The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Tuesday, the 31th of October 2023

By Dwain Duxson

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This is what locally owned and operated looks like

I put a photo from Wolki Farms Butcher's social media post in Monday's "Club Post" of one of the partners in the business packing Meat whilst rocking the baby. I posted it again today. See below. I love this post. It exemplifies how Agriculture works. Everyone chips in to get the job done. Otherwise, the business doesn't function. There is another bit at the end of the post asking, "How do you scale this?" It's a good question, and I am adamant that the only way to scale in Agriculture is through doing things incrementally and scaling a little bit each time and looking back, say in 5 years time and saying to yourself, we moved the needle there. Agriculture is an industry that doesn't let its participants to scale quickly. It just doesn't happen. What are your thoughts on how you scale in Agriculture? Reply to [email protected]

The need for non-Ag people

It's easier said than done this one. I mean, who is going to let a kid who knows nothing about Ag loose on a piece of Machinery worth several hundreds of thousands of dollars? We're not right. And who is going to take the time to teach that kid how to operate that piece of Machinery? Not many of us. Agriculture as a whole needs this above-mentioned kid and a swag of her mates. We have talked about apprenticeships and the like in the past, but it all doesn't seem to be enough. I was speaking to a Dairy Farmer the other day who took on a non-Ag kid from town, and it's worked out well, so much so that 12 months later, they can go away for a weekend now and leave the Milking to her. Would you be willing to take on a non-Ag kid? Reply to [email protected]

Direct to handset is coming

It's been one of Ag's biggest problems, connectivity or mobile service. Where I live in Central Victoria, it's terrible. I have a booster in the house and office, and it works fine, but without it, it would be a battle. We finally got some decent internet when we migrated from Sky Muster to Starlink. Starlink hasn't missed a beat, and I know numerous other businesses in the bush are wrapped Starlink came along. Now, the next wave of technology is satellite to the handset. So it will be like a mobile phone tower in the sky. Starlink once again is leading the charge, and you should be able to use it for texting sometime in 2024, talking in 2025, and data downloading after that. This would revolutionise Agriculture and rural Australia because there are too many people missing out. Hopefully, the days of climbing the Silo, risking life and limb just to get a bar for an outward call, is soon to be over. It can't come quick enough. Is your Farm one of the ones in a mobile service dead spot? Reply to [email protected]

I quite like it

I like how the NFF has called out Labor and tagged that they have an anti Farming agenda. It's the sort of thing that will hit them right between the eyes. Murray Watt, the Ag Minister, did burr up about it. Nobody, not even Labor, would want to be labelled anti Farming. I will do a report on the NFF conference over in the Farm Tender "Daily" this week, and I think it's the first time in recent years that the NFF has taken Labor to task on their Ag policies. I want the NFF to keep calling them out. Let's hope it's the start of a much stronger, tougher-talking NFF because we bloody well need it. What are your thoughts on labelling Labor as anti-farming?

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

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