Humans of Agriculture

Welcome to Episode 4 of the Better Business series and our second with Grace Brennan, Founder and CEO of Buy From The Bush. Your host, Oli Le Lievre and Grace discuss various aspects of Grace's journey in building and growing her impactful business. Grace shares insights about the role of vulnerability, utilising outsourcing, the importance of admitting what you don't know, and asking questions. She also highlights the significance of building a team of individuals with shared instincts and skills. Grace talks about the lessons she learned from her husband's experience in farming, problem-solving, and adapting in the agriculture sector, "He's taught me to believe that even if you fail, your decision wasn't wrong because you made that decision. He really believes in his capacity to make the right decision at the time." - GraceThis episode of The Better Business podcast is supported by the Farm Business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

In a past life, Anthony Lee has scrubbed dishes, flipped burgers, varnished boats, worked on ski fields and spent time as a postman... Now, Anthony is the CEO and Director at family business, Australian Country Choice (ACC), a beef, cattle and food processing company. Anthony first came onto Oli’s radar following his speech at the EKKA Brekkie in 2022, his passion about education and promoting opportunities to the next generation was equally inspiring and motivating. Since that day, Oli wanted to sit down and find out more about Anthony. So what better opportunity than at ACC’s annual staff event in Roma in late August. The event is dedicated to bringing together the hundreds of people across the business for three days of connecting in teamwork and stockmanship. It's a fitting setting as Anthony talks about 'culture before capability' throughout this episode, and how he goes about crafting culture in his role as CEO. They also touch on:Growing up in the family businessThe evolution into the vertically integrated business it is todayHow he has built life skills through global travel Business aims, culture and capability Balancing his personal life Building and leading a teamConnecting with an urban audience

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Better Business series and our first with powerhouse, Grace Brennan, Founder and CEO of Buy From The Bush. Your host, Oli Le Lievre, and Grace cover everything from her upbringing in Sydney, to falling in love and moving out to 'the bush', all the way to establishing Buy From The Bush. And if you are familiar with Buy From The Bush, you would know just how quickly it escalated in Australia. For Grace, her connection to the bush started when she travelled out to her High School sweethearts family farm, "Jack's [Grace's now husband] dad was kind of inspired in the sense that he really believed in involving me in some of the business and asked him my opinion. And I remember even when I was a 16 year old visiting the farm, he'd say, 'Now I've got this problem, what do you reckon about it?' And that was his way, he was a natural teacher. And he was interested and curious and asked a lot of questions of me. So I think I was very lucky in that way. And I did, I suppose, offer something unique." - GraceThis episode of The Better Business podcast is supported by the Farm Business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

In this episode of the Humans of Agriculture podcast, Oli is joined by Jordy Kitschke, founder of Flux Robotics and former evokeAG. Future Young Leader (2019). We follow Jordy's journey from growing up on a farm in South Australia, to founding not one, but two AgTech businesses.For Jordy, it started on the family cropping farm where he had a list of problems he wanted to fix that was a mile long... He was listening to podcasts on the tractor, learning about various technology and software that he thought could help him solve some of these problems. But first, Jordy wanted to understand agriculture more broadly, which took him overseas to South America and Africa. From there, he ended up working in the commercialisation and product development of different technologies. All of this set him up to be the CEO of a business at the ripe age of 22!“I try to think, ‘What am I actually passionate about?’ Because I'm passionate about all sorts of things… I think what I'm passionate about is solving important problems that I think I'm well-placed to solve. It's like if I don't do it, then who is this going to? Is it going to be solved?” - Jordy

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Better Business series! In this episode, we return with Mitch from Bullseye Ag. If you missed the first episode, make sure you go back and give it a listen. This time, we continue to learn from Mitch and his experience in building a business, which sometimes meant removing himself from the business, "So that if this fell apart, the whole business wasn't going to fall apart." Mitch shares the lessons he's learned and things he would perhaps do differently if he had his time again... "So that would be my big thing is that don't be afraid of the risk. But make sure you go in there knowing that there is one and how to mitigate it as much as possible." - MitchStay tuned for the next episode, where we'll be sitting down with Grace Brennan, the powerhouse behind Buy from the Bush, a business that has made a huge impact on rural Australia.This episode of The Better Business podcast is supported by the Farm Business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

Rebecca (or Beck) Underwood was on our "Women in Agriculture" panel back in March, 2023. Your host, Oli Le Lievre found the conversations with Beck really insightful, so he decided to sit down with her again to chat about how she has progressed her career, how she has grown in confidence and her ideas around inclusivity in agriculture.A highly regarded agribusiness professional with over 20 years’ experience in Australian agribusiness, Beck is currently the National Sustainability Field Manager for Nutrien Ag Solutions. Based in Albury, Beck is passionate about providing profitable and sustainable agricultural solutions to Australian farmers. She is also a founding member of the Nutrien Ag Solutions Diversity & Inclusion committee."There’s so many opportunities in ag. And I think if you're standing back and you're not putting yourself out there, then you're going to miss some of these opportunities. So it's really putting your hand up, I guess. And I've said this to you before Oli, but I have been wondering, why do we need to highlight Women in Ag? And I say that being very brutally honest. Why do we need to highlight Women in Ag? Why can't it just be people in ag, or humans of ag?" - Beck

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Better Business series! In this episode, Oli dives into the journey of Mitch Highett, the Managing Director and Founder of Bullseye Ag. Mitch's story is a mix of farm life around the world and working in major ag companies. Bullseye Ag offers farm management and consultancy services. But it's not just about that – it's a story of growing the team and taking them on a journey, fostering autonomy, and staying transparent."And this is why I've got gray hairs coming up every day, is because that part is the only part that actually matters, is just being honest with how the business is going. Are you happy with it? Are they happy with it? Can we be doing something better?" - MitchCome back next week to hear more from Mitch! This episode of The Better Business podcast is supported by the Farm Business Resilience Program through the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

If Malkah wasn’t a Relationship Credit Analyst, she would use her love of problem solving be an entrepreneur. Oli and Malkah chat about her unique upbringing, moving throughout South America, Europe and Australia which is absolutely fascinating. Her Mum (also her hero) actually started a career as a professional tennis player before going back to her roots in agriculture.Malkah was always exposed to agriculture, but she didn't necessarily always know that it was the career path she wanted to pursue. Now, she is immersed in the corporate ag world and spends her free time developing Lymbo, an app that’s putting a creative twist on connecting employers and employees. “Firstly, I love a challenge. And I think that I thrive off actually building something, like I'm very creative in that sense. And I just once I think about a problem, I just really want to fix it... And I think this problem just really stuck with me."Malkah was a finalist of the 2023 AgriFutures evokeAG Future Young Leader. 

Join host Oli Le Lievre as he chats with Samantha (Sam) Wan, an Australian wool broker based in Melbourne. There's something about wool that gets people so energised and Sam is no exception. This episode was recorded from the Hamilton Sheepvention, so we hope you're forgiving of some faint background noise! While recording, Oli was huddled around a heater while Sam was nice and warm in her Elders water-proof woollen jacket!!Episode Highlights:Sam's journey from a non-agricultural background and what sparked her passion for woolAn insight into international wool markets and the global appreciation for Aussie woolElder's new wool handling facility and the integration of automation in the wool supply chainMentoring the next generation and the opportunities in agriculture Massive thanks to Elders for sponsoring this episode!

This week your host, Oli Le Lievre travelled out to the Hamilton Sheepvention to discuss 'The Importance of Evolving within Agriculture' with Mark Gubbins, 'Coolana' Managing Director and Brendan Rinaldi, Elders Vic/Riverina GM. The Elders marquee was full to the brim, so a huge shout out to the 100 or so people in the crowd! We finish this episode with questions from those that attended. When we talk about 'evolving within agriculture', certain words like succession come to mind. Mark farms nearby and he chats about how his family and the property has changed over the years. Change includes navigating different eras like the dispersal of their Corriedale stud, seasonal conditions and market fluctuations. Mark is currently handing over the reigns to his children so we talk about what's keeping him occupied these days and it sounds like a lot of fishing might be on the cards! Brendan took a different path, opting not to be on the farm but instead pursuing a career in finance and agribusiness. We are putting that down to his first memories on the farm cutting burrs from wool... Just kidding! He describes himself as a bit of an academic and an 'accidental farmer'. Brendan now co-owns the farm with his brother, looking after the books and economic side while overseeing Elders Victoria & Riverina regions.   A huge thanks to Elders for sponsoring this episode and inviting Humans of Agriculture to be at the 2023 Sheepvention. The audio is a bit crackly in spots, not our usual quality but hoping you can bear with us considering we recorded live!