EVERYBODY remembers grandad saying his goal as a farmer was to leave the land in a better state than when he found it.
The remark has remained a strong ethos in farming for decades and it is one that resonates with fourth generation farmer Jason Graham, New Norcia.
With his grandad Paul now retired (but still available for advice) and his father Mark as a helping hand, Jason presents a positive picture of agriculture as he oversees a 4120 hectares farming operation that embraces the New Norcia home property and acquisitions at Bindi Bindi.
The total cropping program is 3000ha comprising a canola, barley, wheat rotation.
“I agree we are custodians of the land but we have to make it profitable to make it sustainable,” Jason said.
And that is what provides the incentive – along with Jason’s mum Jane – to work the long hours as a now son-father combination, as Mark heads for semi-retirement.
The two-man operation is supplemented by an agronomist and Jason’s partner Jess Oliver, who plays an integral role as a chaser driver at harvest and operating the rock picker during the year, on a property that, like many, seems to “grow” stones.
Jason handles the bulk of spraying during the year, seeding and harvesting, while Mark is the spray driver at seeding, the truck driver at harvest and the spreader driver when conditions are right.
A proactive approach six years ago, when succession planning became a reality for Mark, saw Jason look to the future with expansion in mind.
He came straight from Swanleigh Boarding School back to the farm with a mindset to continue in the family tradition and found himself in another “school” where his teachers were his grandad and father.
“I just picked it up as I went along but I was always had a leaning towards machinery and cropping,” he said.
“Grandad loves his sheep and eight years ago we had more stock than the hectares we cropped with a 6000 head Merino flock, including lambs.
“We’d keep the ewes and sell wether lambs to the trade.
“But it became obvious cropping was going to be our dominant income and so we concentrated on that, expanding to a property in Bindi Bindi.
“We recently bought an adjoining block there which we’ve cropped once and it has vindicated our strategy to gear up our machinery requirements so we could achieve economies of scale.
“We knew it was necessary for us to look at where we’d be in the future and our emphasis was to acquire machinery that had the necessary technology to improve timeliness and productivity.
“Any time saving we can get from machinery is a bonus when you have no employees.”
Over the past few years, acquisitions have included a John Deere 4045 self-propelled boomsprayer with Exact Apply nozzles, a John Deere S680 harvester with a 12.2m (40ft) front, which represented a class jump from seven to eight and a resultant increase in capacity with a new chaser bin (18 tonne to 24t).
“All the new machinery is nice to have but each has been chosen to provide us with timeliness and productivity and we hope, reliability,” Jason said.
The latter can be achieved with hands-on maintenance by Jason and Mark, who are keen “shed mechanics and tinkerers”.
This month, saw another step in forward planning with the erection of three new Kotzur silos to hold a total of 1000 tonnes of grain.
“It gives us another string to the bow,” Jason said.
“We are using a grain marketer this year as a first step to serious on-farm storage so we can play the season a bit and maximise our returns.
“We’ll see how it goes and it may lead us to continue to store more grain, maybe 80 per cent of what we produce.
“But we’ll always assess our position before we make any moves.”
An example of that statement was the decision two years ago to buy a Reefinator to reclaim about 450ha of land that forms a magnetite iron ore ridge across the New Norcia property.
“We’ve already reclaimed 60ha to cropping and we’ll keep at it whenever we get the opportunity,” Jason said.
“It’s like we’re making soil with the Reefinator though it’s a pretty tough job.
“But it’s a great machine.”
The Reefinator can break up rocks, and after a few passes crush them up, incorporate the topsoil and leave a level finish.
The ripping tines can work down to 230mm (9in) and the Reefinator acts like a cheese grater to rip and crush the rocks.
It works above and below the ground leaving a soil and gravel mixture perfect for establishing a crop.
Jason is keen to see how on-farm grain storage will work.
“That will be in the decision mix as we go forward,” he said.
