Bulla Burra: A success farm built from friendship

SOUTH Australian Mallee cropping farmers John Gladigau and Robin Schaefer are proof that success can come from mixing business with friendship.

Partners in crops: John Gladigau and Robin Schaefer have transformed two farms into one thriving business.

SOUTH Australian Mallee cropping farmers John Gladigau and Robin Schaefer are proof that success can come from mixing business with friendship.

John, from Alawoona, and Robin, from Loxton, joined forces in 2009 to form a single farming business to increase scale and efficiencies.

John said the idea was fraught with danger. “Not only were Robin and I friends but our wives were best friends,” John jokes. “We broke rule one, two, three and four right there from the start.”

The pair established a business, Bulla Burra, which leased the Gladigau and Schaefer farms — both 2000 hectares. Older tractors, seeders and headers were replaced with state-of-the-art machines, an extra 4000 hectares of land was leased or sharefarmed, and a board with an independent chairman was appointed.

“That has been one of the big keys to what we believe is our success … to have a robust, decision-making environment,” John said.

John said he and Robin, both winners of prestigious Nuffield farming scholarships, placed themselves in the business “where we believed we could add the most value”. Robin became production manager overseeing the daily operations, while John looked after things from a business perspective.

“There were lots of hurdles along the way but I think we’re fairly refined now and we’re really, really starting to see the benefits,” John said.

Bulla Burra now grows 11,000 hectares of crops, employs six full-time staff, uses advanced farming practices and has pioneered legume production in the marginal northern Mallee.

The cropping program comprises 4500 hectares of wheat, 3500 hectares of barley, 1000 hectares of chick peas, 700 hectares of field peas, 400 hectares of canola, 400 hectares of lupins and 300 hectares of lentils, which recorded well above-average yields this season.

“We have put a lot of different things in place in the past eight years, always with the promise that there will be a time when we see the fruits of this,” John said.

“This (season) has just been extraordinary. This is what we have been working towards.”