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Meet our NSW farming blue bloods
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They are our salt of the earth, like so many before them - multi-generational farmers continuing the family tradition of working on the land.
It's in their blood, but it takes true grit to keep their livelihoods afloat and agriculture a strong cornerstone of the national economy, with challenges around every corner.
The Saturday Telegraph sat down with five farming families across NSW to hear their challenges and concerns, the pride they take in acting as custodians of the land, and why, man or woman, there's nothing else they'd rather do to make a living, with the soils of this state in their very DNA.
TONGUE FAMILY
Their connection to the Tamworth region stretches back almost 150 years.
Kevin Tongue, 76, and the family patriarch, is New England pastoral royalty. Proud of his ancestry – his great grandfather came to the district in the late 1800s – he also shows no signs of slowing down.
'No intention of retiring mate, not while I can still do things here,' Kevin says from a sprawling property where with adult sons Paul and Ben, they run beef, prime lambs and pigs, grow barley, lucerne and canola, and operate a grain haulage business via a half dozen semi-trailers housed on the farm.
The Tongue family marking lambs in the late 1950s on their property outside Tamworth. Picture: Supplied
'All I want to do is benefit the boys and our family, and the agricultural community around us, because there will be a time when I won't be able to do that.
'That's the aim of the exercise mate. To keep improving the country, so we can increase the production of food and fibre for generations to come. I want to leave this farming country we own and work in better condition than when we got it.'
Tongue backs words with actions. He speaks regularly to National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce, who was born in Tamworth, and to the local State MP Kevin Anderson, to keep farmers' issues on their radars.
'That's important to me,' he said. 'We've got to advocate to all parts of government for the benefit of agriculture. It's a huge money making venture for the country and the state. Look at what we produce and export and what comes back to State and Federal governments.
Three generations of the Tongue family on their NSW property. Picture: Rohan Kelly
'We've got to keep pushing too, because during the last federal election there was not a word come out from the Labor government about agriculture. That really concerns me.
'We've got these city centric representatives down there in Canberra and Sydney who don't really know too much about agriculture, and that's frightening.'
His hot topic at present is energy.
'We've got a challenge at the moment with this renewable energy push,' Mr Tongue added.
'Putting these solar factories and wind farms on prime agricultural land, they're taking away from us that ability to produce food. And it's not going to be the ants' pants to our energy needs. I've spoken with environment Ministers and they don't seem to get it.
'But you get the sense the bureaucrats are running the show and telling them what to do. The Ministers virtually have no bloody control.'
Tongue and wife Janelle, their two sons and seven grandchildren, live in three houses spread across five adjoining properties the family have aggregated some 25km out of Tamworth.
Ken, George and Nelson Tongue with the wool clip leaving their farm more than half a century ago. Picture: Supplied
They own another property 4km 'up the road'. A total landholding of almost 2000 hectares.
A third son, 44-year-old Alan, left the farm when he was 17 to pursue a rugby league career in Canberra, and still lives in the nation's capital.
Alan played 220 games for the Raiders and was Dally M Lock and Captain of the Year in 2008.
Two years earlier he had on display the work ethic that characterises his dad – Alan set an NRL record of 1087 tackles in a season.
MURRAY FAMILY
Martin Murray just wants a 'fair go' for young farmers. For those on the land to have access to the same life-shaping opportunities currently reserved for their city cousins.
'Stamp duty exemptions,' says the Chair of the NSW Young Farmer Council.
'With most people, their first farm is also their first home. But you only escape stamp duty if you're inheriting the family property. If you're buying an outside farm, it doesn't apply.
'We're only asking for the same concessions as first home buyers receive. Our farms are more than our businesses.
Inverell farmer Martin Murray with his wife Rachel, their son John, 5, and daughter Evie, 2. Picture: Supplied
'They're also our places of residence. Farms are more than an asset, they can be linked to people's identities. We should be helping people to buy them.'
Mr Murray, who has just sold his 340-hectare mixed cropping farm at Inverell to focus on cattle, is married to Rachel. The couple have a son John, 5, and daughter Evie, 2.
A fourth generational farmer, he is keen to see more young families enter the world of agriculture, but says it won't happen unless incentives make it more affordable.
'Couples buying these farms will have kids going to local schools, they'll be supporting the community from small businesses to footy clubs and everything in between,' Mr Murray said.
'Making their first farm more attainable will certainly help make that happen.'
Mr Murray grew up in a farming family with its roots running deep in the rich soil of Griffith in the NSW Riverina.
A property near Inverell in NSW.
His great grandfather purchased land initially as part of a soldier settlement scheme. Post World War II, his grandfather bought a neighbouring property.
'My father and his brother got a place of their own in the late 1980s,' Mr Murray added. 'Dad has bought and sold farms since and we bought here in 2020.'
After five years, with properties on his borders being snapped up by corporate interests and killing prospects of expansion, Mr Murray is changing tack. He is swapping crops for live beasts.
'We've always had a few cattle on the side of the cropping operations and my wife ran a cattle stud before she met me. I brought her over to the dark side of diesel and machinery,' he laughed.
'For me there was always this immense satisfaction in watching a crop grow. It's hard to describe and articulate. Just knowing you've managed it, managed the systems, and been able to make it happen.
'Then you're out at night sitting in your tractor, seeing all the headlights flickering in the distance and knowing everyone's out there doing the same thing as you are. It's hard to put into words.
'I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't farming.'
SHOKER FAMILY
The agricultural sector is a victim of its own evolution, according to a farmer based in banana heartland at Coffs Harbour.
Paul Shoker, whose family's farming history goes back to the Punjab region of India, says: 'Technology and equipment advancements mean we've got less people growing more food – the problem is that gives us far fewer votes.
'So when it comes to governments, they take us for granted. When you need policy changes or assistance, we're just not their priority.
'Evidence of that is the slow support for the farmers affected by the recent floods on the NSW north coast.'
Coffs Harbour banana grower Paul Shoker. Picture: Nathan Edwards
Based 2km west of the Big Banana, Shoker works 25 hectares of bananas and avocadoes.
Back in the 1970s, he says, there were 1000 banana growers between the Clarence and Macleay Rivers in northern NSW.
'Nowadays there are probably 15 to 18,' he said. 'And in the 1980s, around 50 per cent of Australian bananas came out of NSW. These days NSW produces about 3 per cent of the market, with 95 per cent from Queensland.
'Basically they had access to cheaper land, had lesser regulatory burdens and they don't have the winters we have. It really helped grow their industry up north.'
But Shoker is determined to keep embracing tradition.
'We've had three to four major floods since Covid and over the years a lot of older producers might have said 'that will do us' and be forced off the land,' he said.
'I'm 37, that's not an option, but regardless of the challenges I just want to grow bananas and feed people. The attraction for me is that we can make a real difference to people's lives.
The Big Banana in Coffs Harbour. Picture: Getty Images
'There's something really rewarding in knowing that something you're growing is a healthy product, that we look after the environment, and we're leaving behind a good legacy.'
Shoker's parents bought an 8 hectare section of the farm in 1991, with the family expanding the landholding with a 2008 purchase after Paul graduated from university.
A business degree, with majors in accounting and finance, lead the father of four children under the age of six to approach farming from an efficiency perspective.
'We saw the need to diversify,' he added. 'So we harvest all year round with avocadoes making up for the lesser demand and production of bananas over winter.
'The unique thing about bananas is that they're a wholly domestic market. All the bananas grown in Australia are also consumed here. It's pretty special.'
CHESWORTH FAMILY
When a millennial drought threatened their business, opportunity emerged from adversity on the Chesworth dairy farm near Dubbo.
Industry tradition had rarely been challenged. Dawn and dusk milking, twice a day, cups on, cows were happy, job done.
But in 2007 as grazing grasses continued to wilt and hand feeding was needed to keep the herd nourished, Erika and Steven Chesworth brainstormed ways to reverse declining profits.
'We started milking three times a day,' said Erika. 'Cows are like women. The more you take, the more they make.
Erika and Steven Chesworth on their dairy farm in Rawsonville, near Dubbo. Picture: Clancy Paine
'So we were actually able to increase production by about 18 per cent in that first year.
'The cost input was a little more electricity to run the dairy and a few more kilograms of grain a day. But not only did we save our business we were able to turn things around really quickly.
'You get more out of your investment milking your cows more often. Back in the day mum and dad milked just morning and night. It's just what the industry did.
'But we needed to try something fast and it worked.'
According to Erika, it makes for more contented cows. Given the couple are both sixth generation dairy farmers, her opinion is based on experience.
'We know more about them now in terms of feeding, nutrition, and we know it actually improves their health when they're getting milked more regularly,' she said.
The Chesworths have 1000 milking cows on 970 hectares after moving to Dubbo from the Hunter Valley more than 20 years ago.
Steven Chesworth, Erika Chesworth, Campbell Chesworth, Emma Elliot and Grace Duncan at Little Big Dairy. Picture: Clancy Paine
They produce 11 million litres of milk a year, with half of it processed for their own line Little Big Dairy – created in 2012 – and the rest distributed to a major Australian dairy retailer.
'We control the Little Big Dairy product from start to finish, from milking through to processing and into the bottle,' said Erika.
'It is single source milk and each of our cows are tagged, so we can trace their health and their production, it's a really intimate process.
'One of the lovely things about the dairy industry is that we have lots of contact with the animals.
'Our large herd of Holsteins were born and raised on our farm. Each of them has a name. We know them all by sight.'
Steven and Erika can trace their family trees back to the 19th Century, to farm holdings in the UK.
'We're pretty tragic – because it's all dairy heritage,' Erika says. 'But Steven and I feel privileged to be able to help feed the nation. We take that really seriously.'
It's also a tradition set to continue. Two of the Chesworths adult children, Emma and Campbell, work in the business while a third, Duncan, has bought his own dairy farm in Victoria.
BRIGHENTI-BARNARD FAMILY
Jo Brighenti-Barnard is a warrior for the citrus industry.
As NSW Farmers' Horticulture Committee chair, she frequently agitates on behalf of growers, waging battle with governments and major supermarkets.
Earlier this year as inflation numbers started to drop, Brighenti-Barnard demanded to know why fruit and vegetable prices had been going the other way.
'Data shows that consumers are still paying through the nose to put food on the table while most farmers aren't receiving any greater returns for what they're growing,' she told media.
'Without price transparency, the major supermarkets are still likely to … extract huge profits from farmers and families alike.'
The defiance is driven by her love for the land and the fruit her family has been growing just outside Griffith in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, since her great-grandfather planted the first trees in 1913.
Together with her parents, husband Philip, and brother Bart, Ms Brighenti-Barnard works a 450 hectares landholding that delivers an annual citrus production – primarily naval and juicing oranges – of around 5000 tonnes.
Eighty per cent is exported to South-East Asia and the USA.
'I've grown up on the farms we're still running and there's a real feeling of pride in doing what we do,' the mother of three says.
'I laugh and tell friends that most of us can't keep pot plants alive, but I'll give credit to my brother, he manages to keep all these trees alive and in good health through heatwaves and floods.
'It's in your DNA, there's a real intuition you develop. It comes from experiencing it season after season, building on that every year as you put a little more of the pieces together.
'I do love it…especially this time of year where all the fruit is fully coloured and on the trees.
'You go out there and just see this sea of bright orange and gold amongst this forest of green … and you see the bins full of fruit … it gives you a real sense of achievement.'
But off the farm there is also work to do as the committee chair warrior persona returns.
'Availability of irrigation water has been reduced, productivity levels are going backwards because our prices have been squeezed as costs rise, and levels of debt are an issue,' Ms Brighenti-Barnard added. 'We need governments to listen.'
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