Integrated farming: the past or the future?

Mr Bradley says his Nuffield journey began with the core aim to research, maintain and improve the sustainability of intensive irrigated cropping soils in the Northern Midlands of Tasmania.

“Ensuring the sustainability of our production systems will be required from both an economic perspective, but also from a community and consumer expectation, as to how food is produced and how land areas are managed,” he said.

“Nuffield gave me the platform to explore these ideas and share research outcomes for the greater good of our industry. Pursuing my own research topic on integrated farming and sustainability by getting access to high-quality operators in the same field but in other parts of the world teaches you a lot.”

At age 39, Mr Bradley has spent a lifetime in the farming game. Raised on a cropping property in the New South Wales Liverpool Plains region, he now calls Tasmania home. Mr Bradley and his wife Jo are in a family partnership and farm two properties south of Launceston. Their diverse enterprise includes dryland wheat, barley, and canola, with irrigated crops including onions, beans, poppies, processing peas, wheat, and lucerne. They also have a 400-head share milker dairy herd, and 1000 crossbred ewes for prime lamb production.

“There were a few reasons why I did Nuffield – mainly because I always wanted the opportunity to get another perspective on how other people are doing things and I think it’s important to keep educating yourself. Nuffield helped me to get fired up again,” he said.

“One of the greatest things about Nuffield is that there’s a group of agriculturalists who travel and create networks globally, and will continue to do so – this helps share education and provide access to different technology across an international network.”

The Nuffield Farming Scholarship program is a targeted education program investing directly into the advancement of Australian agriculture. The scholarships give Australian farmers the opportunity to travel internationally and explore agricultural issues and opportunities in a global context. A Nuffield scholarship aims to help the Australian agricultural sector to compete and succeed internationally by encouraging Australian farmers to recognise changing consumer preferences, adopt new technologies and production practices, and maintain the sustainability of their operations by protecting their production environment.

Mr Bradley said, “The program has since changed my own thinking around our business in that we are now looking at building more profitable livestock into our mixed cropping operation.

“We’re focused on both livestock and farming, not separately, but how they can complement each other in our one business. I’ve seen and learnt a lot from what other people are doing, and taken that home where possible to become more integrated.”

Sponsored by Rabobank, Mr Bradley set off on a 12-month research tour facilitated by the global Nuffield farming network. “There have been plenty of highlights from the program, but mainly the six week Global Focus Tour we did as a group. It really forces you out of your comfort zone and you get to see things you don’t normally see. It’s also a very reflective time when you’re away from home and your family,” he said.

Mr Bradley spent most of his time on the West Coast of the United States in Washington, Oregon, and California. “I chose these areas because they are climatically similar to where I farm,” he said.

“The research was split into two main areas; firstly to examine continuous cropping and horticultural production and how they address sustainability; secondly, to look at integrated operations and their impact on farm economics and our resource base.”

Key findings in Mr Bradley’s study were summarised in a final research report titled ‘Integrated farming systems: the past or the future?’.

He says, in the long-term, conventional cropping systems will be forced to change due to increasing cost structures such as fuel and fertilisers, consumer sentiment, increased regulation, climate change, and governmental responses to climate change. Based on these key changes, Mr Bradley says, “Sustainable practices have the ability to service both our resource base and the market place”.

On completion of the report, Mr Bradley would like to see his research widely distributed into the hands of industry organisations including the Grains Research Development Council in order to share the benefits of his investigations.

As a sponsor of the Nuffield Scholarship, Rabobank’s general manager country banking Australia, Peter Knoblanche says a major benefit of the program is its ability to assist leading primary producers to accelerate the rate of improvement in their own farming businesses by applying local and global best practice farming and marketing techniques, and to bring this knowledge to a larger part of Australian agriculture.

“The Nuffield experience is a valuable educational tool that helps to develop agricultural practices through building and sharing knowledge worldwide,” Mr Knoblanche said.

“As an agribusiness bank with a global footprint, Rabobank can appreciate the benefits that a global network can provide in terms of adding value to business, both our own business and the businesses of our clients.

“Mr Bradley has shown through his research findings that sustainable farming practices are key in providing a positive pathway for Australian agriculture to continue to produce quality food, fibre, and energy for a growing global population.”

Mr Knoblanche says Mr Bradley is a great example of a forward-thinking primary producer who, through his Nuffield experiences, has been utilising a global network to develop a further understanding of how to improve farming practices in Australia and beyond.

“Throughout his travels Mr Bradley capitalised on the opportunity to make use of the Rabobank International network to connect him with agribusiness contacts in other parts of the world,” he said.

To access Mr Bradley’s report visit http://www.nuffieldinternational.org/reports/report.php