Australian Farmers: Telling Our Story

Managing a family farm comes with big responsibility but my guest today has not only excelled in the running of Barunga Grains near Bute on the Northern Yorke Peninsula of South Australia – he's made it his own. Technology has opened up a wealth of information many operators won't even know exists. His work has just earned him a gong in the Farmer of the Year Awards where he won the Excellence in...

The look, the smell and the taste all conjure images of the Australian summer. Mangoes are a family favourite in many households and a sign of warmer days and holidays ahead. Now, there's not just one but three new mango varieties on offer to customers. They're called 'Yess!' 'Ahhh!' and 'Gee!'. Sounds like fun but it means we all benefit from more choice at the checkout. So, how do they stack up...

For our final episode of 2022, we learn how a self-confessed city slicker ended up being named as the 2022 Rural Community Leader of the Year. It is quite the story. It all started with young love, a trip to the Brisbane Ekka and Sarah Parker now calls a dairy farm in Victoria's Goulburn Valley home. Finding connection in a remote part of the world became a calling that's now part of her identity....

We are about to meet a wheat, spelt and barley farmer, turned factory owner who has made the little town of Junee in NSW a tourist attraction. How else but with the transformation of an abandoned mill built in 1935 into the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory. And the most recent addition to the family business is the Corowa Distillery Co, making whiskey from their own barley. If you're still loo...

Today we are visiting a magical garden delightfully named Buttenshaw Backyard Farm. This patch of land in Montrose Victoria is only on a ¾ acre block but the space is bursting with fruit and nut trees, raised vegetable beds and an abundance of berries. Some of the produce includes vibrant glass gem corn, rainbow-coloured chillies, pineapple tomatoes and golden beetroot. The gardeners still have fu...

On the land, mustering takes many forms. It can be done on horseback, on motorbike, with a helicopter but my guest today plans for his AgTech start-up to become the first company in the world to commercialise livestock mustering with drones. SkyKelpie has been undergoing trials and there are some exciting results for cost savings, animal welfare and the environment. Founder Luke Chaplain is the pe...

We've all heard of taking a gap year – but usually you hear of kids from Sydney heading for Europe. Not Bradley Benge. This city boy ended up at a cattle property in Western Australia called Challa Station. It's all part of a National Farmers Federation lead program AgCAREERSTART which supports young people out of school head to the bush for a year of work and training. Brad and his host farmer, D...

The Hollins family has been growing rice since 1942. Their farm sits in picturesque Burraboi in southern NSW. Neville and Brooke are experts in the field but in all that time, they've never had a crop quite like that of 2022. Their efforts have lead them to take out the coveted SunRice Grower of the Year award. To learn more, Brooke joins us to discuss:   Brooke's favourite place on the long-stand...

Have you ever tasted camel milk or used camel beauty products? It's a relatively new industry in Australia. Leading the way in bringing this range to the masses is husband and wife Megan and Chris Williams. Having met on holiday in the outback, the couple fell in love with each other and with wild camels. One thing lead to another, and The Camel Milk Co was born. It was the first officially licens...

Honey is a true gift of nature and the busy bees that make it are impressive and fascinating. That love of bees has taken Charlie Casido around the world - until the 1990s when he and his wife decided to migrate to Australia from the Philippines. It was at Orange in the Central West of NSW they started their business called Australian Queen Bee Line, selling honey, queen bees and offering pollinat...

Being born and raised on the land hasn't meant any free passes for Angie Nisbet.  Forging her own path as a stockwoman and grazier hasn't come easy. She's had to work tirelessly and prove a lot of people wrong. As if running Landsborough Downs near Hughenden Queensland wasn't challenging enough – she's recently added a couple more roles into the mix: mother to three children under four with a fly-...

There's a new kid on the chopping block that's tipped to redefine how Australians perceive pears. It's a big call but the Rico Pear boasts a striking blush colour and a surprising crunch. Marketing experts have described it as 'unlike anything you've tasted before'. So, if you thought maybe pears had fallen out of favour, there's a team of people working hard to change your mind. Our guest today i...

When you find yourself collecting your neighbours' left-over home grown produce so you can make pickles and preserves in an effort to save them from the bin – you know food is your thing. Alex Elliott-Howery has channelled her love of the kitchen into a café and cooking school along with a series of cookbooks, the most recent being 'The Food Savers A-Z'. Within those pages, you'll not only learn t...

Imagine going to work with hundreds of new strawberry prototypes awaiting taste testing. That's all in a day's work for Australia's leading strawberry breeder. Senior Scientist Dr Jodi Neal and her team have just perfected one that is pretty special. It's a stunning white colour with bright red seeds and tastes a little like a pina colada! How did they do it? When can we buy it? So many questions....

Olive growing is steeped in history and tradition. Few know the art better than Leandro Ravetti having just completed his 31st harvest. From working in olive groves around the world to now calling Australia's Cobram Estate home. His work has lead to the company being recognised in the Australian Financial Review's Sustainability Leaders list of 2022. So, it seems extra virgin olive oil is good for...

Meet Big Farmer Andy. The bloke who turned his dairy farm into a source of intrigue and fascination. With an online following of more than 300-thousand people he aims to bridge the divide between city and country people by sharing snippets of his life on the land with humour. He's also not afraid to challenge those with opposing views. And is a strong advocate for mental wellbeing, sporting a very...

Today we are speaking with a fashion editor, columnist and author who says natural fibres are the answer to fashion's climate crisis. Think wool, cotton, flax, silk, hemp and cashmere. There are amazing regenerative farms and fashion houses already changing the industry and in turn the way we all shop and dress. It is possible to wear beautiful clothes and improve the environment at the same time....

When you marry into farming, life can take many unexpected turns. For today's guests moving to Caloundra Station in the Upper South-East of South Australia came with the shock of only having an income once a year! So, Robyn Verrall set out to create an income for herself. By promoting her husband's animal welfare and best farming practices, she managed to start a direct paddock to plate business c...

In October 2019, Australian farmers were faced with a crippling drought. One woman set out to give those communities a voice and showcase all the incredible wares for sale in the towns doing it tough. It started with an Instagram account and before long, the hashtag #buyfromthebush became a sensation. Small bricks and mortar stores on the brink of closure were selling out of stock. We are a long w...

After an idyllic childhood on a Central Queensland cattle station, my guest today has travelled far and wide. Attending boarding school, going to University in Brisbane, touring Canada and New Zealand – all the while spending as much time on the family farm as possible. Something always stood out to her in her adventures and that was the story of women in agriculture. In 2015, whilst helping out o...

Imagine farming in one of the most arid places in Australia. The Litchfield family manages to produce Angus Cross Cattle and Australian White Sheep (a breed suited to the harsh conditions with a self-shedding coat) on the Edge of the Simpson Desert in far-north South Australia. Ellen Litchfield is a farmer, veterinarian and scholar with a keen interest in climate change and some interesting observ...

Today we are off to New Zealand to talk farm forensics. It's a bit like interviewing the lead detective on a crime scene to learn the truth about where our food and fibre really comes from. Fraud is alive and well in the global supply chain. So how do you know whether that Egyptian Cotton really comes from Egypt or that grass-fed Australian beef is as advertised? Oritain are the scientists untangl...

You would have to be living off the grid to have not heard the term Foot and Mouth in the last week. What is it? Why do we care? How come it's suddenly become such a hot topic in Australia. We export about 70 per cent of our agricultural produce in this country. A lethal livestock disease threatens to shut down that market for years with disastrous results for farmers and indeed all of us with pri...

This is no doubt a love story. The story of a city boy's love of agriculture that lead him to pursue a career in corporate ag. Then, falling in love with his now wife who happened to be a farmer's daughter with a desire to take on the family business. James Knight made the brave decision to face his own personal demons to take up an integral role in running the primarily beef cattle property at Th...

Today we are on the road to Sydney. That doesn't sound very rural but hopefully, by the end of this conversation – you might change your views about how and where farms can operate. Sydney Urban Green is the city's first commercial indoor farm specialising in vertically growing microgreens and sprouts. It makes a lot of sense. It's an economical use of space. And the food is grown where we have th...