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17/11/2025
Western Australian grain grower and tour host, Robert Kitto with Croppa Creek’s Charles Sullivan.
Croppa Creek’s Charles Sullivan is grateful to farm in one of Australia’s cropping heartlands – yet rather than rest on his laurels, this quiet achiever is continually looking for opportunities to improve his farming enterprise.
And Rabobank’s recent Western Australian Grains Knowledge Tour fit the bill, proving an invaluable opportunity to gain insights, inspiration, and networks to benefit his own operation.
Knowledge is power
Charles helps run the family’s NSW grains operation alongside his parents, Mark and Faye, and despite a busy farming and family schedule – he and wife, Katie have two children, Joey, 13 and Elsie, 11 – it was tools down for the opportunity to explore Western Australia’s grain industry during the seven day tour.
Charles and Katie Sullivan, with children Elsie and Joey.
“It’s easy to make excuses not to participate in these experiences, yet our Rabobank manager Kyle McDonald and my parents all suggested it would be valuable to the business – and I’m certainly glad they pushed it.”
Mark and Faye have long valued learning and knowledge, which has in turn underpinned a progressive and innovative farming operation.
“Knowledge is so important in today’s world, and exposure to how other people do things is such an eye-opener, and an incredible learning tool,” Faye says.
Charles, Faye, and Mark Sullivan at home, pictured on the eve of harvest 2025.
“It’s imperative to our business that we continually learn, and stay up-to-date, particularly as Charles looks to take over the enterprise.”
Describing the farm businesses the tour visited as “gold star”, Charles acknowledges the powerhouse of information the experience afforded him.
“There was an understanding from the start that these farms were the best of the best, so my goal for the trip was not to compare, but to see what works well in the west and benchmark against that, and identify where we can perhaps do better.”
“I approached the tour with a clear lens, and aimed to ask enough questions as to how these top farmers are doing things, learn from that, and stay motivated to improve.”
Rabobank Knowledge Tour’s unique access
A fascinating aspect of the trip was the unique access behind the doors at CBH, Charles reflects.
“It was amazing to explore the co-operative structure, that’s fully supported by farmers, and fully supports farmers.”
When comparing CBH’s grain logistics with the east coast, Charles said the marketing and logistics conversation was perfectly complemented by the addition of Senior RaboResearch Analyst, Vítor Pistóia.
“Having Vitor formally present, and also for us to be able to pick his brain on the bus during the entirety of the tour was incredible – he shared insights which made me really think about selling grain versus holding on this season.”
“To be on the ground at CBH with Vitor’s expertise exploring how we can best manage cashflow, marketing and storage was so valuable.”
Remaining ‘a step ahead’ was one of Charles’ motivating factors for joining the tour, specifically around the topic of sustainable grain.
Charles during the Rabobank Grains Tour in Western Australia.
“I’ve participated in a Rabobank Carbon Calculator Workshop, as well as Rabobank’s Ruminati Workshop, and with sustainable grain a topic of conversation I think it’s important to try and get my head around where everything is at.”
“When it comes to sustainable grain, the goal is not to chase a price premium, it’s more about avoiding a potential future penalty – there’s going to be expectations placed on our social license to farm, and it’s important we know these expectations in order to remain profitable.”
“This is a topic that’s not going to go away, and as grain growers we need to have the knowledge to meet future markets – there’s a lot of detail to tick off on to meet the checklists – big and small – and CBH proved a real eye-opener in regards to this topic.”
Charles found CBH’s approach to supporting farmers extremely refreshing, with the bulk handler hands-on with local producers.
“Obviously their markets are different to ours, and they have only two canola markets, non-GM an GM, so CBH will work closely with farmers to ensure they have their correct accreditations, and help ensure local farmers are proactive in this space.”
The inclusion of a local grain grower on the tour bus was another impressive itinerary detail.
"Rabobank had a tour in our region in 2019, and Dad and I joined the tour bus to provide local insights – and to have a WA grower do the same on our tour bus, answering our questions, explaining the regions, the challenges and the opportunities, was so beneficial."
The tour included grain producers from across Australia and New Zealand.
“It’s this attention to detail in identifying how tour participants can gain the most valuable knowledge that makes Rabobank Knowledge Tours so worthwhile.”
Chales laughs that “everything is big in Western Australia, including the distances”, and as such, there was a lot of time spent on the bus travelling – time, he believes was well spent.
“Rarely do you get the opportunity to have so much time to talk with other farmers about their businesses, and these conversations on the bus were so thought provoking.”
With the 19 tour participants travelling from as far afield as Clermont in Queensland, to New Zealand, Charles says it was enlightening to see everyone’s different perceptions, and discuss the learnings of each day, and how they may be applied to their own operations.
An opportunity that piqued everyone’s curiosity was Rabobank’s Executive Development Program – with a number of tour participants, and hosts, having completed the farm business specific program.
“There was a lot of interest around the EDP, with those having done it speaking so highly of its worth, and the fact they seemed to have bolstered their business as a result speaks for itself.”
The Sullivan family is building a strong farm future for the next generation.
Charles found the insights within the farm gate equally valuable.
“You could see as soon as you entered the properties that they were gold star,” he smiles. “It was the small things that stood out, such as the tidy sheds, the infrastructure and the general farm hygiene – from roads, to fence lines, to managing headland weeds – their businesses mirrored this disciplined approach.”
From OH&S to staff management, Charles said the producers they visited were generous in sharing their strategies, and how they maintain progressive cropping rotations and nutrition.
Transferring learnings back home
Now home – with a renewed appreciation for his ‘golden triangle’ black soils – Charles reflects that his focus is on adding value “without reinventing the wheel”.
“We’ll focus on the little things, as dryland farmers we can only do what we can in any given season, but if we can remain disciplined and organised, get our timings right and aim for the one percenters then we will keep progressing.”
Certainly, participating in the EDP together with wife Katie is on his wish list, and in the meantime, he says he’ll remain inspired thanks the tour’s WhatsApp group, instigated by Rabobank.
Katie and Charles Sullivan enjoyed a favourable 2025 winter grains season on their Croppa Creek property.
“I met an incredible network on the tour and it’s great to have this platform to share ideas. Vitor is also part of the group, so to have him essentially on speed dial is more than I ever would have expected.”
A gold star operation in the heart of the golden triangle
With Charles’ great grandfather arriving in Australia from England in 1929 age 21 with little more than his ‘port’, the dairy industry around Casino created for him the means to move west with his family, and soon to be son in-law Noel Sullivan, Charles’ grandfather in 1955.
The Sullivan family has been growing the business ever since, and acknowledge the support they’ve received from Rabobank, and their manager Kyle McDonald.
As long-term Rabobank clients since 2000, Charles’ father, Mark reflects that Rabobank has been inspirational during their growth journey.
“From the start Rabobank talked about progression rather than succession – you don’t carve up the pie, you grow it – and that’s the model we decided to adopt for our farm. We’ve focussed on growing our business through land acquisition rather than cutting it up and risking it all come to an end.” Faye says.
Having only had four managers during their long tenure with Rabobank, it’s welcome consistency.
Charles with their Rabobank rural manager, Kyle McDonald.
“Kyle is a breath of fresh air, he’s so supportive and knows our business inside out – he’s personable yet professional, and is conscious that our personal client relationship is just as important as our business relationship, and that’s the sort of relationship we value.”