This year, BCG is celebrating 30 years of working for and on behalf of farm systems and businesses across the Wimmera and Mallee and now, through expansion, the North Central regions. This significant milestone has prompted us to dig into the archives and review some of the captured history.
Examining some of the old newspaper clippings has been an energising exercise. Anne McClelland, who rode the BCG inception wave with husband Ian, BCG Chair for 20 years until 2012, has been charged with the task of pulling together the 30-year history. An excerpt below highlights much of our thinking today.
Excerpt
In the Stock Journal on the 29th September 1994, following the field day, Dr Bob Hannon gave the newly-fledged organisation a great write up.
Referring to Ian McClelland as a ‘dynamo’, he encapsulated the enthusiasm and idealism underlying the establishment of the BCDS, explaining the thought processes of the chairman:
‘Ian reckons that many of the changes farmers make often occur through necessity due to drought, over production, low prices and disease.
“Why don’t we change when conditions are better? Why do many find it hard to accept that managed change may lead to improved profitability, lifestyle and security? Do we change only because we are afraid of failure?
“Effective change requires information, planning, care in taking on something new, constant monitoring in order to make adjustments and acceptance that mistakes will be made. Also that the dividends may be a long time coming.”
Almost 30 years on, the fact that effective change requires information, planning and monitoring, echoes in the discussions in which BCG is currently involved, particularly as part of the Future Drought Fund Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub work of which the group is a part. Thinking about what farm businesses can do to prepare for drought, what can be done during a drought (with luck, not for a while) and identifying the important actions to be undertaken when coming out of one are all part of the current activities being undertaken in this Australian wide Future Drought Fund initiative.
Farmers must continue to have courage to evaluate what they are doing and identify what can be done better, particularly given that droughts are a part of farming and can no longer be considered exceptional circumstances. We must have the courage to act on what science tells us.
BCG’s Young Farmer Network, with support from the Future Drought Fund, FRRR’s Networks to Build Drought Resilience fund and Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub North-West is delighted to be hosting a Climate Courage event on the 5th August at the Birchip Community Leisure Centre. Guest speaker Anika Molesworth, Young Farmer of the Year, will be challenging the next generation of farmers to think about the ways in which they will be farming in the future. Register now.
Ian’s comment that the dividends may be a long time coming reminds us that nothing happens over night.
Mahatma Gandhi put it beautifully: ‘The future depends on what you do today”.
