Busselton farmer and agronomist Tammy Negus has returned from the Australian Dairy Conference with a renewed motivation to move with a rapidly-changing industry.
Ms Negus has worked in agronomy for 15 years, recently adding human resource management to her expanding skills set.
She is an advocate for embracing change in the dairy industry and earlier this year took advantage of a Legendairy Women’s Network grant to attend the conference.
Ms Negus said attending the conference for the first time reinforced her belief that dairy farmers needed to be open minded and progressive.
“The conference works on the large picture of dairy farming and pitches ideas to challenge your way of thinking,” she said.
“The world is moving and consumers’ preferences are moving.
“As producers we need to be prepared to change as well and use all the innovations that are available to give us an advantage.”
Ms Negus farms with her husband Oscar and his parents, Oscar senior and Wendy, in Busselton.
They milk about 1100 cows on a mix of dry land farming and irrigated land.
Ms Negus’ love of the land began in Wagin, where she grew up on a wheat and sheep farm.
She said dairy farm appealed to her because of the constant challenge and change.
“It’s challenging but very dynamic,” she said.
“There’s a lot of expertise and scientific research that farmers can call on and we’re continually finding more information to farm better.”
Despite the challenges and change, Ms Negus said she walked away from the conference confident dairy had a good future in WA.
“There will always be a fit for dairy. There are ups and downs but it’s a very resilient industry that adapts and continues to produce good quality products,” she said.
