THE Nationals candidate for Indi Liz Fisher has hit the ground running in the hotly contested seat, coming off what has been the best harvest yet for her Browns Plains enterprise
Liz and husband Neil have 748 hectares predominantly under dry land cropping and prime lamb production, with an additional 900 hectares under management with the Fisher family, who are sixth generation farmers in the region.
Although in the past the couple have planted triticale and faba beans, they generally run the enterprise at 60 per cent wheat and 40 per cent canola.
"The La Nina resulted in a milder summer and good rains extended the season, augmenting our agronomy program," said Ms Fisher.
"However, with the rains, we had to be selective in the order that we harvested particular paddocks to avoid getting bogged.
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"And though a couple of the paddocks had a lower test weight in the wet patches, overall our grain met specifications.
"The result was our highest wheat yield ever, as well as our longest harvest on record.
"We did manage to get all the grain harvested, however, we were still going in the first week of January when normally we would have finished before Christmas."
The issue was predominantly logistics – moving the volume of grain from paddocks to storage – and with haulage carriers limited Liz was forced to step up and obtained her semi–trailer licence.
She then drove the semi for the duration of the season, with the chaser bin driver returning to help the family with their harvest, despite being semi–retired.
Travel restrictions and COVID not only affected staffing at the Fishers' enterprise, but it resulted in the business implementing risk mitigation strategies to ensure minimal disruption to their operation.
"We had to invest in silos and temporary storage solutions, in case we could not cross the Victorian/New South Wales border," she said.
"We took out contracts to lock–in prices , providing us that certainty with our profit margins.
"And we pre–ordered in key inputs, which proved beneficial as we secured supply and avoided significant price rises.
"We also had plans to purchase a replacement second hand combine harvester, but decided on a new one with larger capacity to decrease our reliance on contract harvesters."
This has all demanded significant outlay to ensure the Fishers could harvest their crop.
"With the government extending their instant asset write–off initiative, we were incentivised to bring forward these investment decisions," she said.
"It became financially viable."
Without such forward planning and risk mitigation, the Fishers' harvest may have not run so smoothly.
COVID, the resulting lockdown and border closures, have forced Liz to really take stock of the issues affecting her region and advocate for her community.
Having to billet her daughters in New South Wales to attend school during the height of restrictions became another catalyst for change.
Issues like these have galvanised Liz into representing the Nationals to contest the seat of Indi in the forthcoming election.
"Rather than vent my frustration about the urban–rural disconnect or metropolitan–based bureaucrats making decisions affecting rural people that many seem to lack understanding, I've chosen to be involved in the process," she said.
