BCG’s finance manager Janice Kelly runs a farm business with her husband Chris at Woomelang. Having grown up in Blackpool, England, obtaining an honours degree in politics and modern history and pursuing a successful career in the UK as a Charted Accountant and then a Chartered Tax Advisor, you might wonder how she ended up on a Mallee farm.Â
In 1992 I went to Barcelona with a friend for a weekend where I met my husband, Chris and the rest is history, as they say. I love the peace and quiet on our farm compared to Manchester where I used to live and work. It has been a wonderful place to raise our three girls (Alice, Niamh and Zeta).
The only background I had in farming was helping a couple of clients with their tax planning in England.
On our farm, I take care of all the paperwork including grain marketing and off-farm investments. Chris and I discuss all of the major decisions that need to be made. I have learned a lot over the years, including the importance of being a good listener.
Challenges
Distance is a challenge to living on the farm – I seem to spend my life in the car. Successive droughts have been very draining emotionally too. Waiting for the rain that either doesn’t arrive or is in such small quantities that it’s next to useless. I am certainly much more resilient than I would ever have believed.
Price fluctuations for our commodities are also a challenge. The fact that we are generally price takers, where the price is set internationally, presents another challenge which has to be overcome. It is very difficult to plan where there is no certainty. We must be the country’s biggest gamblers.
As my family and closest friends are all in the UK I miss them very much. Communication is much easier today than when we were first married and certainly a lot cheaper. The tyranny of distance does however make it hard. Particularly as my parents get older.
Enjoyment
I think that country kids continue to enjoy, to a large extent, a lot of the freedoms which my generation enjoyed growing up in large conurbations which city kids today seem to be shielded from. If you had said I would move to Australia I would have never imagined moving to a small country town. A happy marriage makes anything possible.
BCG enables me to use my professional skills to make a meaningful contribution to our community. I enjoy the interaction with the various members of the farming community. I have been here for 22 years so it can’t be all bad.
Best advice in farming
- Learn from your ‘mistakes.’
- No two years are ever the same.
- What worked last year might not be the solution this year.
