From AFL to farming: Fergus Watts turns to a life on the land

Hanging up the footy boots for a pair of Blundstones, Fergus Watts is using farming to better the world for his kids.

Ex-AFL player Fergus Watts has swapped the footy boots for Blundstones as he and his young family venture into the world of regenerative agriculture. Picture: Zoe Phillips

From the footy field to the farm, Fergus Watts is forging a new path as a primary producer, with the aim to grow a healthier, more sustainable planet for the children of tomorrow.

Once an AFL player for St Kilda and the Adelaide Crows, Fergus now splits his time between the Mornington Peninsula and Fernhill Agriculture, the regenerative fat lamb operation he runs with his wife Jenna at Sheans Creek, near Euroa.

While Jenna is a sixth-generation farmer, Fergus by his own admission had “never stepped foot on a farm” before meeting his wife.

“I fell in love with agriculture,” Fergus said.

“I love everything about it.”

For the past two years, Jenna and Fergus have been balancing farm life with raising their young children, while focusing on rebuilding soil health and building their Merino flock.

“This came about through a desire to create a better world for our kids. And that’s a broad brief. We settled on agriculture, and the development of regenerative agricultural land. That’s our primary objective,” Fergus said.

Fergus and Jenna Watts Fergus and Jenna Watts, farming at Fernhill Agriculture with their young children Navy, Tennyson and Cosette, with Border Collie Sassy. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Running about 500 Merinos over 242ha, the Watts are working to turn their property into a fully-regenerative operation, one that promotes soil health above all else.

“We don’t look at ourselves as sheep farmers. Our objective is to regenerate agricultural land, and the best way to do that is regenerative grazing, and that requires animals,” Fergus said.

The farm is focused on primarily growing wool and producing fat lambs, with the aim to organically grow the flock with time.

Lambs are sold at the saleyards, as the Watts work towards selling their meat direct to restaurants in a paddock-to-plate style enterprise in the future.

And while it may seem a world away from his metropolitan work as chief executive of The Reach Foundation – a not-for-profit youth organisation – Fergus sees his sustainable farming practice as an extension of his passion for supporting young people in the future.

“Whether it be playing professional football, whether it be starting a business, building a business, whether it being as a CEO at Reach, whether it be what we’re doing now, agriculture, it’s all built around a true substance of who we are at our core, and who we are as a family,” Fergus said.