Regional and rural population decline is a difficult problem to solve.
In this episode of BCG in Focus, BCG extension officer Jemma Pearl, caught up with Rupanyup farmer David Matthews who is keenly aware of the challenge and wants to do something about it.
“A long time ago I realised we couldn’t wait for someone else to design a solution to our problems. We had to come up with the solutions ourselves,” he explained.
This realisation has led to journey discovering how rural communities can harnessing business to achieve positive social change.
With a long history of community collaboration, including the formation of the first Bendigo Community Bank, Mr Matthews explained “the key to all of this is to have a formal framework that is flexible depending on the situation.”
Having the appropriate framework can also assist farmers in harnessing the opportunities available to them. Mr Matthews believes because the supply chain relies on farmers making certain decisions (e.g. to plant a crop of lentils), farmers have more power than they realise.
“By the very nature of primary production, farmers have the first point of control in the supply chain. So, farmers have the ultimate power in the ag supply chain, but we don’t have a framework to use it,” Mr Matthews described.
You can hear the full interview below, or search for ‘BCG in Focus’ on Soundcloud and iTunes.
BCG is proud to present this podcast along with BASF as part of our ongoing partnership to provide growers with relevant and informative information.
https://soundcloud.com/bcg-birchip/bcg-in-focus-collaborative-approaches
