Good Spring rain and the prospect of a bumper harvest are the icing on the cake for newly crowned Great South West Dairy Farm Management Award winners Matt and Alli Reid.
The Carlisle River couple were announced as the 2020 winners of the coveted award last month. The award was part-sponsored by the DemoDAIRY Foundation. They also received a $2500 grant from the DemoDAIRY Foundation to improve the dairy business management skills of their team.
As part of the online awards ceremony early last month, judges praised the Reids for their focus on being an employer of choice and on developing a proud workplace culture.
Their commitment to safety protocols and procedures was also noted by the judges, along with their design and implementation of sustainable business systems centered on the three pillars of planet, people and profit.
Reflecting on last month’s success, Matt said it was incredibly important to celebrate successes in the industry to help build a positive culture that attracted the next generation of farmers and farm leaders.
“We think one of the key drivers to good business management is that you don’t have to be the expert all the time, you just have to make sure you have good people around you,” he said.
“A focus of ours is to look after our staff and make sure our workplace is safe and enjoyable every single day. We believe in building resilience as often as we can and understanding any risks we face.
“We have been working really hard to take risks out of our business…flattening out our milk supply and going to four-times calving.”
The Reids employ three full time staff and two part time staff and milk 700 cows on their 650-hectare property.
Matt said they were looking forward to working in the industry under a little less pressure in the future and improving their equity position was the key to that.
The DemoDAIRY Foundation offers a range of grants and scholarships.
HOW DO I APPLY
Existing grants include;
- Business management skill development: Scholarships of $2500 to $5000 per year to agreed courses. Dairy business management projects: Grants of $1000 to $2000 to create awareness in appropriate education organisations and assess proposed projects.
- Innovation grants: Up to $5000: Offered through the contracted service providers (currently Agriculture Victoria, WestVic Dairy and some dairy companies) to the groups.
- Capacity development grants: Grants of $2000 to $5000 to screened candidates.
- Emerging issues grants: Short proposals developed with relevant industry stakeholders and reviewed by the DemoDAIRY Foundation board.
- Powell Legacy Fund: Up to $3000 annually for up to three years across the areas of education, agriculture and volunteering.
Applications can be completed online here www.demodairy.com.au/scholarships-and-grants/application/
DemoDAIRY Foundation secretary Ian Teese can be contacted directly on 0427 358 987 or email him via info@demodairy.com.au