South East farmers look to future

FARM FOCUS: Tom Ellis Junior, pictured with father Tom, will highlight successes in agriculture at the Grassland Society of Southern Australia annual conference in Millicent next week.
FARM FOCUS: Tom Ellis Junior, pictured with father Tom, will highlight successes in agriculture at the Grassland Society of Southern Australia annual conference in Millicent next week.

A PANEL of four South East farmers will offer insight into their operations and how their future might shape up at a conference in Millicent next week.

Travis Telford, Richie Kirkland, Kingsley Breeding and Tom Ellis Junior will outline their operations and what they hope to achieve in the future at the Grassland Society of Southern Australia annual conference on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The panel will be moderated by Mount Gambier-based farm management consultant and one of the owners of Gambier Seeds Rick Jordan.

“The farmers will provide real-time examples of movement from the past to the present and explain where they see themselves in the short to medium term future,” Mr Jordan said.

The farmers have been chosen as leading examples of producers adopting and implementing new systems.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE: Richie Kirkland will speak at the Grassland Society of Southern Australia annual conference in Millicent next week.

Mr Jordan said there were a lot of new tools and information people can use if they wish.

“You hop into a tractor today and it’s more like getting into the cockpit of an aircraft than tractors of years gone by,” Mr Jordan said.

“They have shifted a long way in 20 years and it is the same with forages and pastures.

“If you engage some of the pasture species and forage crops of today, you need to understand what they require and deliver that to them.

“It’s not about how technical a system needs to be, but we need to recognise that change has occurred and there are more tools available today to optimise performance within your individual systems.”

The panel of farmers come from a range of enterprises and farming systems.

Each speaker will be asked about changes in the forage and pasture systems used on their farming operations, what “tools” they use to optimise performance, what lessons they have learnt along the way and what changes they see themselves making in the future.

The 59th GSSA annual conference has adopted the theme Past + Future = Pasture and will give farmers an insight into how new technologies and business management structures can improve their farming outcomes.

Event organiser and Limestone Coast Grassland Society branch president Meg Bell said more than 200 people were expected to attend the conference at the Millicent War Memorial Civic and Arts Centre.