Last Friday night, Birchip Cropping Group celebrated its 30th anniversary at a dinner held in the Leisure Centre.
United under the theme, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, attendees enjoyed an excellent meal prepared by Board Member and celebrated chef Stefano de Pieri and were addressed by speakers from the group’s past as well as guest presenter Gabrielle Chan of The Guardian.
The evening was graced by the federal member for Mallee, Dr Anne Webster and her husband, Philip; the independent state member for Mildura, Ali Cupper her adviser James Price and National Party candidate for Mildura, Jade Benham. BCG appreciated their interest and welcomed them, one and all.
CEO Fiona Best conducted proceedings which began with an introduction by current Chairman John Ferrier who was looking forward to a ’wonderful evening celebrating 30 years with BCG members, friends, staff current and past, collaborators, sponsors. past, current and life Board members, reminiscing about the past, enjoying the present and envisaging the future of agriculture and the communities in our region.’
John also read a special message from faraway Harm van Rees, who has been busy completing a GRDC supported study tour investigating ‘Farming Without Glyphosate’ in Europe, Canada and South America.
The following is an extract:
Anne and I are sad that we cannot be with you to share this momentous celebration of 30 years of BCG. We have made so many great friends and loved the events, challenges, hard work, collaborations and mad schemes that have been the BCG which is a very special organization to us. These memories will be with us forever.
The BCG model of farmers working together with agronomists and the industry for shared beneficial outcomes is a great achievement – it was revolutionary back when we started and continues to have great outcomes today.
We still fondly remember the early days when we all worked together to make the main field day a great success. One unforgettable occurrence in the very early days was when we were preparing the site for the field day at Barbers’ farm. Angus was happily mowing ‘between’ trials to make the site look presentable and neat. To my horror, I realised that he was mowing the faba-bean plots. I ran over and said, “Angus, what are you doing? This is a trial!”.
Angus’s reply? “Don’t worry this is just another weed.”
And in a reality-inducing reflection of the ‘future’ theme of the night, Harm added,
We have been to the EU and Canada and are now in Argentina – meeting farmers, agronomists and researchers, learning what they are doing to reduce their inputs of this important agricultural chemical. It is likely that the EU will ban glyphosate which will have trade and public pressure repercussions around the globe.
The audience was reminded of ‘Yesterday’, firstly by Inaugural Chairman, Ian McClelland, who recalled the exciting beginnings of the Birchip Cropping Demonstration Sites and its flourishing into an independent, farmer-run, self-help organisation.
He spoke of the steps taken in the early years and made special mention of some crucial people whose contributions were invaluable: Rob Velthuis’s pro bono assistance in making trials decisions, Harm van Rees’s constant support and Tony Fay’s steady hand.
He also highlighted the work of early managers: Peter Mann, young but enthusiastic; Felicity Pedley, who ‘could turn her hand to anything’; Caroline Peters, unassuming and effective, and Tony Eyres, extrovert and communicator extraordinaire.
BCG was, and still is, Ian said, ‘proud to be part of the broader agricultural community of farmers, industry and researchers working for the benefit of all farmers and the region.’
Ian handed over to former CEO Alexandra Gartmann who, during her ten years at BCG, was awarded Australian CEO of the Year. Instrumental in the process, she too remembered the headlong development of the group during those years.
Caroline Welsh represented the present as she saw it in her days as Chairman.
Her message was clear: do not take BCG for granted; look around and understand just how fortunate the region has been and how far we have come. She felt that, on taking on the role as leader of BCG, the prospect was rather daunting: as she put it, she was acutely aware that “dropping the baby” was not an option. She certainly did not do that.
Caroline’s presentation was just as those present remember her to be: strong, cogent and effective.
Guest speaker Gabrielle Chan offered a rather daunting picture of the future of farming in this country. As a journalist, she explained her awareness of the often contradictory, even confusing messages about farming awash in the community.
People from all walks of life, representing a plethora of opinions and perceptions, have an equally confusing set of expectations. Farmers and rural communities need to be prepared to communicate the differences between meeting these expectations and needs and the means by which these may be achieved.
Consider a simple equation, and a very timely one. The community at large expects farmers to achieve maximum production with least environmental damage. Best yields and least environmental damage are achieved by judicious application of herbicides, especially glyphosate, as recent years have shown.
Community expectation declares that herbicides are unacceptable.
Where to from here?
After an animated question time, only one formality remained: to launch Birchip Cropping Group The First Thirty Years. Commissioned by BCG to provide a brief chronological record of the development of the group from BCDS to the BCG of today, the book also aimed to highlight some of the innovations and initiatives for which it came to be, and remains, a symbol of agricultural progress.
The subtitle, Choice not chance determines destiny, draws attention to the unremitting energy of a small group of farmers resolved to take control of their own and their community’s fate. It also recognises BCG for its ‘achievements, perseverance, productivity and humanity.’
The author, Anne McClelland, was part of the group from its early days, witnessing at first hand its growth and development. She commented that, far from adding disenchantment, distance from the events recorded gave her a different perception and different insights.
In her author’s note she explained that she ‘saw familiar faces and experiences in a new light and was able to appreciate just how exciting it all was, how challenging and even how revolutionary.’
As Anne, and later Alex Gartmann, commented, being present at the dinner was like being part of a large family which shared common interests and common experiences, the members of which even liked each other. Several generations were represented and as so often occurs in the country no-one found that odd.
This community blend was exemplified by the contribution of the Birchip P-12 School’s VET kitchen operations students and their teacher Kristy Knights who combined effectively with Stefano to serve the excellent meal enjoyed by all.
The applause following Fiona’s acknowledgement of their contribution spoke for itself. Equally, they relished the opportunity for practical experience of their craft.
Formalities over, people were free to catch up, remember old times and simply enjoy themselves.
The atmosphere was warm and buoyant, a mixture of excitement, enthusiasm, nostalgia and a sense of achievement as part of an organization which seems destined to continue for some time to come.
