Humans of Agriculture

Building a community back in the bush with Em Armstrong

"If you had said to me in year 12, or at uni, or even when I was living and working in Sydney in the ag world, that I would have my own business as an online yoga instructor, I'd probably laugh at you." The definition of fun and bubbly, Em Armstrong grew up on a sheep farm on the Hay Plains in NSW, where she loved the freedom of the wide-open spaces (cue Dixie Chicks), riding bikes and having a family “beach holiday" at the irrigation channel playing mermaids. “I think you look back on it now an...

10 minutes with a ‘plant doctor’ in the North with Tom White

While at the Northern Australian Food Futures Conference, host Oli Le Lievre sat down with Tom White, an agronomist for Elders in Katherine. Originally from Toowoomba, Tom has a real love of plants and has wanted to be an agronomist since doing work experience at B&W Rural...during a drought. They discuss: How he made the move to Elders Katherine after turning down the job for thinking he was “too green”, but now says that you’ve got to “learn to be uncomfortable”. Tom sheds light on the rol...

From IT to Turkeys Nests and how Bela Farbas transitioned from Tech to Agriculture

In this episode, Host Oli Le Lievre chats with Bela Farbas the Founder and CEO of 4Zero Technologies (Bela will do a better job of explaining what this is in the podcast). Bela shares his journey from his early days in Yugoslavia to his current (and unique) role in the agricultural industry and how it gives him “that warm and fuzzy”. What Bela and Oli chat about: Bela’s upbringing in a farming town in Yugoslavia before moving to Deniliquin NSW and how it laid the foundation for his later work in...

No degree 🤔 no worries for Callan Daley

He's a hard man to get hold of, often travelling Australia and to various locations around the world. At the age of just 24, Callan Daley is playing a key role as the Business Development Lead for MEQ Probe. Callan joins host Oli Le Lievre to chat about the journey from Queensland farm kid to the juggle of uni and ultimately finding his feet in a growing start up business, right back home in agriculture. A few of the other things Callan chats about: All the places he’s been with work of late (ar...

It's one year fulltime so Sasso and Oli sit down for a chat

Well it's one full year since host Oli Le Lievre took the plunge from the day job and pursued the dream of Humans of Agriculture fulltime. We're not a full blown team so as all normal podcasts do, Oli sat down with his sister and housemate Sass to chat about the journey over the past 12 or so months. To change it up,. Sass took over the hosting role and asked Oli a few questions. In this conversation you'll hear about: The past year and all that’s come with leaving a full-time job and running yo...

Cattle yards, Boardrooms, Floods, Mentors, Leadership and Life with Ben Dwyer

In this podcast episode, host Oli Le Lievre chats with Ben Dwyer, who has been influential in shaping businesses and people within the Australian Agricultural industry for more than 30 years. Ben is an extremely down-to-earth person, with a passion for raising cattle and building a good team culture who also holds the position of Chief Operating Officer of Agribusiness for Harvest Road . In 2023, we released a video as part of our This Is Aussie Ag Series , and got to spend time with Ben and the...

Using adventure to shift conversations around the environment with Tim Jarvis

Tim Jarvis is an adventurer, explorer, environmental scientist, documentary filmmaker and global speaker. In February of 2023, Host Oli Le Lievre had the chance to sit down with Tim at EvokeAg, a global Agrifood Tech event that was held in Adelaide. What was fascinating about Tim was his approach to use storytelling from his first hand experiences in some of the most remote and isolated parts of the world to convey important messages about the environment and climate change to people and organis...

Ditching the Day Job and chasing the dream with Sam Marwood

The Agri Lawyer taking on Mount Everest with Trent Thorne

So far this year we've been fortunate to speak with incredible athlete, Nedd Brockmann who we've already released and coming up in the next few episodes, Adventurer Tim Jarvis. However, most of the rockstars we speak to are after the event, this time, we sit down with Agribusiness Lawyer Trent Thorne in the lead up to his expedition to summit Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Now, Trent is incredibly Humble about this and we find that extraordinary, so we wanted to find out what ...

Community led farm ownership with Stephen Fisher

While we were at the Australian Dairy conference, our host: Oli Le Lievre, had the chance to sit down with Stephen Fisher to hear his story. At the age of 16 Stephen turned down an opportunity to return to the family farm, some 20 years later Stephen decided it was time to make a return to farming and took numerous opportunities in share farming before realising the opportunity he could have in taking back farm ownership and growing the wealth and opportunity for those in his local community thr...

Family at the heart of Four Daughters with Molly & Bonnie Penfold

Welcome back to the Humans of Agriculture podcast, this week host Oli Le Lievre sits down with the one half of the Four Daughters. Bonnie and Molly Penfold are back in the family beef business and their brand, Four Daughters . In this episode, we chat about both of their early influences in and around agriculture, the support and encouragement from their parents for each of them to pursue a career outside of agriculture, what they learnt from their time as guest podcast hosts and the challenges ...

Turning grief into positive change with Sallie Jones

Candid and open, Sallie Jones isn't afraid of telling her story. She's another of our powerhouse Women in Ag for the month of March, and if you're familiar at all with her story - maybe you buy Gippsland Jersey milk, or you've had one of their famous milkshakes, or maybe you're part of Women in Gippsland - then you know what we're talking about. But if Sallie Jones is a new name for you, she's a farmer's daughter, a farmer, an innovator, a mum, a mental health advocate, and a leader. In 2016, he...

This is Aussie Ag - Harvest Road Group

We are back, and in this episode of This is Aussie Ag we are heading from conception to consumption in Western Australia. We’re here to meet the team to understand the role of people within their vertically integrated gate to plate beef business, an established and growing aquaculture brand and emerging horticulture operations. Watch here: This is Aussie Ag - Harvest Road Group 00:00 Introduction 00:42 Mark Wiedermann 01:11 Who is Harvest Road 02:30 Minderoo Station 05:30 Ben Dwyer 06:52 Buildin...

Nedd Brockmann and Oli chat over choccy milk

On Day 2 of the Australian Dairy Conference in Tasmania this year, Oli sat down with Nedd Brockmann. This podcast is a live recording of that chat. In 2022, Nedd cemented his legend status by running from Perth to Bondi in 47 days, and not only that, but he raised $2.5 million for homeless charity We Are Mobilise . This conversation at the Australian Dairy Conference was all about getting excited by what's possible, and who better to be inspired by than Nedd Brockmann himself. In this conversati...

The Story of Aussie Ag Storyteller: Pip Courtney

Pip Courtney. What else should we say? She started at ABC's Landline in 1993, became the host of the program in 2012, and continues to thrive in the role today - - but there’s so much more to the story Pip didn't grow up on a farm, but she grew up around ag - cultivating an express interest for the inner workings of farmers, farms and farming. Pip's work in the Australian media scape has brought so many amazing stories to our screen and we're so excited to share a bit of her story with you after...

Off Air and On Track with Joy McClymont

If we could tell you one thing about Joy McClymont , it's that her name embodies her. But she's not only joyful, she's determined, persistent, and a real mover. Joy has a knack for getting bodies moving - whether it's getting her kids and dogs up for a run in the morning, training clients through her fitness hub Off the Track Training, or teaching PE to distance ed students - and she has many motivators for doing so. In this episode, Joy talks all things: What an average day looks like for her a...

Incremental Gains in Footy and Farming with Dylan Grimes

We sat down with Dylan Grimes at his vineyard, Mount Macedon Winery, for this weeks episode of Humans of Agriculture. Dylan is Co-Captain of AFL team, Richmond Football Club. He has 3 AFL premierships under his belt, he was named 2019 All Australian and received the AFL Players Most Courageous Player Award, as well as the Jack Dyer Medalist Richmond’s Best and Fairest player in 2021 - but over the past few years, Dylan has taken some of his hard work and determination and turned it toward the pr...

How Sydney beach kid, Jack Berne, raised over $2.1 million for Aussie Farmers

Maybe you've heard of the A Fiver for a Farmer founder, Jack Berne, but if you haven't, let us introduce you to this legend. When Jack was 10, he saw a news story about just how bad the droughts were for farmers in Australia, and from his home in the Northern Beaches, he decided to do something. Four years later, Jack's in high school and he's still championing Aussie Farmers through his foundation, Jack's Mates. Whether he's raising money at schools through dress up days, spreading the word on ...

Putting farmers through their paces with Ginny Stevens

After growing up on a farm in Tassie, being a jillaroo in the Northern Territory then a banker in Mangoplah, NSW, Ginny Stevens realised there was a lack of services for creating community within farming towns. She loved farm life, but she started to notice the immense challenges that come with living and working on a farm, and she believed she could do something positive for the people in those communities. So in 2014, Active Farmers was born. Nine years later, Active Farmers is part of 61 comm...

Breaking down barriers with the Unbreakable Farmer, Warren Davies

Meet Warren Davies. His family chose farming in Kyabram after a life of owning milk bars, butchers and post offices in Melbourne - and Warren couldn't have been happier to live life in the country as a 15 year old. But even though he escaped the problems he was facing in the city, he quickly realised that the vision he had for farm life was slipping away from him. This week we hear the stories of the Unbreakable Farmer - what were the moments that brought him to his tipping point? How did he pus...

The Dynamic Duo of Agriculture - Tom & Mick are back

Please welcome to the pod... Tom Rookyard and Mick Corcoran! We're getting these two larrikins behind the mic not only because of their careers in ag, but because of our blossoming partnership - Tom and Mick are coming on board to deliver a monthly market update on our In The Know On The Go podcast. And we couldn't be more excited for you to get to know them. In this ep you'll hear all about: - Their respective injuries - The different childhoods Tom and Mick had around ag - Their early careers ...

From Country Halls to Nashville - The Fanny Lumsden story

2023! Hello! We hope you've had a great start so far. We're starting off this year with a cracking story from award winning country singer, songwriter, Mum, and just all round legend Fanny Lumsden. Maybe you've been to one of her Country Hall concerts, maybe you've heard her CMAA Golden Guitar Album of the Year, Fallow , maybe you love her candid social media presence - no matter how you know her, hopefully this chat can give a bit of an insight to what makes Fanny, Fanny. In this conversation w...

HoA 2022 in Review with Oli, Maya & Naomi

After 52 episodes of Humans of Agriculture and 6 episodes of In the Know On The Go, it’s time for Oli to do some reflecting on the year that was 2022. There were some big changes, which you will hear all about, and some big realisations. Oli’s first full time hires, Naomi and Maya, sat down with Oli to ask all about, well, just about everything. So here’s what we discussed: Oli’s never ending pursuit of the story which has taken him all across the country this year How every interview Oli does i...

Leaning into the deep end while being Brave and Vulnerable with Angus Street

“Tough, fun and joyous.” - those are the three words Angus Street chose to describe his 2022. Many people know Angus Street as the CEO of AuctionsPlus, what many don't know is the back story and journey he has been on. Oli and his former boss sat down on a gorgeous, sunny day in North Sydney to have a frank, but fun, conversation about all things ag, business, family and feedback. They chat all things: Growing up on the family farm Finding the uni course that suits you Angus' early career in jou...

Egg farming within Peri-urban Communities and Advocating for Safer Farms with Danyel Cucinotta

G’day! This week we recorded with Danyel Cucinotta on her family farm in Werribee South, the traditional lands of the Bunurong and Wadawurrung People. It was great to meet Danyel in person, she’s got a real enthusiasm that’s almost infectious and I think that comes across strongly in our conversation - but she wasn't always this enthusiastic about eggs. Danyel loves her family, her community and her chooks, and as well as being the youngest ever Vice President of the VFF, she is Chair of the VFF...

From Left Field Belle Binder has a vision for the future of farming

Belle Binder is the first one to admit that she's been on a steep learning curve in the world of farming and labour hire. With a background in marketing, business and psychology, Belle and her husband were looking to take over a business, but they certainly weren't expecting to enter the agriculture industry. Belle leans on her own experiences in the workplace and takes the approach of matchmaking to help farmers and workers find the right fit for them. Her mission with Left Field is to have a p...

At 23 Hugh Dawson made himself redundant so he could go to university

Right back in the early days of 2020 I remember reaching out to Hugh, time of year: summer. Day – not sure. Location: Barwon Heads on the side of the road. At the time: Hugh was the Head Stockman on Beetaloo Station and I was just blown away by how mature he was. Hugh came on for a chat for episode 25 of the podcast. I feel pretty fortunate to nowadays call Hugh a mate and someone I’ve had plenty of conversations with. In that episode, we talked about what Hugh was up to and his passion for advo...

From aquariums to backpacking & how a Brit found her feet in Aussie Agriculture with Talulah Gaunt

Imagine at the age of 10 with the help of your Grandma, you discover and decide on what career you want to pursue and what university course you will study. Well that was the reality for Talulah Gaunt. Growing up in South West London, Talulah always loved animals. In her early days the interest was found through zoo's and aquariums until as a consumer she began to become more interested in farming. One day she was exposed to someone who was a campaigner, and this led Talulah down a pathway to fi...

Mental Health Monday's Matter with Brendan Magee

Welcome back to the Humans of Agriculture podcast. We missed you all last week, sometimes life gets a little busy and last week I was in New Zealand and thought we had things covered, however, we just couldn't quite manage the juggle. This week I’m sitting down with a man who is a huge advocate for Mental Health, while we’re on that topic – if you haven’t donated to our Movember page – check it out with the link HERE . Brendan Magee is an agronomist with Elders and he reckons his little pocket o...

A simple call to check in on a mate with Sam Fryer

Welcome to our first check-in for Movember. You're listening in on Sam Fryer and I having a chat and checking in on each other. This month we're encouraging those in our community Using Movember as the month to get your annual check up - check the cherries, visit the doctor, get a skin cancer check, and check in on your own mental health. We also chat about a few ideas for the month that we'd probably be keen to do more often including Unlocking our childlike fun and Mental Health Monday's. Our ...