Mid West farmer aims to promote local practices

Chapman Valley farmer Murray McCartney has been selected as one of only 10 farmers nationwide to participate in the prestigious GrainGrowers’ leadership program. Mr McCartney will take part in the Australian grain leadership program, which gives grain farmers the opportunity to come together and develop leadership skills. As a fourth-generation farmer, Mr McCartney said he had spent most of his life on the family farm in Nanson working with his father and brothers growing wheat, canola, barley and lupins. “We reduced the size of the farm about three years ago and I’ve been working in technical sales since then,” he said. “I saw this program advertised on Twitter and I thought it would be a great way to get more involved in the industry.” A key component of this program is undertaking an individual project to explore how the industry can address current challenges. Mr McCartney will study how local grower communities can be better advocates for their practices. “I’ve always been interested in the bigger picture of why you do what you do,” he said. “People are more interested in where their food comes from these days ... well, WA farms have some of the best agricultural practices in the world and I want to help communicate that.” Mr McCartney said he would be speaking with experts and reading studies about the public perception of grain growers to hopefully start discussions in the community about how they could better communicate with the outside world. The program has been running for 11 years now, shaping the future of grain farming leadership across Australia. Earlier this month, Mr McCartney joined fellow WA Wheatbelt farmer Alana Alexander from Walebing and eight others from across the country in Sydney to discuss their industry projects and workshop leadership skills. “They were a really inspiring group of farmers from across the country with some fantastic ideas on how to give back to the industry,” Mr McCartney said.