"IF you do what you love and what you are good at, you'll be right,'' is life advice Matt Hudson received as a teenager, which has now become a bit of a personal credo.
And it's bearing fruit too in his new job, with the 22-year-old now eight months into a nascent agrifinance career.
The University of WA (UWA) graduate grew up in an inner suburb of Perth but moved to Moora in July last year to be a rural officer at Rabobank.
He is one of two employed in the Rabobank training and development position in Western Australia, which puts him on a pathway to become an account manager with the company.
Rabobank's premier product is an all-in-one loan that provides access to longer term finance with the convenience of everyday transactional facilities and helps clients deal with the fluctuating cash flows experienced by farming operations.
Mr Hudson said Rabobank trainees usually spend between two to four years in the position, before potentially earning their account management stripes.
"The traineeship is a bit of a hybrid role, you complete analyst tasks - relationship and credit analysis - and combine those with onfarm visits with an account manager,'' Mr Hudson said.
"When I took on the role I didn't realise how lucky I was to get the position and I have now realised that I have been very lucky and they have given me a great opportunity.''
Lately Mr Hudson has been shadowing the three account managers in the Moora office.
"I have been out with all of them to see how they operate, which has been really helpful,'' he said.
"I'm starting to get settled into the role, when I started it was a bit like jumping into the deep end learning all the protocols and different systems.
"I am finding my feet and getting settled... I can get on with my job now and feel like I am contributing and value-adding to the branch.
"If everything goes well and I was to move into an account manager role - then I would be dealing one-on-one with clients and you are the first port of call in making sure the client is happy with the products we are providing and if they need any assistance.''
Growing up, Mr Hudson's family loved the outdoors and camping - but regular trips to the country were largely limited to the Dwellingup and Denmark regions of the South West or north to Shark Bay and Exmouth - so the northern Wheatbelt is a new area for him.
However given country lads were among his best mates at Christ Church Grammar School and most of his friends are now rural-based, it's probably not too surprising that a plan for a country career has taken hold.
"My best mate in high school had a farm at York and I went out to his place for rock picking and fencing and did a couple of harvests with him, just sitting in the chaser bin,'' Mr Hudson said.
"That sparked my interest.
"Working on the farm, I saw there was a fair bit more happening behind the scenes - it was not just growing plants - there are all the ag systems, the GPS, the tractors and the controlled traffic.
"It is quite sophisticated, which I don't think the majority of people realise, so that really sparked my interest into it."
After school, Mr Hudson enrolled in a commerce degree majoring in economics and finance at UWA.
He graduated at the end of 2020 and started to look at his career path options more intently.
"That was when I was really starting to get interested in the ag space,'' he said.
"But not having any jobs tied down or internships on the go, I decided I would change tack and I started a master of agricultural economics at UWA."
The masters is a 1.5-year, full-time course, which he was due to finish this year, but Mr Hudson said he will likely defer his remaining seven units due to his full-time work commitments and a desire to participate more fully in the Moora community.
He said when the Rabobank traineeship arose mid-last year, it seemed like a "match made in heaven''.
"It has the ag base, combined with economics and finance, which I've always had a passion for,'' he said.
The new role has certainly opened his horizons and put kilometres on his trusty ute - the Moora office covers a broad region out to Cervantes on the west coast, to Calingiri, Dalwallinu, Kalannie, Ballidu and out to Wongan Hills.
"We cover quite a range,'' he said.
Mr Hudson has recently been busy in the Moora office with prudential work - doing due-diligence for clients and annual customer reviews - but he said the most enjoyable part of the job was getting out onfarms to meet farmers face-to-face and see how they operate.
"I love the hands-on stuff,'' he said.
"I love going out to farms and I love meeting farmers and seeing how they operate, what they need and how we can help them to better their business.
"That is one of the reasons I came out to Moora, instead of staying in Perth and working in the Perth office."
Over harvest he was able to jump into a few headers and talk to farmers about how the harvest was tracking.
"It was good to see how the season had been,'' he said.
"You can get all the forecasts in the world, during the year, of rain and frosts but you never really know what it is, until it is in the field bin.''
Mr Hudson said he was loving being part of a country community in Moora - he has joined the Moora Mavericks footy team, training and playing in a couple of scratch matches already, before the season starts in two weeks.
"Moora is a great community and I am still trying to get to know everyone,'' he said.
"I am keen to get involved with the footy club and make a few mates there and get a bit more involved in the community this year.
"And training has been pretty good so far - I've met heaps of new people.''
Mr Hudson said he felt that he was part of a change which was seeing more young people move to the country for work and lifestyle - having grown up with country kids who moved to the city for school, he sees serendipity in helping reverse the trend by heading to the bush for work.
"There is a little bit of a change occurring,'' he said.
"I think there are more kids going back to the country and that has a bit of a snowball effect.
"If you have mates out there, you are going to get more people out there anyway - because that has always been one of the biggest issues, 'why would I want to stay on the farm when all of my friends are in Perth?'.
"There are a few young people in Moora, which is good, and I some of the other communities I have seen young blokes coming in as well.''
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