The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Wednesday, the 20th of September 2023

By Dwain Duxson

If you can, please get your family, friends and colleagues to sign up. See the website link here.

Elders boss has his say on El Nino/Dry/Drought.

This is what Elders boss Mark Allison said in an article yesterday, "Droughts are not good news, but they are a fact of life and not necessarily a bad thing, either. We tend to learn a lot about our farming and business capabilities and see a lot of innovation and efficiencies emerge from drought years". Sorta hard but fair, and I tend to agree with him. Yes, droughts can be and have been devastating, but he is right. They are a fact of our Farming life. I know Croppers, with their moisture-saving skills, don't fear droughts or dryer periods as much as they used to. But El Nino's aren't the same, so anything could happen. And also, I think we are much better equipped to get through a drought than ever before. I know people's mental health will be tested, and we need to be very conscious of that.

PBR's new model needed

I had a call from a WA Farmer last week who gets annoyed when Farmers avoid Plant Breeding Right (PBR) royalties. It's a difficult one because Farmers have been dealing Seed between each other forever and a day. The Seed companies get pissed off with this, and I can understand why. It's an expensive undertaking to breed new Seed varieties, and they need to earn income from selling new varieties. But after a new batch of Seed is sold for the first time, they seem to lose control after that. I said to the Farmer in WA that they need to find a new business model because this one isn't working for them. I don't know what model that is, but the Seed companies probably need to unite and come up with a solution if they think they are missing out.

What does your Family Farming history mean to you?

"We've been here for 5 generations." Longevity is something that most Farming families who have been at it for generations are very proud of, and rightly so. It's an achievement to have a business last for generations. It means that each generation has done their bit. Land is precious and holds emotional ties. Read Kate Burke's story here. It's something we hang our hat on. It's a stake in the ground. Land is a privilege to own, and if you are in a generation Farming set-up, you must feel grateful and lucky that your forebearers had the foresight they did. Many a young aspiring Farmer wants to own Land. The smart ones will find a way and build their own legacy. What does your Family Farming history mean to you?

Saving Shearers backs

Robotic Shearing, has it been and gone, and is it never to return? Boy, we've thrown some time, effort and industry dollars at it. And that pisses Industry people off a bit, but it shouldn't. At least they have tried, and they have now got a good understanding of how complex it is. So advancements in Shearing are now incremental, small changes. One of those incremental changes that looks like it's got legs is the Perkinz ShearMaster system. Their system replaces the catching pen with a system used in the mobile crutching Trailers. You will get a visual of it in the image below.

End of message.

Dwain Duxson

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Random and associated images.