less water-logging and better rainfall distribution.

“In the Great Southern, places like Ongerup and Katanning, it’s still possible to find a partner that reduces your risk and adds value to you business,” he says.

“So, even in the Albany area, which most people would consider a pretty good one for farming, it’s still possible to find a distant joint venture partner that actually adds value to your own business compared to investment in a farm next door.”

Professor Kingwell says out-of-area JVs are still “very uncommon” because they are so novel and it is difficult to identify a good partner.

“Most farmers do what their dads did, which is you just buy out a neighbour,” he says.

“Whereas, in the midst of climate change that advice may be less sound.”

A REGIONAL brand to promote Great Southern beef, sheep meat and grain is well on the way to becoming reality.

The regional branding project run by the Stirlings to Coast Farmers group, alongside a company called AgLive, is enlisting digital technology to track the history of individual livestock as they move from gate to plate.

SCF CEO Christine Kershaw says the trial, involving 20 farmers, is building up a digital chain of custody to inform customers exactly where animals come from and the full history of their lives.

“This in turn has potential to bring farmers and consumers closer together through a locally branded product where meat quality and animal welfare go hand in hand,” Dr Kershaw says.

“Consumers want to connect with farmers and where their food comes from.

“What better time for us to do exactly that with full traceability becoming easier with this new technology?”

She warns that developing a Great Southern brand is not as easy as it seems.

“It’s really easy to put a logo on the side of a box and call it a brand,” she says.

“But not everything, especially in export markets, needs a regional brand – ‘West Australian’ is often enough.”

Dr Kershaw says the beef and sheep brand is being developed under the aegis of a co-operative being set up for SCF’s member farmers.

“The co-op will be for grain, beef and sheep, co-ordinating aggregated supply contracts through the region,” she explains.

“We’re looking at small, containerised, specialist grain blends that we can sell for high value.

“We’re developing a brand with the co-op itself as a reliable supplier of fully traceable product.”

Separate to the emerging co-op brand, Dr Kershaw says SCF is looking to develop a regional food brand to use the Great Southern to market specific grain, sheep and beef items.

Interestingly, the humble noodle is at the vanguard of that plan.

“Our farmers grow a top quality product for export, and Japanese millers add value by making it into a noodle,” Dr Kershaw explains.

“We have a project, which is in the third year of trials developing an agronomic package to say: ‘Yes, we can develop this good quality noodle wheat’.

“But we have an opportunity to put a regional brand around that, selling it through the co-operative to the specific high-value Japanese market.”

She says a delegation from Japan is likely to visit Albany later this year and a regional noodle brand is likely to be announced around that time.

The Great Southern is WA’s second largest agricultural region by gross value of production, with $1 billion of mainly grains and livestock coming from the region each year.

“This area here around Albany, with the high rainfall, has not been properly recognised as the food hub that it is,” Dr Kershaw says.

“The extended seasons and reliable rainfall means you can have a mixture of farming enterprises that you can’t have in the Wheatbelt.

“There is an opportunity to brand this region as a source of clean, green produce.”

Photo: Anthony Probert

DENMARK College of Agriculture is set to bring its sheep enterprise class in to the 21st century following the appointment of nationally recognised sheep grazing expert Michael Hyder as the head of the program.
Mr Hyder is known in the industry for managing the acclaimed Lifetime Wool and Lifetime Materials research projects for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
In his approach to sharing his wealth of sheep information Mr Hyder said his vision was to ground students in the basics of pasture and animal production.
“If you understand why pastures and sheep grow like they do, then you will have much more success managing them,” he said.
“I’ll highlight the role of grazing management to improve sheep production.”
Mr Hyder said he plans to introduce more technology and innovation to the college.
“Graduating students will be well versed in the technological tools being used by advanced sheep producers,” he said.
“We have amazing technology available today such as satellite estimations of feed on offer to assist with feed budgeting.
“There’s bluetooth technology to match up stud ewes with their lambs and flexible fencing to make sheep graze where and when we want them to.
“We just need to put it all together.”
Building on the high tech approach to sheep industry education, the College will attend and exhibit at LambEx in Perth early next month.
College principal Kevin Osborne said he wanted the school to showcase their standards of sheep industry training.
“It’s important to us that we set the standard whilst also offering a quality university entry pathway at one fifth the cost of private schools,” he said.

A HEATED exchange over live exports between Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan and Agricultural Region MLC Rick Mazza has seen the chair of a Parliamentary committee call the pair to order.

Proceedings of the usually sombre Standing Committee on Estimates and Financial Operations commenced cordially enough on June 21 when the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MLC asked Ms MacTiernan what she had done to establish global markets for Western Australian farmers.

Ms MacTiernan said the big challenge in the export of grain, which constituted 80 per cent of WA’s agricultural exports, was competition from the Black Sea and Argentina.

“Whilst at this stage this increasing production from Argentina and the Black Sea is focusing on the lower end of the value chain in grain, we are aware that the Russians and the South Americans are very capable people; they will be doing the R&D and they will be improving their grain over time,” she said.

“A very important initiative of ours is that we have increased funding for grains research by $24 million this year.

“We have reoriented the Northern Beef Futures Program.”

Mr Mazza said he understood WA had a very good year in 2017, producing just over 16 million tonnes of grain.

“My understanding is that the Black Sea produced over 100 million tonnes, a significant amount more than us,” he explained.

“There has been a lot of media commentary around the fact that the live export controversy is going to affect our grain market.

“What is the Minister doing about making sure that we continue to have markets for our grain in Western Australia?”

Ms MacTiernan said the overwhelming market for grain was an export one.

“In terms of the live export industry, I want to make this point: I know that the member has been saying things like I have destabilised the live export industry.

“The live export indus- try has been destabilised by poorly performing exporters.

“It has been destabilised by a Federal Government that over the last five or six years has refused to enforce its own regulations, and that is what has —”

Mr Mazza interjected.

“Come on, Minister,” he said.

“Your rhetoric around live export is what has caused the market to fall.”

Ms MacTiernan hit back, saying Mr Mazza had asked her about live export.

“That is nonsense,” Mr Mazza retorted.

“What we are trying to do is ensure –” Ms MacTiernan began explaining before committee Chair, her Labor colleague, Alanna Clohesy called “Order!”.

One Nation MLC for South West Colin Tincknell chimed in, claiming Ms MacTiernan was avoiding Mr Mazza’s question.

“Thank you, Honourable Member,” Ms Clohesy said.

“I will chair this hearing.

“Minister, if you could keep your answer—I understand the member mentioned live export; the question was related to wheat exports.”

Ms MacTiernan explained she was trying to understand the connection between live export and wheat.

“Yes, I am too,” Ms Clohesy confided.

“Perhaps we could move on to a new question.”

Ms MacTiernan tried to make a point before Ms Clohesy again intervened.

“Minister! Order!” she exclaimed, twice.

“Thank you.

“I am inviting the Member to move on to a different question so that we can keep the flow of the hearing happening.”

TRANSWA is likely to be offered a lease to transform a plot across the street from its current terminus into a new one, despite concerns a decade-long agreement may stymie the transformation of Proudlove Parade into a tertiary education centre of excellence.

As revealed in last week’s Weekender (‘Bus- port bumped’), TransWA plans to move its terminus from Albany’s former train station to a grassy block across the street after the University of Western Australia secured the historic building, recently vacated by Albany Visitors’ Centre, for its new wave energy centre.

At a committee meeting on Tuesday night, Acting City CEO Michael Cole said he had seen plans for the new terminus, including a demountable ticketing office.

“It’s a tastefully done demountable,” Mr Cole said.

But Deputy Mayor Greg Stocks said he was concerned the 10-year lease planned for the council-controlled site could delay plans to do “something really special” there.

Mr Cole said there were very few options for the block, which had been procured from the State on a “use-it-or-lose it” basis.

“A period of 10 years is attractive to [TransWA],” he said.

“A period of five [years] may not be.”

He said he had seen no evidence in the two years he had been at the City, since moving south from Perth, that UWA wanted to develop the block.

“If they’d had a use for it they would have grabbed it,” he added.

Cr Stocks said he was satisfied with Mr Coles’ response but that the plot had been bought for the City, not the State, to use.

“We bought that block to [in] future use it for a university precinct,” he said.

“What if we want to go back to UWA in six years; How do we cover that?”

Before moving that the 10-year lease be endorsed, Mayor Dennis Wellington said he was “very happy” with the draft TransWA lease.

His motion, seconded by Cr John Shanhun, was endorsed 11 councillors to nil. It is slated for final debate at the City’s next full council meeting.

CHANGES to the Animal Welfare Act that would give a new class of inspector appointed by Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan power to enter a farm at any time, with no notice and no reasonable suspicion of an offence, have split Labor and Opposition members of a Parliamentary committee.

On June 28, a majority of the Standing Committee on Legislation recommended the above changes be removed from a Bill introduced by Ms MacTiernan.

Currently the Director General of Western Australia’s Department of Primary Industries is the only person who can appoint inspec- tors. Those inspectors can only enter a farm with reasonable suspicion of an offence, a warrant, after serving a notice that a land- holder may object to, or with permission of the land-holder.

Contrary to the majority position, two La- bor members of the Opposition-controlled committee, Chair Sally Talbot and South Metropolitan MLC Pierre Yang, condition- ally supported the Bill in its current form.

Dr Talbot, whose South West electoral region comprises the Southwest region and Great Southern municipalities of Albany, Denmark and Plantagenet, told The Weekender the committee’s “opinion broke” down party lines.

“The Government’s very keen to see new measures introduced and I think that this Bill was one of the mechanisms of doing it,” she said.

President of the Stud Merino Breeders As- sociation of WA Wayne Button urged Ms MacTiernan to implement the committee’s majority recommendations.

“I think the recommendations are common sense and hope that they are taken on board by the relevant parties,” he said.

“Farmers are reasonable people and we try to adhere to all the rules and regulations but I don’t think we need to have any extra things put on top that the general public doesn’t have.

“The analogy was used about people’s backyards, with their pets; inspectors are not allowed to wander through there whenever they feel like it.”

Mr Button said uncontrolled access by in- spectors might also compromise biosecurity protocols required by national livestock as- surance standards.

Ms MacTiernan previously said the Bill, if passed, would enable the State to enforce national livestock standards, bringing WA into line with most of the nation (‘Concerns over right of entry’, May 31).

She added the national standards were a shift from an ad hoc focus triggered by cruelty complaints toward a “more modern” animal welfare approach – and that a new inspection regime was integral to ensuring compliance.

Now, she has told The Weekender that WA remains the only state that has not given legal effect to endorsed national standards and guidelines on animal welfare.

“There is no point having national standards if they cannot be enforced – and this is in- consistent with the position taken by Liberal and National members of the Parliamentary committee,” she said.

“We acknowledge that the Bill could be improved and we will look at amendments to address some of the issues raised by the committee.

“We would hope that these amendments will see the Bill supported in Parliament to bring our state into line with the rest of the country and to provide more certainty to industry.”