Rural Aid’s Mates Day was celebrated last month and the primary message fourth generation vegetable growers Brendan and Janne Dipple want Australians to understand is that farming is a skilled profession.
“There’s actually a lot that goes into farming,“ Brendan said. “It takes a lot of effort, technical knowledge and ability to be able to do the work at all levels in the farming enterprise.“
Add to that, the need to be agile, to pivot to another product if there’s a glut in the market and to be able find resilience in the face of floods, drought and hailstorms.
Held on 20 March, Mates Day is all about recognising these challenges and the hard work Aussie farmers invest – each day – to put food on Australian tables.
Starting from scratch with $20,000
The Dipples started Bare Essentials Quality Vegetables in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley from scratch with $20,000 in 1998 after moving from Brendan’s great grandfather’s farm at Mitchelton in Brisbane.
On a flat and fertile 28 hectares at Mortonvale – “a big commercial rectangle“ – they began by growing lettuces, before being scaled out by larger operators and branching into bunch lines to fill a new niche producing shallots, spinach, silver beet and fresh herbs.
“We had a dream to have our own farm,” Janne said.
“The great thing about the Lockyer Valley is it’s known as the salad bowl. This region supplies a lot of Australian tables. It’s also close to Brisbane and the Gold Coast where our family and friends are and just far enough out of the city to be in the country.”
Bare Essentials supplies the Brisbane wholesale markets at Rocklea with leafy salad vegetables and herbs that are stocked by local greengrocers, used by restauranteurs or sent to outlets around the country.
“The market and our customers are always evolving,” Brendan explained.
“Depending on what people want each week, we’re always picking up new lines and dropping stuff while we’re growing, processing and packing.”
Weather affects whole community
The Dipples’ farm has been underwater five times in the past two years and endured extreme heat and hail. But Brendan doesn’t view the weather as only impacting farmers – it’s something that affects the whole community.
“In my head, the weather we have to deal with is the norm and it’s not just the farmer’s problem, it’s a community problem. None of us can get away from that. Lately we’ve had a lot of extreme events, all stacked up behind one another.
“Extreme heat in the 2019 drought meant it was too hot to grow anything and we had to use salty water, which makes it harder to grow quality vegetables. Then we went straight into heavy rain and lost a lot of topsoil because the soil was loose from the drought.
“We had a good run during 2023 where everything was stable and we worked like mad.
“Then we had a hailstorm in November that took everything, followed by another flood in 2024. We just mop up the mess and try to salvage crops or re-plant but, obviously, it’s financially crippling.”
Rural Aid on hand to help
Rural Aid CEO, John Warlters said the recurring weather events were often behind skyrocketing prices on fresh produce and were having a compounding effect on the frequency and nature of requests for support the charity received from farmers.
“We’ve got families right now who are recovering from multiple events, one after the other and in a very quick time frame,” John said.
“These events are the catalyst for our lettuce to suddenly cost $12 or we can’t get those potato chips on our plate because our potato crops have been wiped out.
“The donations we (received) during Mates Day will be used to help these farming families recover and get back on their feet.”
Both Brendan and Janne can see how necessary Rural Aid is in helping farmers deal with their challenges. For Janne, it’s a case of agriculture – both food and fibre – belonging to everybody.
“People should get behind Mates Day and donate to Rural Aid because it really does support everybody whether you’re a farmer or not and anyone who donates reaps the benefit of it,” she said.
To support Rural Aid’s Mates Day campaign or to make a donation visit matesday.ruralaid.org.au
