John Scotney was working as an accountant in London in the early 90s when his father called him home with the opportunity to take on the running of their recently purchased property ‘Warialda’, in the west midlands cropping area of Western Australia.
More than a quarter of century on and John and his wife Emma have greatly increased the productivity of their farm through improving infrastructure and better understanding the soils and weather patterns that influence their farming region.
They have also expanded their operations, purchasing neighbouring farms, and most recently collaborating with John’s family to purchase a western livestock property.
“It has provided a lot more flexibility in terms of the timing of planting and, given the changing patterns of weather in our region, having that flexibility is imperative.”“If you look at a season like last year when there was a really tough start, in previous years we might not have even had a crop in the ground but with improved techniques in planting, and also the improvement in our soil, we were able to take advantage of the rain when it did show up.”
“Members across the West Midlands Group have trialled mould boarding, spading, and claying as well as incorporating ameliorants such as lime.”
“I work from Perth for three days and then work from the farm for the other day of the week,” she said.
“It does involve a lot of scheduling, I basically have to fit anything to do with the office management of our business into a single day of the week.”“We try and make sure that we schedule staff meetings, safety inductions, pre-seeding and pre-harvest meetings on days when I can ensure I’m there.”
“My whole family has been with Rabobank since back in the PIBA days, more than 25 years, and we’ve never had any real reason to look elsewhere,”“Rabo has always been competitive with both their rates and terms, we’ve always had a good working relationship with their managers and their All-in-One product really suits our business structure.