If a career journey from massage therapist to nuclear medicine student and then shearing hand was not unique enough, a young single mother has turned her hand to establishing her own garlic farm. ANDY WILSON reports from Euroa in northern Victoria.
With no heritage of agriculture behind her, it took a stint in a Wagga Wagga shearing shed to trigger a sudden passion for farming that saw Amanda Rofe buy 35 hectares of prime grazing land almost four years ago to begin her enterprise.
“The inspiration for garlic came from my chiropractor,” Amanda said.
“He said he grew garlic on his farm and that it wasn’t all that difficult.”
Amanda was recently awarded $5000 from the Drought Resilience Ideas Grant as one of four Victorian farming women recognised for their innovative approach to farming.
The grant is part of the Female Farmers of The Future Project, which is co-ordinated by Agri-Tech Education at Central Queensland University.
The funds will help the recipients utilise drought resilience technology in their enterprises.
Nikki Kelly from CQUniversity said the grant was provided as part of a pilot project which focused only on the four Victorian women, with the aim to increase the program nation-wide.
“The idea is to inspire women, who are the primary caregivers in the family and problem solvers, to use technology on their farm,” Dr Kelly said.
“We had an overwhelming response, particularly from female farmers in Victoria.
“We encourage them and give them the confidence and skills to farm and hopefully contribute to the home as well.
“The idea is to build strength and self-reliance in these women for better economic and social outcomes.”
Amanda said having no exposure to agriculture before the age of 25 had been a challenge.
“It has meant that I am learning everything from the very basics, so being able to interact with agri-tech innovation and be guided by industry leaders will be a really valuable experience for me,” she said.
“In the first year of setting up my farm I relied solely on rainfall to provide water for livestock and my garlic crop and unfortunately my garlic crop failed to produce a saleable product.”
Amanda has since had two successful seasons and is using the grant to purchase new soil moisture sensors to maximise irrigation efficiency.
The CSIRO-designed sensors are a relatively new technology, which can be configured to interact with a water sensor in the property’s irrigation system and be controlled from a phone app.
The four farmers selected for the pilot will work alongside the all-female team of researchers from CQUniversity and partner organisations to implement and monitor an agri-tech system on their own property.
The gender composition of the university’s multidisciplinary team came down “to chance” according to Dr Kelly, but was an added incentive for the pilot.
“We are all women with our own agricultural enterprises, so we know how to give support,” she said.
CQUniversity researchers will develop a model based on the experiences of the four participants and the impact of innovation on their knowledge and confidence.
A workshop is planned for May to address any challenges that might arise for the grant recipients.