An agricultural boom : Making the most of good seasons and high prices | Landline

[Music] broadacre farming is looking very shiny and new in the southeast of south australia [Applause] from flash center pivots to the latest in livestock yards it's clear from the infrastructure popping up that agriculture is ticking along very nicely our sds have probably increased in value by 50 percent in the last three years so you know that's an amazing thing our lamb turnovers probably increased by about 30 dean eastwood manages a three and a half thousand hectare grazing and cropping property at bull lagoon south of narrow court where looking after cattle and sheep is more rewarding than ever older staff member here he started his career you know sheep oh those shooting sheep uh and to be getting 195 dollars for old users is breathtaking 250 bucks for lambs and 1500 for winners he's never seen it and he just shakes his head he just he's amazed [Music] this is reliable farming country but the last few years have been on another level as seasons and markets both delivered and while 2021 got off to a late start there aren't many dry patches to be seen now we've had 150 mil of rain up to the 1st of june and we've had 170 ml of rain in the last seven weeks so it's been a big turnaround and now it can stop too much rain is actually the biggest threat here at the moment because when it comes to prices there really isn't a weak spot across the whole farm crops are either holding steady or sky high like canola i don't think we've ever seen a canola price like it no you know it's not of our own doing it's you know unfortunate the canadian and north american droughts having a hell of an effect but we'll take advantage of it and this paddock is promising to be a doozy it's a dual purpose canola dean eastwood has already fattened two and a half thousand lambs on it netting 180 000 he's now hoping to capitalize on the record grain price it's quite a mind-blowing crop if we can get it if you can get it yeah fingers crossed yeah fingers crossed yeah things looking good it does looks really really good really good yeah look at you smiling yeah no it's nice i like it it's gonna have a win occasionally [Music] someone who also reckons he's winning is andrew cavill who runs a dairy next door [Music] five years ago he considered walking away from the industry he loves when prices and relationships with processors were at a low but after three years of good seasons and returns in southern australia and changes to the industry's code of conduct he's had a change of heart well i've been in all my life um been doing full-time for 42 years this year and it's this is probably the most exciting time in the dairy industry that i've seen the confidence amongst dairy farmers is huge that confidence has led to reinvesting in the business rather than just getting by as well as a new tractor he's bought new sheds although getting this workshop off the ground is taking longer than he'd like it's very difficult to get people to come and do stuff on the farm at the moment you've got the path you just don't have the labour we've got the parts but just having up a labor so we've been waiting six months to get this up now still exciting that you are actually in this space that you can actually build new stuff it is a problem that we're happy to have just the fact that we've got money to invest is is a is a great story in the deer industry at the moment [Music] what's good for farming is good for the local community too especially a town like narrow court which is a hub for agricultural services this engineering company has been flat out building and repairing trailers sheds and yards 38 years i've been in this industry 20 years my own business and last year was probably the best year we've had the general manager of this vehicle dealership was worried he'd have to let staff go when covid first surfaced instead he's brought on new workers to deal with the huge demand for utes and four-wheel drives well it has been a boom for us um in the last year we probably hold around 30 to 40 cars over a three month period from japan to here and that's tripled within the year we've got 117 actually on ordinary [Music] and the massive growth in machinery sales online is being mirrored in local farm equipment supply shops the big farming year has been the real improver we've probably been three to four times up on what we would normally do in this last little period it's just enormous low interest rates and changes to tax rules are fueling the shopping spree with farmers now allowed to write off the full value of machinery purchases in the first year so this is where you keep all your big toys is it that's right kerry this is the main machinery shed on the place and how much of this stuff is new so in the last three or four years we've sort of made significant investments to upgrade sprayers tractors center pivots and non-farm grain storage so we've sort of pumped a few million dollars into this place [Music] sixth generation farmer lockheed sears is going hard on not just new equipment but also improving soil to maximize the productivity and efficiency on his farm south of loosendale while the money is flowing and with waiting times for machinery and fertilizer blowing out because of increased demand and freight delays caused by covert it pays to be a few extra steps ahead a lot of our machinery chemicals fertilizer all come from overseas so we've had to sort of make some pretty big decisions and potentially bring some of those purchases forward because we want to make sure that when we want that fertilizer it's in the shed ready to go with the home farm in top shape and agriculture booming the family has taken the plunge on a much bigger investment buying a 3200 hectare old blue gum plantation which will become a cattle property we're undertaking the huge task of removing about three million stumps it's going to be a three to five year program to get that country back into full development and grazing potential breeding up the herd rather than buying stock is saving some money but there's no doubt this is a whopper of a project lockheed sears is confident the timing is right i think red meat in in general was a really sound investment for us but i certainly haven't put current prices into my forward budgets i've allowed for that to come back a bit there haven't been a lot of big farming properties changing hands around here lately because why sell when the land is performing so well the cameron grundy who has been in the broadacre real estate game for 25 years says when a piece does go on the market it's hotly contested from neighbours to city dwellers interest is coming from all corners in the last five or six years land has arguably tripled in some areas but in more particularly the last three years lands doubled quite easily if i can talk in dollars per acre what five years ago was maybe two thousand dollars an acre is probably going to be north of six thousand dollars an acre now seventy three billion threesome eighty five years it'll be 385 to be 385 and 385 389 whether it's lamb or livestock price rises have everyone talking at the local sail yards i've been an agent for 20 years and i'm seeing it when it's at its worst or its lowest point and i haven't seen it any higher than what it is at the moment so um yeah it's exciting times to be involved in the industry while lamb has been a consistent high performer for around a decade stock agent will nolan says beef has tended to spike and fall yeah very nice two inches but with grazia's restocking after the drought there is a big shortage of cattle pushing prices up and up there's also plenty of demand despite fears coved would wipe out big cruise ship and restaurant markets we thought that some of those export markets might suffer and then possibly they have but um perhaps on the back side of that the the domestic market's been really strong there's a lot more people staying home eating meat so the market didn't dip at all if anything like we've seen it's actually going upwards this all bodes well for sellers but for some buyers it's a different story [Music] the local abattoir which is one of the area's biggest employers aims to just break even during these times and says it's not uncommon to be running at a loss the last 12 months has been a bit of a struggle and we're anticipating the next 12 12 months 18 months is probably going to be a bit the same to cut costs and keep staff which are already in short supply in many meat works the abattoir has moved from a 5 to four day working week but after recently investing 30 million dollars in the plant it says there is no risk of closure and the company is well placed to ride out the high prices we've been there for 20 years now we had a 20-year anniversary last year we'll be there for at least another 20 years and 20 years beyond that [Music] even producers say finding a good price that is also sustainable for the rest of the supply chain including stake lovers is probably better for the industry and continuing to break records it's it's good that we're making money and i suppose as long as the consumer will keep buying it at the end of the day it doesn't matter what we produce if if the consumer won't buy it and will not pay for it uh it doesn't matter how much money we're making [Music] who wants to be yes yes for now though they are relishing every minute of this rare and possibly fleeting moment in agriculture probably about 8 20 for harvest you wait till you've got 100 and then it'll go straight up to 900. i've never seen it where the stars align and everything's everything's really good um but we'll take the most of it while we can at the moment because it'll change i'll guarantee it will he's cheers to a good season he's cheers good luck [Applause] you

Channel: ABC News (Australia)

Views: 5,470

Rating: 4.7931032 out of 5

Keywords: Australia, abc, abc news, news, landline, farming, agriculture, australian, produce, food, growing, rain, drought, outback, tractor, naracoote, south australia, good news, happy stories

Id: wTRW3F_ZfCQ

Length: 12min 20sec (740 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 31 2021