Agri-Phoenix

I’m Hayley Wolski, 27. I was born in Chinchilla, went to primary and secondary school there, and I still live there now. I love to help my dad out on our family farm. He works so hard.  It’s pretty much a case of ‘all hands to the pump’ – if you are around and there is work to be done, you don’t really get a choice about pitching in. 

The land and I have been connected since my childhood, spent exploring the wild places around my hometown in South Western Australia. A patchwork of happy days; climbing trees, finding frogs, building cubby houses and birdwatching. I moved to Brisbane 8 years ago and felt like my connection to nature disappeared. I found it harder to find undisturbed wilderness in the suburbs. 

When I was about five years old my dad would take me to check the irrigation. That’s when I fell in love with farming and from that moment, I knew I wanted to be a farmer.

My wife and I moved back to Home Hill in 2017 to lease one of my parent’s cane farms. I’m a 4th generation cane farmer and still use much of the equipment my grandfather used. Our farm is only 118 acres so we both work off farm as well to supplement our income.

Nestled in amongst the towering cane fields of Home Hill is a micro flower farm. The primary goal is to grow seasonal, local flowers in a natural setting, so they have the uniqueness of field grown flowers: curvy stems, discoloured petals and so on. Growing flowers in an open field is challenging – in an open field in North Queensland it’s even more challenging. The last year or so has been a steep learning curve and there is no sign of that curve flattening anytime soon. My main focus is soil biology and insects (bees and beneficial insects).

Young Farmers Connect is an alliance that believes in a bright and prosperous future for our next generation farmers. We are a national not for profit organisation committed to cultivating networks, resources and community for young farmers. Through our network we provide educational platforms and community connections that encourage our young agrarians to farm #4futureag , supporting the use of regenerative, holistic & sustainable agricultural practices. YFC is a community that provides a national framework for peer support and a network that facilitates opportunities, land sharing, collaboration, education, mentorship and industry support to new, young and aspiring farmers throughout Australia.

Central Queensland, this place: it’s the only place I’ve ever really known and it’s the place where I am happy, so why wouldn’t I want to look after the land? Earlier this year I went to a Land Restoration Fund workshop in Biloela and that was pretty exciting – there were a lot of new ideas in the room. People talking seriously about recognising what we producers contribute to looking after the land, that we may not wear the environmental badge, but we do the right things as much as it is possible within the system as it works now.

There’s some guy who’s almost certainly dead, who started the whole thing, probably the great-grandfather. He did things the way they did them then – clearing pretty much everything, putting on as many head as he could afford. People moved great mobs across the country to get them to better pastures. 

I guess you’d have to say those first farmers didn’t have much of a clue about what we call the environment, or the ecosystem. They were just trying to survive. Back then clearing was the way to go.  It’s too easy to look back now and say they were doing the wrong thing. Don’t blame the farmers – they’re just trying to run a business, to stay afloat and keep the banks off their backs.

A feed of misinformation doesn’t feed us Agri-Phoenix Feature: Doug EvansName: Doug EvansPlace: Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast  I find myself constantly jumping to the defence of the fishing industry: battling misconceptions and misinformation. Having worked in the industry for years, I see that commonly this misinformation feeds myths about the environmental impact of fishing on the oceans,

I’m not sure what people think about when they look at agriculture or the beef industry from the outside. I grew up smack inside of it on a cattle property in the north-west, near Richmond. The thing is, at the end of the day this industry is as much about the people as it is about the land and the cattle.

On my family cattle property as a general station hand, I muster cattle on horseback, handle foals, process and treat cattle, test for pregnancies, check fences, waterpoints, lick runs and do weed control. A commercial and stud cattle operation; our key focus is breeding quality Droughtmaster bulls, and quality Droughtmaster fat cattle that are fertile and quiet. Working for family, contrary to some beliefs, is one of the hardest things – expectations often exceed what you think is reasonable. Character building.