WHEN you hear the story of how 19-year-old Micah Oberon met his farming mentor and, thus, realized his dream of becoming a farmer himself, it seems nothing short of fate.
Micah, a country boy who moved to Brisbane city at the age of 15, always dreamt of working on the land and growing food. Cut off from the country life he enjoyed in Western Australia, he began studying farming techniques through books and videos in his home in Brisbane.
62-year-old farmer Russell formerly grew commercial tomatoes for supermarkets on his land in Oxley until recent floods which washed away his livelihood, along with most of his willpower to continue.
He was still selling some produce from a roadside stall that, coincidentally, Micah’s mother frequented.
“Mum mentioned to Russell that she had a son who was interested in farming, but I think he was a bit grumbly about it at first,” recalls Micah.
“He used to get a lot of people interested in his land and approaching him with project ideas.”
It seems their worlds were destined to collide when it was realised that Micah and his mother lived only a short walk from Russell’s land.
“One day, I wandered down the hill from home and just stumbled across an abandoned farm,” Micah said. He serendipitously “bumped into the farmer who owned it” and the two struck up a unique partnership.
It’s a moneyless arrangement, whereby Russell has given Micah an acre of land to pursue his own farming, in return for a helping hand on the rest of the farm - roughly spanning another 3 hectares.
“I’m on the farm six days a week now,” Micah said.
“I’m up at 4.30 in the morning now, which I never thought would be a reality for me!” he laughs.
“The first couple of weeks, I was coming home so tired and sore, but now I love it.”
Together, Russell and Micah also run markets and the weekly roadside stall.
Micah’s situation may be particularly lucky but he urges other young aspiring farmers to seek out similar circumstances.
“I want to show other people my age that it is a viable option for us,” he said.
“I want to prove that you can make a living off an acre of land, without the overhead costs of land and machinery.
“There’s so much good land out there, and people want to see urban farmers. Things like offering a box of produce a week in return for borrowing land is an option.”
Micah describes the pair’s relationship as “very father-son-like,” and it’s also one of great symbiosis. While Russell’s offer has allowed Micah to live out his farming dream, the young man’s passion for growing food seems to have reinvigorated his own, too.
“Russell hated seeing the farm abandoned. He’s been great - supporting me one hundred percent in everything,” Micah says.
“I think he’s seen how much interest is generated by a young person doing organic food.” Micah said the roadside stall, which the pair runs every Friday on Cliveden Avenue in Oxley, is “going really well,” largely thanks to its location - just 20 minutes from Brisbane’s CBD.
“It’s a beautiful area - It’s quiet and sort of feels like you’re in the country.”
Indeed, drive 10 minutes out of the city on the Ipswich Motorway and the land rapidly transforms with tarmac highways giving way to green pockets of tucked away paddocks.
A road runs through Russell’s block and, on one side, lies hydroponic sheds, beehives and storage sheds with Micah’s plot a short walk down the road, on the other side.
“I’m blessed with good, alluvial soil here,” he says. “The floods brought down a huge amount of organic matter.”
400sq.m of soil lies under the steel frame of a greenhouse and this is where Micah will do most of his growing; cherry tomatoes, salad mixes, root vegetables, zucchinis and any other high value, fast turn over crops.
“It’s a small space, so I’ll need to maximize what I’m doing.”
Going organic was a clear, easy choice for the young farmer. “I wouldn’t do it any other way. Just the input costs and the joy out of it, I think it’s superior in every way. I think Russell is starting to come around to it, too,” he smiles.
Coming from two different backgrounds and generations, it seems the mentorship flows both ways. While learning from the experienced farmer, Micah is also inadvertently introducing Russell to new farming philosophies and even different business models.
“It seems to be the case with a lot of conventional farmers that they get a bit fed up,” Micah observes. “What with the expenses you have with chemicals and the various pressures from big buyers like the supermarkets – it can be a bit depressing.”
Rather than go down that path, Micah plans to sell through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, where food buyers support the grower, at times by sharing some of the growing risks, and by buying the amount the farmer has to provide, rather than demanding a certain quota.
This will allow Micah to grow his business and produce at a manageable, sustainable pace.
Excitingly, he says, it seems next year he will already have his hands full.
“In 2016, it looks like I’ll only just be producing enough for the markets, roadside stall and the buyers group – I don’t think I’ll have much spare produce!”
While the cost of land is fast becoming unaffordable for the younger generation, and farming often not a rewarding enough career option – Micah’s message is one of inspiration, hope and common sense.
“There are growers out there with land who’ve been downtrodden by the conventional farming system, so go out and fi nd those people and grow food with them.
“It’s tough,” Micah concedes, “People are very excited by this kind of thing - if you have the ‘agri-bug’ get into it now because it’s the best time to strike.”
