Young South Australian farmers expand land six-fold in a decade
South Australian farmers Michael and Rebecca Thompson have transformed their 760ha family farm into a 5200ha grain powerhouse. See how they did it.
In just 10 years Michael and Rebecca Thompson have increased their land holding by 585 per cent.
And to get there they’ve been laser focused on their passion for growing grain, efficiency and their team.
Michael and Rebecca, along with their two sons Hayden, 11, and Jordan, 9, crop 5000ha, at Minlaton on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
The couple officially took over the farm in 2015 and have grown from 760ha, where they were cropping 380ha, to 5200ha now, with a mix of owned and leased property. Michael’s father Graham runs sheep on 200ha which he manages himself.
Both Michael and Rebecca had careers in Adelaide, before deciding they wanted to give farming a go before the opportunity passed them by. They moved back to Minlaton in 2010, but at the time there wasn’t enough work for Michael and his father, so Michael worked as a fuel truck driver.
“I was delivering to farmers and it was a great learning environment. I had the opportunity to talk to farmers in a non-bias way about farming and I kept asking questions to learn what other farmers did well,” Michael said.
With their main goal to grow for scale and efficiency, Michael said in that initial growth phase they bought whatever property they could get in the region, when interest rates were low.
They have since become more strategic and have sold some land and bought properties closer to their home base.
Since purchasing new property they have carried out a lot of development on the country, including opening up paddocks and removing internal fences.
“There’s a fair bit of development that needs to happen just to go from pasture to continual cropping, but opening up the paddocks and doing that work has built efficiency.”
Originally a mixed-farming operation, with mostly sheep, Michael and Rebecca have also completely overhauled the enterprise mix, now focusing on mostly crops. Although they still ran 500 breeding ewes for Graham.
“We are passionate about cropping and we figured if you are passionate about something, you will do it better,” Michael said.
MAIN DRIVERS
Wheat and lentils were the main crops grown, with barley sometimes in the rotation. A typical rotation was wheat, lentils, wheat.
Michael said if straw was starting to thin out, barley was used in the rotation.
“We go with the standard rotation, but if we have any agronomic issues, we consider what the next crop could be to help that.”
And with efficiency and performance the main drivers, planning and strategy were key for the business.
Crop rotations were set in a planning meeting in early spring for the following year.
With a background in IT, Michael uses numerous programs “and a spreadsheet for everything” for planning, management and financial planning.
“Spreadsheet is one of our most powerful tools. I usually am looking at them daily,” Michael said.
They also use an analytics program which can help pick up what is working and what isn’t.
Through farm management software every job carried out on the farm is recorded, as well as yield data from each paddock, protein data, rainfall and fertilizer or chemical applications.
“It means we can generate a report each year and it shows which paddocks are performing and which aren’t. We also use it for chemical and resistance management,” Michael said.
They have rainfall stations dotted across the properties, which measure rain, temperature and humidity.
“It gives us block to block information, and if an areas had underperformed, we can either correlate that to rain, or if we can’t, then we look further into it.”
A lot of their grain is forward sold, but it depended on the weather and market.
“We use a lot of advisors, and they are the experts in forward selling or agronomy, so we take their advice most of the time.”
CRITICAL TIMING
Sowing is carried out by the calendar, which usually starts sometime in April.
“We work out when we want to finish sowing then work back from there in terms of when we start.”
November 1 was the average harvest start date.
And to ensure timing was right, which Michael and Rebecca said was critical, they used all of their own machinery and maintained it to a high level to ensure timings are met with minimal breakdowns.
One of the biggest changes they have made, and biggest investments, has been in machinery.
“We do everything ourselves, except trucking, so we have purchased another header this year so we can keep it all in-house,” Michael said.
“Owning machinery gives us flexibility to do exactly what we want, when we want so we didn’t lose efficiency.”
“Timing in agriculture is everything, if you get the timing right, it all falls into place.”
Michael said one of the biggest game-changers has been their seeding unit, which can now sow in two days what once took two weeks. They also use flexible header fronts, which help with harvesting lentils.
Michael said their number one asset was their team. They employed four full-time staff and one casual, which grew by one to two more casuals during harvest.
“They get it done efficiently and on time.”
Rebecca said once it was just her and Michael working on the farm, but since they have brought in staff, it has been a “game changer”.
“We have a good team behind us, as well as advisors, like agronomists and business advisors that make things easier,” Rebecca said.
CONSERVE MOISTURE
To ensure they are efficient and sustainable, Michael said crop rotation was important, as well as their no-till approach.
They were also pushing into using more variable rate applications for seeding, chemicals and fertilizer.
“We are also undergoing constant land improvement, managing rocks and improving zones,” he said.
“If we have any clay base underneath, we do clay delving to get clay mixed up with the top sand.”
Summer weed sprays were also an important part of maintaining moisture.
However, last year was so dry they did one summer spray on most farms, with the odd block not needing any.
When it comes to fertilizer application they used mapping technology to see what parts of the paddock needed more or less.
“It isn’t about saving dollars and putting less out, it is more about utilizing it where it is needed.”
Looking ahead, Michael said the season has picked up.
“There is good potential for the crop this year, we just need some finishing rain,” he said.
“At this point we are expecting average or slightly below average yields.”
“It is a lot better this year than last, but we didn’t get much, if any summer rain, mostly growing season rain.”
So far they have had 265-300mm for the year. The average annual rainfall is 350-400mm.
“As farmers all we can do is do everything correct, year on year. After that out it is out of our hands, we can’t control the rain.”
And while Michael and Rebecca are content where the size of their operation is now, Rebecca said “never say never”.
“When it comes to growth, if you have the right team, right machinery and mindset the sky is the limit, if it is done right,” Michael said.
Harvest is two-thirds complete
