Blomeley’s practical skills bring crop success

GOING for growth — using the practical skills inherited from his mechanically-minded dad — has placed Nathan Blomeley among Australia’s best farmers at the tender age of 27.

Fields of dreams: Nathan Blomeley, 27, is taking his family cropping business to the next level. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

GOING for growth — using the practical skills inherited from his mechanically-minded dad — has placed Nathan Blomeley among Australia’s best farmers at the tender age of 27.

Nathan’s relentless hunger to do things better has seen him grow his family farm threefold within just four years. Not an easy feat, especially during challenging seasons and without a big chequebook behind him.

The Blomeley family farm is in Victoria’s Western District, near the tiny hamlet of Pura Pura, where Nathan and wife Jessica, their son Riley, 2, and parents Tim and Danielle run a mixed cropping business, comprising wheat, canola and beans, and livestock.

Since 2014, the Blomeleys have tripled their farm size to 1209 hectares through a clever mix of buying and leasing land.

They do off-farm work, mostly machinery contracting, to help pay for the latest and most technologically advanced equipment so they can grow crops in tune with the latest best practice and research findings.

In an effort to keep costs down the family does most of the stock and machinery work themselves.

But, the past few years have been a rollercoaster ride for the Blomeleys. After buying more land they hit two bad seasons, followed by an extraordinarily good year and then an average one.

Last season they sowed 800 hectares of crop and Nathan planted a further 800 hectares for other farmers under contract.

Given the variation in seasons, the Blomeleys focus on timing and attention to detail to maximise every drop of rain. Last season their hard work paid off, with strong yields of 2.88 tonnes a hectare for canola, 3.46 tonnes a hectare for beans and 5.64 tonnes a hectare for wheat.

“Those results are the best water-use efficiencies we’ve had yet,” Nathan said.

The proof of that is in the pudding.

FINALIST Cropping Farmer of the Year 2018

BLOMELEY FAMILY, Pura Pura, Vic

ON FARM: BLOMELEY FAMILY