THREE Wimmera farmers have received Young Farmers Scholarships to expand their knowledge in the agriculture industry.
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Robert Staehr of Laharum, Andrew Falla of Litchfield and Megan Cooper of Glenorchy were among the 13 young farmers from across Victoria to receive a state government scholarship.
Mr Staehr’s family property at Laharum is a mixed farm with sheep, cropping and a shiraz vineyard, producing grapes for Mount Stapylton Wines.
He said he would use the $10,000 upskill scholarship to head back to school.
“I’m studying a two-year viticulture at Wangaratta so we will have someone with a bit more knowledge to tend to the vines,” he said.
“Running a vineyard is pretty expensive and you don’t get any income for a few years, so this is a huge help. Hopefully we can invest in a few water saving initiatives and maybe some new nets to help with irrigation and grape quality.”
Mr Staehr said he hoped to have wine for sale by this time next year.
“In agriculture today, there’s not a lot of margin; the way you make your money is through having scale,” he said.
“Land is getting very expensive and to get that scale of economy is not cheap and it doesn’t come up everyday. This was a way to diversify income streams.
“The last few years we’ve really focused on our ewe nutrition and getting our lambing rates up, and we’ve had some really good results this year.
“The young farmers are getting few and far between, so the government needs to look after us, and this is a good initiative to support us.
“There is a really good bunch of young farmers in this region so it’s good to be able to network with them. We learn off each other. You have to keep on learning and innovating.”
Litchfield farmer Andrew Falla said he was very pleased to receive a Young Farmers Scholarship.
“I’m going to use the money to do my wool classing certificate; we’re on a mixed sheep and cropping farm out here,” he said.
Megan Cooper, Glenorchy, said she identified key agriculture areas she wanted to improve in.
“I chose to upskill and undertake training in wool classing and invest in constructing an all-weather cover over our sheep yards,” she said.
Ms Cooper oversees the stock aspect of the family farming business.
“Wool classing is something I am interested in and can build upon current experience to sustain my career in the agricultural industry,” she said.
“This will also allow our business to have one less expense.”
Ms Cooper identified the need for an all-weather cover for the yards after visiting other farms.
“The cover will enable us to perform jobs in a more timely manner. We won’t have to worry about sheep getting wet when it rains or sunburnt if they are freshly shorn,” she said.
She said the scholarship was a great help to young people.
“It enables young farmers to invest in the farm sooner,” she said.