WITH soaring land prices continuing in the agricultural sector across most of the country many rural commentators have suggested the days of people getting into land ownership without the backing of an existing farm business are behind us.
One Victorian farmer and contractor believes otherwise.
Cam Parker spoke at the recent Innovation Generation conference in Wagga Wagga of his non-traditional route into the agriculture industry.
Mr Parker, together with his wife Amanda, runs a contract baling business along with leasing some farmland in the Boort district in Victoria’s south-eastern Mallee region while also working as a spray manager for a large farming business in the area.
It is a far cry from his previous work life, working in a major supermarket in suburban Melbourne.
“I feel like I have really found an industry I am passionate about. When I took my first harvest job and found I could see further than aisle 15 it was just fantastic,” Mr Parker said.
“In the supermarket industry there were a number of things I liked, such as the hustle and bustle, the go, go, go nature of it, but there was also a lot of pressure. You’ve got 150,000 different lines to look after and managers and head office to keep happy.
“I’ve found agriculture great with its distinct seasons. During harvest it is really busy but there are also the quieter times when you get to do planning. You get the chance to do those lifestyle things you couldn’t do in another industry.
“If I feel like it I can duck down and visit my young boy at kindergarten during the morning, and I reckon that is a great thing, there’s not too many jobs where you could do that.”
The Parkers’ journey from the suburbs to the big sky country of the Mallee came about due to Mr Parker taking a posting with the supermarket in nearby Kerang.
He was fascinated with the agriculture industries nearby and found some casual work to learn more.
“I thought I’d have a try at something outside the big tin shed of a supermarket I was always in,” he said.
“I found myself driving a big John Deere 9220 tractor with duals and I thought ‘this is the life’.”
He took on work in a range of agricultural sectors.
“The area has irrigation and it is very diverse. There is sheep and wool, dairies, pig farms, poultry farms, viticulture so I was exposed to a lot of different industries.”
He now works as a spray manager for a business with both irrigated and dryland cropping interests.
“We grow the traditional winter crops but also have a large maize and sunflower program on irrigation in the summer.”
Through hard work the Parkers have also set themselves up with a contracting business.
“I worked for a hay contractor one year and he planned to upgrade the baler so we got the old baler.
“We didn’t have a tractor but we came to an arrangement where we used the tractor of one of the farmers of the people I baled for, with the fee for the engine hours coming straight off their baling bill.
“It was a big hay year and we managed to pick up a bit of work and went on from there.
“Those relationships we’ve built up with people have been really important.”
Mr Parker said preparation was critical.
“If we are having a go from scratch you can’t afford to be flying blind,” he said.
“There are things you can’t control but you can always be prepared, so I’ve made spread sheets on anything from the cost of new equipment right down to the cost of baling twine and I’ve found doing that preparation has been really important.”
Mr Parker said he intended to stay in agriculture for the long haul.
“There aren’t as many people around. Boort would be just a fraction of the population of just my former suburb in Melbourne but I find you end up knowing more people and we’ve found everyone open and sharing, especially those in agriculture.
“Coming from a different background I find it amazing how often people who run multi-million dollar businesses are happy to share what they do, whether it is via something like Twitter, which I use a lot, or in person.”
He said the flexibility in the industry worked well and allowed him to have a stable job while also seasonally developing his own business.
“Again, that seasonality means I can take some time off from the spraying over the baling season and work for myself over the hay-making period,” he said.
Mr Parker said eventually he and Amanda would have their own farm.
“It’s going to take persistence and patience but we think it is doable. There is a buck to made in agriculture but you need to put the hard work in.”
He acknowledged land values meant it would be difficult to get the capital required to buy a farm from scratch, but he said it was not impossible.
“People talk about it being a bit of a pipe dream given how much land has gone up in recent years, but I think that is a little bit defeatist,” he said.
“We had a look at buying some land last year and we very quickly realised we’d have to get some more behind us before we were successful in that, but the experience was a good one. It helps us prepare for next time.
“In the meantime you don’t have to own the land to farm it, so there are options such as leasing and sharefarming to consider to be able to put crops in.
“We’ve already put a crop in doing these types of things and until we can buy land that’s how we’ll look to be involved in terms of growing crops and grain production.”