THREE Western Australians were among nine emerging leaders from across Australia celebrated in Perth last week, after graduating from the 2017 Australian Grain Farm Leaders Program (AGFLP).
Callum Wesley, Jasmyn Allen and Matt Rigby became involved in the GrainGrowers national leadership program late last year, along with New South Wales participants Robert Allen, Rebecca Wilde and Oscar Pearce, Victoria’s Darcy Gorman and Tasmania’s Rob Terry and Queenslander Jordan Anderson.
The program is designed for young leaders in the Australian grains industry, with each participant required to develop, implement and evaluate a project of their choice.
Southern Cross mixed cropping and cattle farmer Mr Wesley focused on succession planning.
“My project was analysing where our situation is at and putting in some plans,” Mr Wesley said.
“Every succession plan is different to the next so it’s quite a tailored sort of project and GrainGrowers has been great for facilitating the start of it.
“I’ve been able to do some research and case studies and assess my situation to see what plans and procedures I can put in place.”
Ms Allen runs a mixed cropping program at Yuna with her husband and three children.
The family hires a seasonal workforce and after training several new staff, Ms Allen decided a staff manual would go a long way in streamlining the induction process.
She has centred her project on advocating a tailored on-farm human resources management program for grain growers.
“The way I’ve gone about it is trying to engage with industry and relevant bodies – government, private sector and our membership groups – to engage with them to try to bring it to an industry, statewide level,” Ms Allen said.
“It’s been satisfying to see that idea progress, I’m at the level where I’m getting feedback from ministers and the GRDC (Grains Research and Development Corporation) and engaging with other like-minds.”
Mr Rigby works on a mixed enterprise property at Kojonup where he manages the cropping program.
He is facilitating seed variety and fertiliser field trials as part of his AGFLP project.
Mr Rigby has conducted variety trials of clover, turnip, forage barley, oats and grasses and is setting up on-going trials for next year with salt tolerant legumes.
“My project was on pasture regeneration but it manifested into a 14 hectare pasture trial through Heritage Seeds and Landmark and that’s going to be an on-going relationship I’ve built with those guys,” he said.
“The networking and relationships you build out of it (AGFLP) is priceless, it just shows you the huge reach you can get if you put yourself out there.”
AGFLP participants travelled to Canberra to gain an insight into the bureaucratic processes which affect farm businesses.
The group also attended the GrainGrowers Innovation Generation Conference in Adelaide in July, meeting with young people within the agriculture industry to discuss the theme “telling the ag story in the digital age”.
The WA trio graduated from the program along with other candidates at a special dinner following the GrainGrowers annual general meeting in Perth last Thursday.
The AGFLP will celebrate 10 years of operation next year and applications are open for those who wish to participate.
All three WA 2017 participants encouraged other young people within the industry to apply for the program next year.
Mr Wesley said the program had significantly enhanced his leadership skills, and was a great opportunity to learn from others within the agriculture industry.
“The program is half about your personal project but the other half of the program is personal and professional mentoring and development so even if you don’t have a big project it’s still well worth applying,” Mr Wesley said.
“Definitely put your hat in the ring and give it a go because it’s a great experience.”