It was great to return to the Australian Dairy Conference this year in Hobart, three years after it was last held in Melbourne.
The organising committee didn’t disappoint, with a jam-packed speaker line-up covering topics including climate, succession, leadership and industry growth.
The conference has developed a loyal following, and if you ask anyone who attends regularly they will generally tell you a similar reason why — because they enjoy being among positive, like-minded people at a conference that’s designed to broaden and challenge your horizons.
This year our Don Campbell Tour to Tasmania was held in the same week, and participants attended part of the conference.
As chair of GippsDairy, I was very proud of how our young tour participants conducted themselves — they were interested, engaged and actively networking with farmers and delegates from across the country.
Hopefully this is one step in a lifelong learning journey for them, and I would like to thank the Gardiner Foundation for supporting their attendance.
Farm succession is a hot topic at the moment, with a surge in land prices and a few good seasons bringing the need for planning acutely into focus.
At the conference we were privileged to hear from Lyn Sykes, a succession expert who has recently retired. Lyn gave us an honest account of how challenging this experience has been for her, in her session entitled ‘The Invisible Elder’.
Just the week before, I had attended a GippsDairy succession planning event in Tinamba with Matt Harms and Colin Wright.
They also encouraged those in the room to understand the differences between generations, in their lived experience, expectations and attitudes towards work.
Each generation has experienced different challenges at key stages in their lives, and the challenges that people face today are certainly different to those their parents and grandparents faced at the same age. Not wrong, not more, not less — just different.
Listening, and seeking to understand another point of view without judgment, is a difficult but important skill to learn.
As someone with early teenage children, I am surprised at how quickly the topic of succession has become relevant to us. So I would encourage everyone in the industry to give it some thought.
We can bring in professionals to plan for tax and create structures, but the skills that each one of us personally needs are relationship skills, and the ability to define our worth by who we are, not what we do.
They are the same skills needed to run a good business, plan for the future, lead people, be a parent, or a partner.
At the Australian Dairy Conference, consultant Dennis Hoiberg was asked to delve into the mindset of the dairy farmer, and give us all some tips to enhance our resilience.
The notes I scribbled in the margin make it sound pretty simple really — surround yourself with “good voices, not dickheads”, look up and keep moving, one step at a time.
It’s important that we look after and develop ourselves, so that we are then in a position to lead and engage with others, whether it be as part of succession or any other relationship that we are involved in.
The GippsDairy Muster is Gippsland’s very own gathering of positive and like-minded people.
After last year’s successful on-farm event, this year we will be at the Regent Theatre in Yarram on Wednesday, June 7.
The theme is ‘Our People in Dairy – Rethink, Develop, Grow’ and we have a great line-up planned, including some new and different speakers that you probably haven’t heard before.
Our goal is to deliver an event where there is something for everyone, whether you are an employer, employee or self-employed, and I hope to see you there.
Lauren Finger
GippsDairy chair