Dione Howard wears many hats: a National Rural Ambassador, Vet and Young Farming Champion. In high school she knew she wanted to be a doctor of sorts, the decision was whether she wanted to be a doctor of people or animals. It came down to she was a whole lot more comfortable dealing with animal blood than that of humans. She walked out of university and began her work near Hay in south-western NSW, in the midst of the drought, followed by bushfires and ultimately a pandemic. It has seen her wor...
Apr 05, 2022•39 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Welcome back to another episode of the Humans of Agriculture podcast, hosted by Oli Le Lievre. This week we sit down with Stephen O'Brien the CEO of Mort & Co. Stephen's a fourth generation flour miller and baker, his early career was with Defiance milling in Toowoomba. Stephen knows the value in teamwork, as one of 9 children it was instilled in him at a pretty early age and followed him onto his pursuits as a rugby union player. Stephen had bigger aspirations than working as a trainee and ...
Mar 29, 2022•36 min•Season 4Ep. 13
G'day and Welcome back! We're straight back into it after a few days on the Darling Downs in Southern Queensland, and we can't wait to share what we were up to with you soon! While we were up there we sat down with a few different people from Mort & Co, and the first one we're excited to share our podcast with is Lily Bingham. Lily is the Feed Commodity Officer and as she says, without knowing much about beef, has certainly found a business and area she's passionate about. Lily shares that b...
Mar 22, 2022•23 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Welcome back to the Humans of Agriculture podcast, I'm your host Oli Le Lievre. Mike Lee came onto the stage at EvokeAg 2020 and I think he captured the minds, eyes, and ears of everyone in the auditorium. Mike’s job, is as a futurist, he works with some of the largest organisations globally to help them see what our food system may look like in the next 5-25 years. Today, Mike and I chat a little bit about his journey, from his upbringing in Detroit to starting his own dining experiences. Today...
Mar 15, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 11
G’day and Welcome to the Humans of Agriculture podcast. I’m your host Oli Le lievre and it’s a pleasure to bring another incredible story to you. Our next guest is the 2022 Australian Zanda McDonald Award winner, Charlie Perry grew up on his family's property 'Trent Bridge', however made the decision after school to pursue a corporate role working as a Management consultant for Ernst & Young. Charlie's work saw him working on significant government and infrastructure projects of national sig...
Mar 08, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 10
G’day and Welcome to the Humans of Agriculture podcast. I’m your host Oli Le lievre and it’s a pleasure to bring another incredible story to you. I had seen her light-hearted ways via her Instagram channel, she definitely is a bit of a larrikin, and based off the response i got after sharing just a tiny snippet of this episode with you, I reckon there’s a few of you out there that are Grace McLeod Fans as well. Today's episode covers Grace’s story from a young loving farm kid to an extraordinary...
Mar 01, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 9
John Harvey is a household name to many in the Agriculture industry, he's the current Managing Director the Agrifutures and during his time at the helm, the organisation has continued to innovate and support emerging ideas, concepts and industries in Australian Agriculture. John Harvey is another test case, it doesn't matter where you're from or what your background is.. a career in agriculture can provide incredible opportunities for you. John has spent the vast majority of his career in what h...
Feb 22, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Well if you said back in early 2020 that we would go into lockdown for nearly two years and in that time produce 100 episodes of a podcast I would have laughed and said you're crazy but for me, the pandemic has provided a beautiful silver lining. It's been the chance to sit down with extraordinary people each week and pick their brain on a topic that I'm really trying to work out for myself, or I am leaning on them for some advice or I'm just generally curious and fascinated by who they are and ...
Feb 15, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Welcome to episode 99 of the Humans of Agriculture podcast! It's only taken 99 episodes to cross the Tasman but this week we have our first kiwi. Rhys Roberts is fresh off winning the 2022 New Zealand Zanda McDonald Award. Hailing from the mid-Canterbury region on the south Island of NZ, Rhys is the CEO of Align Farms Group where he manages seven farms and a market garden. Rhys is passionate about producing nutrient dense food in a way that's good for the planet and the people that consume it, w...
Feb 08, 2022•39 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Richard Rains has devoted a lifetime to the Australian agriculture industry, yet his story of success began when he was told that returning to his family’s farm would not be an option for him. As a child from Dunedoo, Richard Rains hardly saw his future in a career that had him liaising with the Korean Government and doing business with McDonald’s in North America. Richard's story is remarkable as he shares more about his childhood, the advice he received from his father to pursue a career in ag...
Feb 01, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 5
James Cleaver loves the country. He’s the first to admit that his hometown of Nyngan – famous for the Big Bogan, a statue that locals have eventually come to laugh at – is his favourite place in the world. Yet, he refuses to romanticise it. James was encouraged by his parents to get off farm and to get a trade or qualification that could support him outside the farm gate. In this episode, James talks about what it's been like to find his dream job, twice, first as a lawyer and then later as a ba...
Jan 25, 2022•47 min•Season 4Ep. 4
We often hear stories of that elusive dream, of packing up and moving regionally – falling in love, starting a side hustle and well for many that's where the dream stops, but our next guest shares what that transition was really like. What there is to be gained and what there is to learn through the process. Jill talks us through some of the key moments in her life, the importance of mentors and having someone to lean on and chats about how she's building her businesses and community across rura...
Jan 18, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 3
So many people will spend their entire lives working tirelessly on the land, labouring quietly behind the scenes, but Bryce Camm has stepped out to speak up. On his LinkedIn page, Bryce presents a pretty impressive resume: Chairman of Beef Australia, Chairman of the Australian Beef Sustainability Steering Group and the Immediate Past President of the Australian Lot Feeders Association. All of this whilst running his family’s family business, Camm Agriculture, with properties across Queensland. C...
Jan 11, 2022•43 min•Season 4Ep. 2
G'day and Welcome back to 2022! Karen & Jamie or Dodge as he’s better known have a truly extraordinary story. From the moments they met at Ag college to their very first date to McDonalds, their life has never been dull. In his younger years, Jamie took to the world of bull riding, a natural competitor and sportsman, as tough as they come, not even a broken neck could stop him from getting a Guinness world record. On the 27th of March 2014, their lives changed forever. Dodge was heading home...
Jan 04, 2022•56 min•Season 4Ep. 1
As a kid Scott vividly remembers jumping off the school bus and racing to the woolshed during shearing. Tearing through what was left of his Dad's lunchbox and then jumping head first into the wool bins. To this day, that love and passion for growing wool hasn't strained if anything it could well be even stronger. It's a passion that Scott's daughters have inherited, their input in the day-to-day help to keep Bella Lana Merinos moving with the times. Hannah, the youngest of the three girls, is j...
Dec 14, 2021•41 min•Season 3Ep. 57
Alex Thomas has always looked up to her dad. From her earliest days escaping the school room to shadow him on the family's sheep station in remote South Australia to caring for him. Today, Alex is an established social entrepreneur putting health and safety front and centre for those in rural communities, ultimately helping get people home at the end of the day. Her relatability, humour and practical approach has also seen her consulting to medium and large sized organisations working across rur...
Dec 10, 2021•43 min•Season 3Ep. 56
Five years ago, Tom and Emily Hancock were in the market for a new spray rig when they saw a country pub come up for sale for the same price. Today, they might be the most famous publicans in Australia. If you haven’t heard of the Collie Hotel you might just be living under a virtual rock. To their 14,000 odd Instagram followers Tom and Emily Hancock broadcast videos that depict the hilarious mundanities and contradictions of country pub patrons - videos that have put Collie Hotel on the map. Sa...
Dec 07, 2021•34 min•Season 3Ep. 55
Chris Toohey spent his childhood growing up on the family's Riverina Property growing Rice, cattle, sheep and other dryland irrigated crops. With a love of plants and a recommendation from his parents to go and explore opportunities outside the farm gate, Chris begin his apprenticeship as a landscaper and worked his way up. Seeing the opportunity to take his skills on the road he took off on a road trip around Australia before a back injury led him to move away from the physicality of the job. H...
Dec 03, 2021•34 min•Season 3Ep. 54
Darrylin Gordon is a Jaru native woman and pastoralist currently managing 361,000 hectares of country at Lamboo Station in the East Kimberley region WA. She has been celebrated as the 2018 WA Rural Women of the Year Awards and was the runner up in the National Award, Darrylin is seen as a trailblazer not just for women but for agriculture more broadly. Her story converses a woman who has faced her fair share of challenges, tackling them head on and creating opportunity. Her grandfather has been ...
Nov 30, 2021•45 min•Season 3Ep. 53
From the Silicon Valley to South America, Sarah Nolet has never seen anything more exciting than the boom of the Australian agtech industry in the past half decade. She’s only been in the country for six years, but in that time Sarah Nolet has managed to transform Australia’s footing in the international ag-tech industry. Sarah has been recognised as a 2020 Syngenta Growth Award Winner in the Innovator Category. It's not surprising given the mark she's made on the industry in the past six years....
Nov 26, 2021•46 min•Season 3Ep. 52
Dave O'Brien has found himself at a crossroads several time during his life. As he left high school Dave wasn't sure what he wanted to do, with an opportunity popping up to work alongside his sister in the TV industry, Dave jumped head first into it. However, it wasn't quite what he was looking for. During the chat Dave talks about finding his passion and how agriculture has really shaped who he is today. Dave also speaks to the importance of mens health and why he is involved in Movember this y...
Nov 23, 2021•42 min•Season 3Ep. 51
Simon Doolin’s Great Grandfather started farming around North Star in Northern NSW in 1924, almost 100 years ago. Today, everything Simon does is with this legacy in mind, with the aim of leaving the country and community better than he found it, ready for the next generation. Simon has been recognised as a 2020 Syngenta Growth Award Recipient in the Sustainability category. As this chat outlines, it really is no surprise. He constantly seeks for better ways to do things, more efficiently. Over ...
Nov 19, 2021•37 min•Season 3Ep. 50
For Ginnie Hope-Johnstone, success was to go to university, get a degree and get a good job in the city. So after school, that's exactly the path she took. After successfully completing a dual degree in sports administration adn event management, she scored the corporate role she was after. But by the age of 28, Ginnie had longed for wide open spaces and had always wanted to be a jillaroo on a Northern Territory cattle station, so what else do you do than take the leap! After 'living the dream' ...
Nov 16, 2021•32 min•Season 3Ep. 49
If you ever said to me when I was starting out I'd be having a chat with one of my greatest friends Grace on the podcast, I would've thought we'd it probably not suitable. However, fast forward a couple of years and Grace's story is so applicable and hopefully inspiring for those wondering what opportunities there are for young people in Rural Australia to go after. Grace hails from Geelong, down in Victoria but her journey to Texas and now living there was a matter of circumstance, as the optim...
Nov 09, 2021•37 min•Season 3Ep. 48
For those familiar with twitter, Sam Heagney is a household name. From his insights to his humourous and engaging videos that have captured the eyes of tens of thousands of people. His approach to celebrating agriculture has come from his background as a kid growing up on Melbourne's outer suburbs. His time in agriculture has nearly gone full circle, not far from where it all began on his wife's family's property 'South Burnarba'. This episode has been sponsored by LAWD, the specialists in agrib...
Nov 02, 2021•39 min•Season 3Ep. 47
As a boy from Western NSW, Pat Barrett stepped straight out of a Sydney private school into a role as a station hand - a ringer - in Australia’s top end and he hasn’t looked back. Pat Barrett was a difficult man to get hold of - a completely unsurprising fact considering he spends the majority of his time on stock camps across the Kimberly and the Pilbara, where reception and free time are both in short supply. When Oli did get a chance to catch up with him he was in Broome, preparing to leave e...
Oct 26, 2021•40 min•Season 3Ep. 46
Content Warning: This episode talks about the loss of a child. Justin & Kate Boshammer's journey is unlike many. They met at the age of 18 through the Angus Youth Cattle program. Kate's path followed setting up multiple businesses and helping out where she could on the property. A decade on from the two stepping out on their own and establishing JK Cattle Company they have built an enviable business. Nothing could prepare them for what they would go through in 2020, their daughter Zara was b...
Oct 19, 2021•42 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Ahead of the Agrifutures Rural Women's Award National Announcement, we sat down with two previous winners, Sue Middleton (2010) and Jo Palmer (2019) to find out about their stories on entering, winning and life after the Award. Both Sue and Jo have come at the award from two very different backgrounds, however the opportunities the Award has opened up for them is immense. For Sue it meant 18 months of presentations, meetings and advocating for Agriculture and rural Australia and for Jo, well she...
Oct 12, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Frauke Bolten-Boshammer is a pioneer, a woman filled with grit and determination that has seen her overcome a life full of obstacles, despite the setbacks Frauke perseveres and her story will connect on so many levels. From her early days as a child in Germany, working hard for her father. To finding love and moving around the world looking for the big break. After settling in Kununurra in Northern Australia, tragedy strikes Frauke's like where she is left alone as a single mother to raise her k...
Oct 08, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 43
From the moment we started talking I was engulfed in the stories of Liv Bordon. From humble beginnings in Victoria's Mallee on the family pig farm through to chasing the sunrises and sunsets of outback New South Wales. Liv shows that agriculture truly is full of opportunity, with a dream and a willingness to go after them the world truly is your oyster. Part of Liv's childhood was spent living in a house with no power, cooking over the open fire and to this day it's one of her true loves From ou...
Oct 05, 2021•55 min•Season 3Ep. 42
