For the love of farming

Add into the mix limited opportunities and uncertainty - it can become a minefield.

For 25-year-old Kaitlin Welsh, this jostle to clarity is a familiar story.

Despite a winding road, she has found an ideal role as the Landsdale Farm farm manager, although the journey ahead may still lay fraught with challenges.

From age seven, Ms Welsh grew up on Keelocking South, 85 kilometres north east of Albany, at South Stirling.

Raised on a livestock and cropping farm, she is the youngest in a large blended family of three girls and three boys.

During her early years she developed a love for the land as she explored the wide open paddocks of the farm and interacted with livestock.

Always having someone to go on adventures with, she thrived as part of a big family.

Growing up she knew she would never run the farm, so to stay connected to Keelocking, she worked on neighbouring farms, eventually choosing to study the one thing that made sense, a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Agricultural Science at The University of Western Australia.

After her studies, she travelled overseas and upon her return she went back to casual work on farms around the Great Southern region.

But the lack of security often found as a casual farm worker eventually drove Ms Welsh to re-evaluate where she was going in her career.

Having explored her options, combined with a decision to move to Perth, she secured the role of farm manager at Landsdale Farm.

A working farm in Perth's northern suburbs, Landsdale Farm aims to provide educational opportunities about the agricultural industry to members of the public and schools, highlighting where their food comes from.

Here she found a perfect balance between farming, her love for the land and the city location she needed to help her develop and grow in her career.

"I get to manage my own time and I'm working with animals all day every day," Ms Welsh said.

"I always wanted to do something with animals, coming from a cropping farm - this is one of the best jobs you can get while still living in Perth."

At the farm, Ms Welsh does it all, from looking after volunteers, staff and work experience students to managing livestock, including animal husbandry and welfare.

Although she loves her job, she finds she can't relax and completely enjoy her time in Perth as others who move up do.

"The thing that worries me is not having the stability that many people from the country have," she said.

"People go to Perth and are able to really enjoy those years because they know they're going back to their farm, whereas I don't have that.

"So I need to educate myself and get more experience so I eventually can move back to the Great Southern region and find job security in a different way."

Like many women, finding a career that will facilitate the flexibility of raising kids when the time comes is a challenge.

So she has to hustle, continuing to develop skills in her current role that will help her secure a job in the lucrative southern region area, ideally one that offers maternity leave.

With farming in her veins, she does find it difficult having to consider pathways that are not so connected to the country.

"It's hard to get away from farming when you're in it, it's a part of your life," Ms Welsh said.

"People who don't come from a farm don't really understand it.

"My partner often says, you always fall back on farming but I don't fall back on it, I get drawn back into it.

"Every time I try to get away from farming, I end up back."

While Ms Welsh's story has yet to find its conclusion, it mirrors a tale of so many whose career progression does not follow the linear path that we expect and are taught, as many young people around the State navigate uncertainty and varying agricultural opportunities.

Back home succession planning has recently begun adding yet another complexity to Ms Welsh's situation.

Despite many voices and competing opinions the outcome so far has been positive.

"Everyone said their piece and we all came to the same conclusion," Ms Welsh said.

"No matter what happens we all want to be able to come visit and it be as it is now - no one wants to see the farm sold," she said.

"I put forward that I would love to be on the farm but in the back of my mind I knew that it wasn't really an option, when I shared my intentions I didn't think it would actually be considered.

"I want to see the farm continue to run in its best capacity even if that means I can't be involved."

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