Ok, so one of the post’s that is long, long overdue for sharing, is my wrap up of my experience of the Joel Salatin Far North QLD tour which was held in late February. Joel is actually back in Australia this week to take part in a workshop around developing a fair and regenerative food system for Australia – you can find all the details for the event being run in Melbourne here.
As you know from my initial post about Joel Salatin – prior to his tour, I didn’t know much about him other than he had been touted around the media as ‘the world’s greatest farmer’.
Well, I sure know a whole lot more now after attending all three events that RegenAG organised for the Far North Queensland Agricultural/Food Community!
It is blog etiquette that I disclose at this point that I was lucky enough to be given complimentary attendance at Joel’s One Day Master Class in Mareeba with huge thanks to Georgie and Kym Kruse at RegenAG. I did however purchase my own ticket to the Luncheon, and Evening Talk tickets for Matt and I. This is not a sponsored post and all views and opinions are my own.
Right, now that we have that formality out of the way – here’s my take on Joel’s time in the Far North! This is going to be a bit of a whopper post so make yourself comfortable and please stay with me as there are some great tips which Joel shared and I have summarised at the end to make the read worth your while!
Joel’s tour started with a conference luncheon at the Hilton and I convinced my Mum to come with me to Cairns as chief babysitter for Kipp. We made a very quick stop on the way for me to get a hair cut, as what else does a farm mum accompanied by a Grammy do when faced with a fancy luncheon and having not seen a hairdresser in months???
Terrible photo – but you get the point!
After giving Kipp a feed and leaving he and Grammy to wander the Cairns Esplanade for a few hours, I headed in to the Hilton to try to make myself useful to the RegenAG team. The Hilton luncheon was a sell out with a mix of farmers, policy makers, consumers, food tourism operators and local food producers. Joel gave a very passionate address to the group and although only relatively short, he was able to get everybody thinking about our local food system which was the aim of the event.
One of the key points that stuck with me from Joel’s speech was the message that, ‘if change is not moving fast, but things are still moving forward, then that is good enough’ – a good reminder to keep plugging away at whatever industry/avenue of the food system we are involved in! Oh, and I also loved his quote that ‘every family needs to have chooks instead of a dog or a cat because they are great role models; they get up early every morning, they eat rubbish and turn it into treasure, they work hard all day and they are the first to bed – no running amuck at night!” hehehehe – love it!
After Joel’s rousing talk it was lunch time and this was truly a highlight of Joel’s tour for me (and not just cause I am a big fan of eating!) The food for the luncheon was all obtained from local producers like Sunnyville Free Range Pigs, Daintree Estates Chocolate, Broken Nose Vanilla, Love Lee Cooking and Rainforest Bounty just to name a few. So, so, so yummy! I wished I’d been brave enough to take a photo to show you the terrific spread, but you will just have to take my word for it that it was probably the freshest, most delicious food I have ever eaten!
After lunch at the Hilton, Kym Kruse lead the group in a brain storming session centered around determining the main issues facing the agricultural industry in Far North Queensland and what solutions could be offered to ensure a viable future for the industry. It was a great chance to get to know the backgrounds of some of the other people in the room and really gain an insight into the multifaceted topic that is our local food system. It was inspiring to be surrounded by so many people committed to trying to improve things for the Agricultural Industry in Far North Qld and I really think the RegenAG team deserve big accolades for all that they are doing to keep moving the conversation forward around sustainable farming in Queensland and Australia, so ‘BRAVO’ Kym and Georgie.
It was only at the end as we were packing up from the lunch that I heard Kipp crying in the foyer with Grammy, signalling the end of my afternoon out, pretty good for my first time away from him!
So another feed for Kipp and then Grammy took him home to Mareeba where she swapped shifts with Matt who then headed down to Cairns to join me for Joel’s evening talk at the ‘Tank’s Theatre’ in Cairns.
Joel’s evening talk was kicked off by a surprise video conference welcome, from the very well known Costa Georgiadis host of the ABC television show ‘Gardening Australia’ and who is a landscape architect and permaculturalist. We have to admit that we didn’t know who Costa was – can’t half tell that we are new to all of this! However, Costa did a great job of introducing Joel and really setting the scene of what is happening in the Australian food/farming movement at present which helped us be able to listen to Joel and give thought to how and why what he was saying, could be important for Australia.
The biggest thing that Matt and I took away from the night, was that it was important to keep trying to think outside the box in farming, or in Joel’s terms ‘not to become imagination constipated!’. It’s very easy in farming (and business in general I suspect) to get bogged down in the day to day logistics of running the farm and lose sight of the bigger picture, to stop aiming for better. Joel also said something else that we found important. He said ‘people always buy what they want. We thus need consumers to WANT to buy good quality food and be prepared to pay for it’. That’s absolutely what we need here in Australia!
Matt and I chatted all the way home in the car about different ideas we had which I think is probably the best thing that comes out of attending any sort of conference/talk, is that it stirs the mind into action again and was really great for Matt to get a bit inspiration while being nearly at the end of a very big mango/avocado season. Sometimes we all need a bit of extra motivation to keep going with our jobs, and farming is no different!
After a late night, it was an early start again to head to Joel’s one day ‘Farming Master Class’ in Mareeba. Grandma Gayel was on babysitting duty to help with Kipp for this day and unfortunately Kipp had now clued on to the fact he was being left which meant a bit of a grumpy baby for Grandma!
The Mareeba Master Class was a packed house with over 230 people coming from all over North Queensland.
Here are a few of my photos from the day – the food again was sooooo good! I missed out on lunch as I had to run home to feed Kipp, but check out our snacks!!
I have pages and pages of notes that I took from Joel’s sessions up here in Far North QLD, with the result that I have really had trouble deciding how best to sum up what I have taken away from listening to him speak. Joel describes himself as a ‘lunactic, heretic farmer’ and for me, that made him a little bit difficult to listen to at times, he was somewhat over the top and in my view, a little condescending of other farmers not following his methods which I found a little off putting. Joel has much great information and advice to impart, which is not only useful to the ‘lunatic fringe’ as he describes his following, but he also has much to impart to the broader farming community. I don’t believe you need to be a ‘lunatic’ to invoke change, in fact I think a title like this often impedes the process and can put us more ‘conservative’ farmers offside.
However, I absolutely admired Joel’s clear passion and dedication to improving the future of farming and food systems. Joel had lots and lots of good information about his success, which he was very generous with sharing. I’ve tried to summarise my notes into ‘Joel’s Top Ten Tips for Success’ below – there is plenty that farmers here in Australia can take away from Joel’s story and put to good use!
Joel Salatin’s Top Ten Tips for Success per Jess Fealy
(please keep in mind these notes are my personal take on Joel’s sessions)
1. Farms are working landscapes.
Must have multiple use equipment – single use capital intensive equipment destroys farms. Let function drive form – make use of portable farming infrastructure. Make use of every nook and cranny on farm and don’t rule out leasing land.
Look at nature’s pattern and try to replicate as closely as possible on farm.
2. Eclectic Awareness
“Get the tools in your box”. Expose yourself to the ideas of other people
Read widely about farming methods, what is happening in the industry, follow the stories of industry leaders. Successful people can read and communicate well.
3. A ‘can do’ entrenprenuarial spirit.
“Don’t waste time pushing on a string – you have to pull a string”. Lead by example.
Surround yourself with positive mentors – find your ‘tribe’ of like minded people.
Get kids to start their own business from age 8-10 to foster entrepreneurism. Never give time orientated tasks, always performance driven tasks with a defined goal at the end. Never use work as a punishment, always make work something with a reward at the end of it so kids learn to enjoy work.
4. Live Frugally
Eat, live and breathe farming. Stay home.
5. Assemble a Team
“The gifts and talents to run a successful farm do not all grow on one pair of legs”. Be honest about strengths and weaknesses and decide what ‘floats your boat”. Find partners to complement these.
Good management always yields the greatest return on investment, not infrastructure. Management is not something you can just borrow from a bank – invest in it.
“Unwritten expectations kill relationships”. Carve out areas of responsibility and write down job descriptions.
Create commission based positions that give independence and autonomy and where both parties share some risk.
Help other people build their dreams and yours will happen.
6. Direct Market
Marketing is important – nothing happens on a farm unless something sells!
Try on farm marketing. Make interesting farms – smattering of different things.
– On farm hospitality ‘food fairs’, creating memories ‘agritainment”, samples, ‘evangelists’ customers who spread the word for free stuff.
Use social media.
7. Gross Margin Analysis
Run a slick accounting system – categorise everything.
Review and understand figures regularly.
Have systems and let them work.
8. Multi Enterprises
Be a business. Successful farms have enough going on to be successfully employed 100% of the time.
Have a number of enterprises on farm that are ‘stackable’ – use the same equipment – and minimise waste.
9. Benchmark
Conduct time and motion studies for how long it takes to do certain jobs. Look for and develop efficiencies. Encourage people to race!
Farms need to think like ‘Macca’s’ and shave efficiencies.
10. Succession Plan
Talk openly about a plan for the future of the farm with all of those involved. Write it down. Leverage elders experience on youthful energy.
It is important to ensure our kids love the farm so that they will want to take it on one day. Make it a great place that kids friends will want to come to – this re-affirms that the farm is a awesome place.
Kids will get what you are excited about. ‘More is caught than taught’. Kids will want to grow up and be like us if we are happy with us!
Lots to think about huh! I believe the numbers of people at all of the Joel Salatin events in Far North Queensland, really highlight the fact that people care, are invested in, and are really looking for solutions to fix our food system and restore some sustainability (both financial and environmental sustainability) back to our family farms. That bodes well for the future of farming up here in FNQ!
Thanks again to Kym and Georgie Kruse who are a family business, based locally just outside Mareeba, for all the work they did bringing Joel Salatin to Far North Queensland. Make sure you check out the RegenAG website and Facebook Page for upcoming farming courses and information.
Finally, here’s a few links that you might like to check out for some extra Joel Salatin related information if you are interested in learning more for yourself.
ABC Rural Interview with Joel while he was in Mareeba.
Joel Salatin Brisbane Interview 2015
Joel Salatin Video Synopsis of ‘You Can Farm’ event Byron Bay 2015
Joel Salatin Book – Family Friendly Farming
A fantastic write up, Jess. Re his ‘lunatic’ label: sometimes, i think people like Joel have to be lunatics in order to generate enough energy to be heard above the roar of “same-o, same-o”. So, good on you for staying with listening for his basic message and ignoring the lunatic edge.
That is quite an agenda, your ten key points. I can see you & Matt & the kids passionately (and sometimes, exhaustedly) working them into your lives over the next ten years and more.
I look forward to reading many a post, over the coming years, reflecting your own passion in taking these, and other powerfully inspiring messages, onto your farm and into your lives.
Cheers Judith
Hello Judith! How are you and James? Thanks so much for being such a lovely follower of our blog! You make a good point about Joel having ‘to be a lunatic to create enough energy to be heard’- I think you are right. I do think though that if your message is ‘right enough’ then it will speak for itself too – what do you think?
Fresh food for thought great write up Jess I am sure your energy will pay off in the future Murray
Leanne Morris recently posted…I am so proud of myself.
Thanks Uncle Murray!