WA trio part of GrainGrowers leadership program

Three young guns Jorden Mills, Northam, Josiah O'Hare, Cunderdin and Tom Longmire, Esperance, will participate in the year-long bespoke program which has been running for more than 15 years.

A key component of the program sees participants undertake a project focusing on a challenge grain farmers face under five priority themes - trade and market access, grain freight and supply chains, workforce, carbon and climate and farm inputs.

Tom Longmire, Beaumont

THE 25-year old, who works on his family's 5700ha cropping farm in Beaumont near Esperance, made the decision to apply for the program after speaking to a few former participants who highly recommended the course.

A third-generation farmer, Mr Longmire returned home at the start of 2020 after completing a Bachelor of Business in Farm Management at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong, Victoria.

"Marcus Oldham really was a game changer in terms of my own development, and while that experience fast-tracked my desire to come home to the family farm, it was great to get exposure to the different ways of farming and thinking," Mr Longmire said.

With a keen interest in technology and attracting those with technical expertise into the agricultural sector, as part of his AGLP project, he will examine how autonomous machines can help improve efficiencies on farms and fill labour gaps.

"If you are interested in software and data analysis etc, mining isn't the only industry that requires that kind of expertise," Mr Longmire said.

"The broader public doesn't seem to know how much tech the agricultural industry uses, so I think it's important we broadcast that a bit more.

"Through my project I'd like to look at how autonomous vehicles and tractors will come into play on our farms and what tools we can put on and in them so they can complete multiple jobs at once."

Josiah O'Hare, Cunderdin

THIS fourth-generation farmer crops 2800ha of wheat, barley, canola and lupins at his family's Cunderdin farm.

Taking on more responsibility in his family's business each year as his parents gradually transition into retirement, Mr O'Hare, 34, plans to look at the issues of models for managing the price and availability of inputs and the tools available to help growers minimise their risk.

Reflecting on the effect of the rising price of inputs on his family's own business, Mr O'Hare said they had faced challenges with the timing of fertiliser availability, pricing, as well as the availability of new and used machinery, parts, electronics, tyres and even tools, regardless of whether they were locally made or imported.

To help minimise risk within their business, Mr O'Hare said he had started securing their most used inputs well in advance if they were priced well.

"The main portion of the fertiliser we used in 2022 was purchased in June 2021 and this has helped reduce the cost overall for this year's crop," he said.

"We now secure our volume chemicals when they're available at a good price and not necessarily as or when we need them and I now carry a lot more parts and spares for machinery to make sure I have them on hand when I need them, which is something I've never had to do in the past.

"I've also started having the conversation around purchasing and replacing equipment much earlier in the equipment's lifetime, as when the time comes to change over a machine there may be limited options available in the used market."

Seven other participants across Australia will take part in the AGLP, with GrainGrowers covering the costs of the course as well as their travel and accommodation expenses.

Jorden Mills, Northam

HAVING grown up on her family's grain farm in Corrigin, is where the passion for agriculture first began for Ms Mills, 24.

After attending boarding school at St Brigids College in Lesmurdie, she studied a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Business Management at Charles Sturt University, however two years into her studies she was offered a job with Rabobank as a rural officer and finished the final degree year online.

After just over four years with Rabobank where she advanced as a credit analyst, Ms Mills went on to work for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) before recently joining the CBH Group as a trade support co-ordinator.

Ms Mills said it was due to a conversation with Jo Eady, who is contracted by GGL to facilitate the AGLP, that she decided to apply for the program.

"I had been following GrainGrowers ever since I was at university and attended their Innovation Generation conference in Sydney," Ms Mills said.

"I am very keen on leadership and professional development, so any chance to upskill really interests me."

Her project will investigate best practice models of workforce planning in grain businesses and how to attract and develop staff to strengthen the future of the grains industry workforce.

"I've seen it with my parents and even my partner's farm and so many other businesses - it's a struggle to find good quality farm workers," Ms Mills said.

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"So I will be looking at the issue of the worker shortages from more of a farm gate level."

As part of her project Ms Mills plans to outline some of the career pathways in agriculture and investigate concepts such as putting KPIs in place, implementing staff levels and other management structures to help attract workers to the industry.

"Nowadays we are dealing with such expensive assets and businesses that you actually need a really special skill set to run a profitable and sustainable business in agriculture," she said.

"A best practice workforce planning model is what I would like to critique."