Showcasing growth and networking opportunities in the agricultural industry

Narrabri Shire Council and Narrabri Industrial Network joined forces to present a motivating networking evening at The Exchange on Thursday, November 10.

More than 45 attendees heard presentations from five speakers during the evening, catered with a light supper provided by Relish Catering.

NSC small business liaison officer Gilly Goddard, NIN president Justin Smith and NIN business development manager Kodey Stanford put together a collection of speakers from agricultural and associated businesses.

Following a welcome to the event by Gilly Goddard, Justin Smith presented an introduction to the Narrabri Industrial Network’s approach to challenges and opportunities faced by local businesses.

Mr Smith spoke of how the agricultural industry is one of the most sustainable industry sectors in the northwest district, spanning decades and surviving drought and floods, continually developing innovative solutions to challenges faced by farmers.

In particular, the cotton industry, which took off in the mid-1900s, has proved to be a production success story for the region, overcoming many challenges with research during the past century.

Australian Food and Fibre water and compliance manager Bernie George spoke of the benefits of the amalgamation of AFF and Auscott in 2021, creating a significant production, processing, and marketing scale across the two supply chains.

Auscott, which has been in operation in the district for nearly 60 years, continues to provide ginning and marketing services, building what has become a world-class industry leader benefiting growers, employees, and the local community.

Kelly Christianson, chief financial officer at Cotton Seed Distributors, addressed the gathering, outlining CSD as the sole provider of cotton planting seed in Australia.

Established in 1967, the aim was to ensure the success of the investment that pioneers were making in developing a modern cotton industry in Australia.

To facilitate the manufacturing process, in 2018, CSD commissioned a new $100m state-of-the-art facility in Wee Waa, unlike any other delinting and treating plant in the world.

“With COP27 held earlier in the week, sustainability and climate change is front of mind for many consumers and governments,” said Mrs Christianson.

“In the cropping space, seed technology is where we are going to achieve these outcomes, sustainability and feeding more people with the resources we have.

“The agribusiness industry could be considered an ageing workforce, with almost a third of employees aged over 50 years,” she added.

“At CSD, we have identified this as an issue for us, and CSD has engaged with schools in the local area to bring on school-based trainees and to educate them on the opportunities we can offer school leavers.

“We have also started promoting ourselves in regional universities, such as UNE.

“We also have a pipeline of apprentices coming through the business to build our trade workforce internally.

“We need to be encouraging the younger generation to take on a career in agribusiness, particularly those from the regional areas.

“I want to reach out to those like myself who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career but would like to stay in regional areas.”

Managing director of Sierratek Jamie Condon spoke about the assistance his company offers to the rural and agricultural sector.

Providing a service to the community which encompasses electrical engineering, automation and control of software systems to suit individual needs.

At the forefront of the service is adapting technology to innovate and improve business operations, and Mr Condon emphasised Sierratek’s role is to identify weak factors within company computer systems and come up with solutions that are tailor-made for each organisation.

TradeMutt co-founders Daniel Allan and Ed Ross, the creators of workwear with a difference, next inspired the audience with the idea behind their innovative and colourful social impact workwear brand, “created by tradies for tradies”.

Designing and producing funky, eye-catching work wear, the popular Brisbane-based duo’s additional aim was to start up communications about mental health among the blue-collar community.

The concept is certainly a conversation starter.

TIACS is a not-for-profit mental health support service funded by TradeMutt.

It is a text-and-call service providing access to mental health clinicians in an easy-to-use way, helping to remove the physical and financial barriers that prevent so many Australians from reaching out for help when they need it.

Aiming for early intervention and short-term counselling support for tradies, truckies, blue-collar workers and those that care about them, TIACS hopes to promote a culture of positive mental health for anyone doing it tough through offering education and support for free.

To date, TradeMutt has funded more than 2200 hours of support.

The story began back in 2014 on a building site when the two young lads started working for a new builder on the same day.

Dan was two years out of his carpentry trade, and Ed was just starting out, following a stint working on a cattle station in the Northern Territory.

Dan, born and raised in the inner west suburbs of Sydney, and Ed, a country lad hailing from Longreach Queensland, would at first seem an unlikely duo.

But they soon bonded over a love of humour, an appreciation for Jim Carrey, and along with their solid work ethic, it quickly meant that working long hours was not so hard because no matter what the job at hand involved, they could always make each other laugh.

“Our mateship was founded on this attitude and has carried us through absolutely everything,” said Dan.

“Towards the end of 2016, everything for me came to a grinding halt.

“I was floored by the news that one of my best mates had tragically and unexpectedly taken his own life,” Dan added.

“His name was also Dan, and he was one of the first mates I had made when I moved to Brisbane.

“He quickly became like a brother who had an infectious personality that was impossible to ignore.

“This was the first time in my life that I had been affected by suicide.

“As hard as I remember it being to accept, and the confusion that came with it, it must have been unmeasurable compared to what was felt by his mum, dad and brother. This was truly a life changer.

“Fast forward two and a half years, and here we are, two cofounders of a social enterprise.

“TradeMutt came about in the confusing but reflective period following what happened in 2016.

“We are an Australian workwear brand that aims to make tradies and workers of all kinds look and feel great at work and in doing so, reduce the rate of male suicide in Australia.

“Our loud and vibrant shirts act as a catalyst to starting the conversation around mental health in men, a topic that has been hard to approach in the past for blokes, mostly due to the attached stigmas and perceived weakness.”

“I believe that true happiness can never be appreciated until we have experienced what it feels like to be at the lowest of lows.

“Mum always said to me and my brothers ‘the harder the climb the better the view’, and it is only now that I can fully appreciate how wise her words were.”