FOR Winchendonvale farmers Bob and Carolyn McCormack of “Lenton Park”, diversity is key in staying on the front foot in agriculture.
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The McCormacks run a mixed farming operation encompassing winter crops, seed crops and fodder plus Angus cattle and a prime lamb trading business. Like the rest of southern NSW the Winchendonvale property has received a lot of winter rain. “They don’t call this God’s country for nothing,” Mr McCormack said.
To further diversify the farming operation the McCormacks run a pump business which offers both retail and consultancy solutions. In fact, Mr McCormack is a regular exhibitor at trade shows such as the Henty Machinery Field Days.
ADVANTAGES: Mr McCormack is a second generation farmer and says if you want to be “your own boss” the rural sector it is an ideal choice. Yet he joked that landholders were probably not really their own bosses given all of the different aspects involved in taking the reins any rural business and the complexity of decision processes. In addition to running a farm he is a firm believer in giving back and becoming involved in industry representation at a grassroots level. He is a past president of the Australian Fodder Industry Association and was a foundation member of the group now known as GrainGrowers. He also had an involvement in the former Rural Lands Protection Board (which has since become the Local Land Services). In recent times he was a GrainGrowers Association’s national policy group member.
He has now taken the decision to stand for the association’s board. Mr McCormack says being involved is important if you want to foster change and improvement.
“You can't spend your life throwing stones. Do something for yourself and your industry and put some effort in to work for a better agricultural sector.”
CHALLENGES: “In agriculture it has always been a long time between drinks so to speak,” Mr McCormack said. He said patience was essential. He said seasonal conditions might be good at the moment but he assured the drought – which lasted 10 years – was still fresh in the minds of many.
He said marketing the wheat crop, and other grain commodities, was a challenge. Mr McCormack said succession planning in agriculture remained a challenge and he said it was certainly tough for people to enter the industry if they didn’t have land.
THE FUTURE: The McCormack’s sons Robert and Dermot both have a keen interest in the agricultural sector and are farming in region. Mr McCormack said agriculture was definitely an industry he would encourage young people to enter but he warned it was not always easy to acquire land and often there needed to be back off farm income too.