Stuck in the middle of harvest with a broken down cotton picker, a Queensland farmer hatched a bold plan to source a new part which would span 23,000km and cost $10,000.
David Loughnan had finished picking cotton at his Jondaryan property Jackson and moved on to contract harvesting up the road when disaster struck.
"It was in the morning at startup. We were just greasing the heads and it just stopped greasing. Why it failed I've got no idea," Mr Loughnan said.
Mr Loughnan and his operators soon diagnosed the problem with the 2016 John Deere CP690 - a faulty vehicle controller.
"We chatted to one fella here and he shook his head and said, 'No, not for me'."
He then called the dealership to see how long it would take for a new electronic module to be delivered.
"Parts have been taking quite a while to come through John Deere. We couldn't get a date but it looked like it was going to be at least a fortnight," Mr Loughnan said.
Mr Loughnan said he understood supply chain issues were affecting the machinery and auto industries and ordered the part on June 3 - a Friday.
However, after mulling over the need to get his client's cotton off before inclement weather became a factor, he came up with a plan.
"As a contractor, you've got a responsibility, and obviously with cotton at $700 or $800 a bale, it's a big responsibility," he said.
"[On] Monday ... we actually made the decision: 'Well, it's not going to be here', so we thought, 'Let's go get the jolly thing'.
David, who runs the cropping operation with wife Jane and daughter Amy, was being assisted by his brother-in-law Murray Mitchell at the time, so he asked if he wanted to do the 23,000km return trip to Los Angeles to get the part and bring it back in his luggage.
"He was happy enough to jump on the plane. He went over in premium economy and jumped on business class coming back home," Mr Loughnan said.
Mr Mitchell flew from Brisbane to LAX on Monday, got the part in LA, stayed the night, and then flew home, arriving back in Brisbane on June 9 (Thursday).
While a $7500 bill for flights and accommodation and $2300 for a part was steep, Mr Loughnan said it was nothing in the grand scheme of things and just absorbed the cost.
"We're farmers. We don't pass costs on. We're not able to," he said.
"At the end of the day, the trip to America and back is probably covered by half a day's picking, because a picker only goes for a very short time each year. You're lucky to be going for two months. It's not like a header where they go all year round."
The Jondaryan farmer and fellow operators have now picked 1100ha for this season and are still going, with no more trips planned.
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