No 336 - Monday's Club Notes

The “Club Notes” for Monday, the 14th of October, 2024.

By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

When 10 becomes 2

I have decided to allow free subscribers access to the full newsletter today because there is a fascinating conversation going on on Twitter (X) right now. Check it out in the “Rural Property” section below. It's one of those feeds where there are 10 stories going on at once. Mark Mortimer, who Farms at Tullamore near the centre of NSW, said this: "In the last 5 years, 6 neighbouring Farms have sold, 3 Farms have downsized, and next door is on the market. All were mixed enterprise farms, and now 1 is grazing the rest 100% cropping. All younger than me" This is all very interesting as Tullamore is traditionally more of a Livestock area that is being turned into a Cropping area. When someone asked if it was an amalgamation of Farms, he went on to say, "Combination of both, 10 permanent residents replaced with 2". That, to me, is really spooky, and I guess it's been happening for years, so it's not something that new. Tullamore is a pretty isolated place, and when you quote it like that, it sorta hits home. The declining population in Farming areas is real. I know of alot of Croppers in the Yarrawonga area heading north looking for cheaper country to Crop. And with Machinery prices where they are, Croppers need to be Cropping decent acreages to justify the expense. Someone said to me the other day people shouldn't forget what postcode they are Cropping in. I said that to Mark in a reply, and he said the older fellas are saying the same thing. But as we know Cropping techniques have got better. There are many stories going on here, and it's a fascinating topic. Have acres been switched over to Cropping in your area? How has population decline affected your community?  Reply to [email protected]

Number of articles and images - 71 in total including 18 funnies.

Number of Farmer replies - 5 in total.

The Farmers Club - For Ag Enthusiasts

A football club like review

When a football club goes bad, they grab a few independent people and do a review. They usually pass on a list of recommendations, and then it's up to the club as to whether they want to act on those or not. I guess these reviews cost a pretty penny, so they don't do them when things are going good. Perhaps they should. But how good would it be if we did a review of our Farm businesses? It could be done internally, or you could get one of two outsiders in, fill them in with all the numbers and the business model and let them go at it. Like in Football clubs, there would be things that we don't like hearing, but it would be an interesting process to go through. As we mentioned, they would be recommendations, so whether we followed those would be up to us. At Farm Tender, we are doing something like this in early November over a couple of days. I am so looking forward to it. Do you ever do a review of your Farm business?  Reply to [email protected]

Capturing the imagination

Tesla has done it again; they have just released the Robo Taxis. It might be a bit of SiFi, and I am not sure if these things are commercially ready to go yet, but if nothing else, it captures the imagination. It's like every time Elon does something, he is creating a new category. This is no different. Even looking at them they look like something we have never seen before. Take a look in the "Other Ag Stuff" section below. It got me thinking about who captures our imagination in Ag. Who is out there creating a new category like when the first Chaser Bin came out? Or who is doing a John "Stick' Richards (from Goldacres) and building the first Boomspray? It's a funny one in Ag because things seem to happen in increments and over a long period of time. Someone will bring something new out, and we will be sceptical at first, then someone might start talking about it, and it flows on from there. SwarmFarm Robotics is a great example of how it works in Ag. They might have been around for about 10 years now, and adoption has been slow, but it's gradually growing. Give it another 10 years, and they might be on every 5th Cropping Farm. That's 20 years, but that's how long it takes. What is capturing your imagination in Ag right now? Reply to [email protected]

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

Added Extras for subscribers only:

Event - FarmTender2025 - The Business of Farming event is on in SA in 2025. Take a sneak peek here.

Offer - Any New Commander Ag Self-Propelled Augers - Get $1000 off RRP any new Commander Ag Quip Self-Propelled Augers through Farm Tender. Available to paid-up Farmers Club members only. Email [email protected] if interested.

Offer - Any New Munro Post Driver - Get $1000 off RRP for any new Munro Post Driver through Farm Tender. Available to paid-up Farmers Club members only. Email [email protected] if interested.

Offer - FarmTender2024 - See the XXX FarmTender2024 - Entrepreneurs in Farming event. 6 hours of content, so many takeaways (valued at the ticket price of $350). It’s like 11 separate Farming podcasts all in one.

Offer - FarmTender2023 - See XXX FarmTender2023 - The Business of Farming event. 6 hours of content, many takeaways, and many things have changed (valued at the ticket price of $350).

Information for paid subscribers:

To go to the web version of this newsletter click on this link here. To login to your account. 1) Click on the login button. 2) Type in your email address. 3) Go to your email and click on the get access link. 4) Click on the head on the top right of the page. 5) Click on edit details and add your first and last name, please. 6) Click on Manage Subscriptions if you want to update a card, etc; you can manage it from here.

Good Ag Podcasts:

I listened to the Birchip Cropping Group podcast featuring Neville Brady from Browse Up Consulting. In this interview, Neville talks about managing conflict within a Farm business. There are plenty of takeaways here. Rating: 7/10, 55 minutes. Take a listen here.

Your replies:

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

• In reply to our story on how a Farmer is converting his mixed Farm over to Sheep from Cropping one paddock at a time. Take a read here. This one is working in reverse - "Hi Dwain, an interesting read. Our business just east of Boort went through the polar opposite transition with a shift from almost all Sheep to 90% cropping. I've spent a lot of time thinking in this space. I'm sure it's a different set of numbers for different areas. For us, the basis for the decision was in broad brush terms;

  - Sheep need to eat 12 months of the year on sometimes 5 months of rainfall.

  - Stubble retention and chemical fallows have proven to utilise out-of-season rainfall more effectively than pasture, even lucerne.

  - Certainly, costs are rising, and margins are thinner in the Cropping space".

• This Farmer liked the Shawn Padman response. Take a read here - "What a company, what a bloke that Shawn Padman is! Problem stopped. No hiding, no bullshit, just this is our product, costs and how it works. We give it our best to service you, hope you want to do business with us. No one can do better than their best".

• This is a general statement from a Farmer. One who is getting on with the job - Hello Dwain, The best "management" book I ever read, & I've read heaps, was by Jack Welsh legendary boss of GE. His boundless energy & lateral thinking on steroids have helped me no end by never rejecting an opportunity. In summary, if an opportunity comes along, grab it with both hands, then work out in the background how you will achieve it. Your client doesn't need to know you've burned the midnight oil to get him the result he wants, they just want the outcome, not all the work that goes into it. Too many people these days say it's all too hard, it's difficult, oh, it will take years (nuclear energy is a prime example). All crap. Wake up every day with a plan for the day, not too many things, and achieve them all. Certainly helps you sleep at night. Roofing an old shearing shed today, so of course, it looks like rain and it's a bit blowy: perfect.

• This is in response to the Matt Barry podcast we posted late last week. You can view it here. It's well worth a watch - "Hi Dwain, Thanks for posting this interview. My thoughts are as follows: I would agree that on our nation's trajectory, we are on the way to being F#*^ked. However, we can turn this around. We should:

  1. As suggested by Matt cut permanent immigration to at least under 50,000 per year. The only 'skilled' immigrants, (outside medical professionals), should be sponsored by private business eg. mining engineers, farm employees etc. It should be noted most of these would be relocating to regional/rural areas where our wealth generating industries are.

  2. Cut funding for rubbish university courses and redirect funding to practical trade training. This can be provided through a public/private partnership.

  3. Ensure only Australian citizens can own residential property. Note that by cutting immigration the demand side of the 'housing crisis' will be alleviated.

  4. Remove all subsidies for renewable energy. This is not only absurdly expensive but leads to a misallocation of resources ie this funding and workforce can be redirected to manufacturing/processing industries for example.

  5. Flood the market with fossil fuel energy. This is Australia's true competitive advantage. Energy prices will fall with increased supply. This will create new business opportunities eg AI data centres, robotic manufacturing, general manufacturing etc and support our existing industries".

• We put up an article about how the Mormon church just bought a heap of Farmland in the US following their $700 million dollar purchase of the Bonooke/Wanganella group of Properties. This Farmer outlined their history of Farm ownership - I note your item where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) has purchased a large block of land in the USA, and also, they recently spent over $300m on a Cotton Farm in Queensland. The Church has large Land holdings principally in the USA but also in Canada, England and South America. The land is purchased as a secure investment with the income stream financing the Church activities and not for wealth accumulation. Some links will help you understand the Farming side - farmlandreserve.org, agreserves.org and deseretranches.com. The latter highlights their large 300,000 acre property in Florida. A great site to learn more. Since the late 1800s, the Church has had Farms initially in Utah known as welfare farms, which produced food for the poor and needy within the Church. Where applicable Church members assisted with harvest. In the 1930s, when the Depression was occurring, the Church expanded the Welfare program, and today, in the USA, Deseret Industries has warehouses that are like a super Op Shop where anybody can go and purchase items, including Church produced and processed food items along with normal Op shop items. The Farms range from almond orchards in California, fruit Farms in Utah, Cattle ranches through the western states, citrus in Florida and Cropping Farms in many places. No one really knows how much land the Church owns and in some cases its leased out. The welfare program is based on self-reliance principles and helps mainly Church members although there is a large giving of food and other items in times of world disasters".

Random and associated Ag articles and images.

Cropping & Grain

Sheep, Wool & Lambs

Cattle & Beef

Agribusiness

Hay & Fodder

Machinery, Vehicles and Equipment

Weather, Irrigation & Water

Dairy

Rural Property

Rural Energy & Climate

Other Ag stuff

Funnies

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