How To Succeed in Farming: Lessons From Life and Research

Despite Covid-19, 2020 was a bumper year for farmers across the state with many reporting their best harvest in decades. For Forbes local Jarrod Amery, it was a particularly good year, claiming him two impressive industry acknowledgements for his efforts.

Last year will be one Jarrod Amery long remembers. He was named a cropping finalist in the 2020 Weekly Times/Coles Farmer of the Year competition. This accolade came on the back of receiving a prestigious Nuffield Scholarship.

Jarrod’s social media presence and involvement in the Young Farmer Business program first brought him to the attention of The Weekly Times who put him forward for their Farmer of the Year award.

Jarrod and wife Emma were named cropping finalists after their bumper 2020 season results. Having planted 1300 hectares of wheat, 600 hectares of barley and 450 hectares of canola, the Amerys enjoyed the best season they had ever had.

“It was a really big year and it was very much needed because 2018 and ’19 were not very good at all. Our canola averaged nearly 3 tonnes (compared to an average of 1.5-2.3 tonnes) per hectare and the wheat averaged 6 tonnes (up from 3.4-4 tonnes).
The sheep also went well. It was just an excellent season and really helped us to spring back from the drought.”

“As finalists in the award, we were supposed to go to the MCG for a suit and tie presentation, but COVID knocked that on the head.  Still, it was a real privilege to be selected. I wasn’t striving for anything like that, but I think when you’re passionate about what you do, some of these things just sort of cross your path.”

While he’s always been passionate about agriculture, Jarrod’s path to farming hasn’t been typical.

Growing up on dairy and irrigation farms in northern Victoria, Jarrod was just 11 when his father told him he would never be given the family farm. Not to be deterred, Jarrod set about saving for his own patch of land.

“I absolutely love agriculture. I love growing crops. I love being outside. I love agricultural people who’re down to earth.
Maybe my passion is because my forefathers were in agriculture but I always had a dream to own my own farm.
Not just to have my own farm but to raise my family on a farm.

“I think all of us have dreams, but to see a dream fulfilled you have to set some goals and that’s exactly what I did. By the time I was 20, I had saved enough to buy my own small farm.”

From his humble 24 hectare or irrigation country, Jarrod and his wife Emma have built their business to crop more than 2400 hectares across four properties.

“We got married when I was 22 and it took me until the day I turned 35 for Emma and I to buy our third farm which had a house on it, where we would raise our kids. So it hasn’t been fast but it’s in starting from nothing that we’ve had to try and do as many things right as we can.”

Jarrod said they haven’t always gotten things right and have made some costly mistakes along the way, but he’s learned to fail fast and fail forward.

“We have made a lot of mistakes, but failure in itself is not a bad thing. It’s what you do with that failure that matters. It’ll either propel you forward to do bigger and better things, or you will sit there and sulk and retreat.”

Far from sulking, Jarrod has embarked on a program of study to look at what it takes to build a successful business, thanks to a Nuffield Scholarship.

“The thing that I want to focus on is studying what it takes to build and maintain a successful, growing business. I’m extremely grateful for that scholarship as it’s allowed me to partner with different people in different businesses to learn the skills and the disciplines required to create a fantastic, successful business.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in agriculture or mining or retail. There are certain skills these businesspeople have and I’m happy to learn from them all.”