The Farmers Club Newsletter

No 107 - Monday's Club Notes

Dwain Duxson
January 15, 2024

The “Club Notes” for Monday the 15th of January 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

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Same result or better

I read over the weekend that Hertz, the rental car company, is selling a third of its EV (Electric Vehicle) fleet because demand for EV rental is not where they predicted. It got me thinking about predictions in Farmers and where they currently sit. I was talking to a Farmer the other day about EVs and how it's going to be difficult to have all of our Machinery Electrified. We imagined if we had to charge Headers, Trucks, Tractors, Vehicles, etc, each day during Harvest. The grid wouldn't be able to keep up. So Electrified Farm Machinery is a long way off. Another one is robotics; some predict that everything will be robots in a decade or so. I argue that some things will be robotic, and others, we will still have to drive like we do today. So my thinking is that all these wonderful Jetsons-like technology will have its place, but everything we have will be "in part" only. Old, trusted things will coexist with new tech that does a job differently. Why? Because people have to trust that the tech is good enough for them to get at least the same result or better. Most of the stuff is a long way off that. Also, with things like Tractors, Farmers actually enjoy driving them, and that's not going to change anytime soon. What future technologies would you like to see on your Farm? Reply to [email protected]

Predictable Farming

I have had a few email conversations with a few people about the subsidies that Farmers get in other countries. In these conversations, we agreed that it was pretty predictable what these people did, like throw a few seeds out and get paid for doing so. And we also agreed as to where the challenge is in that. It's pretty much predictable Farming, if there is ever such a term. I am sure there are challenges, but when you know you are going to "x" at the end of the day, you tend to relax. It's human nature, as we spoke about on Saturday. Doing it the way we do it in Australia is far more challenging, but when you pull it off, how satisfying is that? Having these challenges and riding the good and bad times is why we are arguably regarded as the best Farmers in the World. As I said the other day, we don't want subsidies, but we would love a little support. Reply to [email protected]

Make sure you go

Country sport is known as the lifeblood of some communities. I certainly remember playing Football in the Winter and Cricket in the Summer for many years as a youngster. It's so important that we have a spot where the community can gather to socialise and represent something. On the weekend just gone, we had a 10-year Cricket premiership reunion up at Yarrawonga, where we resided for 10-plus years. It was a Friday night and Saturday arvo gig, and it was just fantastic to catch up with everyone and reminisce but also to discuss how everyone has lived their lives since. So if you get the opportunity to go to something like a reunion, make sure you go, even if it's a good Spraying Day. Have you attended a reunion of some sort lately? Reply to [email protected]

Your replies

Below are snippets from some of the replies you sent in. All quotes will remain nameless. See a few current ones below:

"I once read - people blame the economy for things, yet we are the economy” - In reply to our human nature Note on Saturday.
"Gday I was asking this question of my stock agent the other day.
Why does the Farmer not get paid for the offal or blood or the head of a beast, a lamb or a Sheep? Why does the processor get to
Profit from that without paying the Farmer anything for it? Disgraceful. - When selling over the Hooks. It’s a good point.
“Put it this way if you where referring to JD the thing is "were" referring to Fendt is "Are"! - When I asked this Farmers what his best Tractors was the Fendt or the John Deere.