ON any given week, life can vary greatly for Elizabeth (Liz) Brennan.
Liz could be deep in the cocoa fields of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea (PNG) one day, but the next she may be on the family farm at Wongan Hills, checking in on the latest citrus harvest.
Arriving in Kokopo in PNG, locals see her familiar face and call out “welcome home” but a few days later she’s running onto a netball court in Wongan Hills, Calingiri or Perth and sharing a laugh with friends.
Such is the life of someone with a lust for life and two fairly intensive roles, one as a consultant for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the other as the marketing manager for Moora Citrus.
They are two very different worlds and although agriculture may seem the obvious link between both, Liz’s passion and determination are the real common thread.
While it wasn’t always so crystal clear which direction her career path would take, Liz knew she would be involved in the family farm in some way or another.
It’s where she spent her childhood with her younger twin siblings, Peter and Caroline, before heading off to boarding school in Perth and going on to study a business degree at university.
“As a young girl I loved being on the farm and I knew I wanted to grow up to be involved, but I also knew my skills weren’t exactly what the farm needed at the time,” Liz said.
“I was actually encouraged not to study agriculture.
“My parents recognised earlier than I did that I liked following the shiny things in life and was drawn to a whole range of things, so I opted for a fairly broad-based business degree.
“Once I sunk my teeth in, I realised my skill set was aligned to marketing as I’m a people person and I enjoy the psychology of consumer behaviour.”
Liz worked in a variety of jobs before relocating to PNG for two years as an AusAID volunteer, returning to WA about five years ago.
In the late 1990s/early 2000s, the Brennan family began to consider diversifying its pork and grain enterprise and looked at horticultural expansion opportunities at its Moora property.
It was then that Liz began to see how she could play an important role within the farm business.
“The idea of being involved in fresh produce production tickled my fancy and I think that links back to my interest in marketing and consumer psychology,” she said.
“I love working with my family, it’s both challenging and rewarding, but my family is progressive and proactive, and I’m lucky that we’ve always been good at communicating.
“I’ve been involved in the orchard on and off, right back to when dad and I were pulling stumps out of the paddock getting ready to put irrigation lines in.
“But I’ve been doing the marketing role for about two and a half years now, working part-time here and part-time up in PNG.
“The nature of my work means I can work from anywhere, as long as there is an internet connection, which for PNG and rural WA can be challenging.
“My two roles are very distinct, so transitioning between the two I have to have a fairly rigid schedule but remain flexible.
“It can be difficult, but I think that would be the case for anyone with two part-time roles.”
Prior to planting the 210-hectare citrus orchard at Moora, Liz said they conducted market research which showed that 60 per cent of the citrus consumed in WA was imported.
As it turned out, most people simply hadn’t had a positive experience with local citrus – but the family saw an opportunity to change that.
It focused not only on growing top quality citrus, but also getting out there and working with retailers, conducting in-store tastings and connecting with consumers.
Moora Citrus has since grown significantly as a citrus brand in WA, even becoming the first orchard in WA to export citrus to Japan.
Liz said they were currently working with another citrus grower in Bindoon, where they were expanding on an existing pack shed.
It’s hoped down the track that the facility will be available to pack fruit for other local growers, as well as allowing for growth for export markets.
“Telling the story of where your produce comes from and create that emotive connection with consumers is critical and it’s still a journey for us, as is understanding why consumers opt to buy WA produce or Moora Citrus,” she said.
“Creating the narrative around our brand is vital and getting everyone onside, within the business, is just as important.
“Our aim is to get fruit from the orchard to pack shed, to the distribution centre and to the fruit bowl in the shortest amount of time possible.
“Whilst there are a number of factors that impact the expediency along the value chain, we can get it down to 72 hours.
“It comes down to working with the community, which is very much what we’re about.
“I would also love to see us create more of a fluid and co-operative value chain and to do that we need to work with each of the members in the supply chain.”
The value of food and minimising food wastage is another of Liz’s passions and it’s also something that she is able to tackle in both her roles.
One of the projects she is working on in PNG is helping cocoa farmers to understand how improved farming practices can significantly increase their production, as well as the quality.
“We connected one of the cocoa producers in Bougainville involved in the project with a chocolate maker in Canberra, who just won gold at the Academy of Chocolate in London using those beans,” she said.
“We’re changing the whole way in which the cocoa marketing system works, to reasign value to quality produce and paying the farmer a fair return for their efforts.”
On a local level, Liz spoke at the recent WA Food and Drink Symposium (WAFADS) to explain the minimal differences between graded fruit and profit margins.
Identifying herself as somewhat of a translator between the foodie and farming worlds, sitting comfortable in both, she said WAFADS provided a platform to bring both of those worlds together for frank and open conversations about a range of issues.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is a growing community of people who are not only concerned how our food system is operating, but they are actually acting on it,” she said.
“I often find that people value certain attributes about food but they are not willing to pay for it, but the other thing I got out of WAFADS was that people are starting to understand that needs to change.
“The way in which the food system operates is everyone’s responsibility.”
During her career so far, Liz has been awarded numerous accolades for all her efforts – which also include being on the board of Australian Women in Agriculture, a member of the World Farmer’s Organisation Women’s Committee and a volunteer with numerous organisations.
Last year, she won the WA Young Achiever of the Year Award, but it wasn’t something that sat well with her at first.
Despite the fact that she highly values all her work, Liz said she didn’t feel like she deserved the award and receiving it forced her to reflect.
“It was a real light bulb moment for me,” she said.
“At the time I felt fraudulent, which I now see as silly, but it was like giving yourself permission to be you and do what you do well.
“I’m very much about service to other people, I don’t do what I do for myself, I do it for others.
“When I realised that by dampening my own sparkle, I was denying others the opportunity to shine.
“It was a huge realisation and even now, I’m still on a path of self-discovery.”
That path of self-discovery is aided by a network of close friends and family, which Liz said she found valuable as it provided her with a range of different perspectives to draw on and continually challenge herself.
Being attracted to those “shiny” things in life has panned out well for Liz, but judging by her energy and infectious enthusiasm for life, it’s fair to say her journey has only just begun.
“I’m going through a learning phase at the moment,” she said.
“I want to understand the fresh produce system in WA more articulately, as well as the complexity of food security in PNG.
“I’m very happy with the balance of my two roles, but I do also see some opportunities in leadership within the industry.”
