THE Victorian Mallee, a vast tract of country in the state’s northwest, renowned for its character-building landscape and equally soul-destroying weather events.
Smack bang in the middle of the sandy crop growing region is Will Bath, a Culgoa boy who has achieved the grain industry trifecta with steely determination, a trait common among Mallee folk; he grows grain, he transports grain and now with the establishment of Culgoa Grain Storage, he stores grain.
But perhaps the cardinal lesson he has learnt is that success brings its own problems closely behind.
Speaking to Will from the cab of one of his growing fleet of trucks – this one a Kenworth 408 – the UHF radio crackles in the background as he delivers a load of canola from northern Victoria to Melbourne.
At 33, he is a man literally and figuratively on a mission.
And right now, that mission has been beset by the problems of COVID collateral damage.
Back in 2020, with harvest looming, and talk of the weather nearly as instant as Mother Nature, which can still pull last-minute levers to make or break what had been a bumper season, Will was cautiously pointing out that things were looking good despite a few warm days and a bit of frost a month earlier.
He could not complain.
Going back another year, the 2019 harvest, Will describes the first for Culgoa Grain Storage as a learning experience.
“The hardest part was dealing with weather conditions, mostly the wind and being understaffed,” he recalled. Understaffed being the word that would come back to haunt him.
“Thankfully I had my sister Bet working in the grain sample stand and a young school leaver, so we managed to store 8000t of grain in bunkers.
“We could have taken more grain and we did have to turn the odd truck away, but you don’t want to get too big too early, you need to get the processes in order and don’t compromise on quality.”
Will operates with the patience of someone who is used to dealing with external factors and there is a wariness in his measured approach to business.
“We have been pretty fortunate with five of the past six years being good to bumper seasons. But you have to be prepared to have bad years, they’ll come around again and you need to keep on top of your maintenance, build yourself up to weather the bad years.”
Will is focused very pragmatically on what he can control, such as undertaking self-improvements, building up the site, fixing roadways and buying better equipment.
“If you can make the job easier, you can achieve more,” he says simply, explaining that a new auger reduced breakdowns during the peak grain receival period.
It becomes apparent that his appreciation for well-looked-after equipment crosses over to well-looked-after people.
“You have to maintain good relationships, you need reliable staff, well-liked truck drivers, happy farmers, because at the end of the day it comes down to the people.”
And Will has also learnt how to try and cope when the people can’t be found.
Since 2020 he has added three B-doubles and two giant PBS road trains. But he’s all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Because like every other rural enterprise, he can’t find staff. Not just good staff. He can’t find any staff. So, he’s still behind the wheel trying to cover gaps on the driving roster.
“The last crop was huge and only because it was saved at the last minute. It looked like we might lose a lot and then got two inches in October to give it the perfect finish – that rain saved us,” he said.
“But moving grain is now a problem. Because we are not really near anywhere, we rely on trucks, and our commitment to quality service means getting them and getting the grain where it needs to go – on time.
“I have been lucky to get a couple of really good young locals from farms around here, but I still have more trucks than drivers, the same problem everyone on the land is facing right now.”
To keep his business at the cutting-edge, Will has also added a grain buyer to his team, making his storage business even more attractive to croppers anywhere within a 30-50km radius.
Flexibility, he says, is the key. He is delivering that across his business. He just needs a few truck drivers.
Culgoa Grain Storage is not alone out there among the acres of sun-ripened crop, there are four other grain storage sites within 20km.
“When we get big yields, farmers want to get their crop off as quickly as they can, it is very convenient for them to pull in here in a busy year,” said Will.
Mind you, he does not see the other sites as competition, he sees his site as a complementary string to his bow.
“I set up the site because it ties in well with the trucks (when they have drivers), you can have more access to grain when you need it, it works well with our farm, you can deliver grain easily at harvest,” said Will.
Will works alongside his brother Tom, who is an agronomist and runs the farming operation growing lentils, wheat, barley, and vetch as a rotation.
“I think farm practices up in the Mallee have definitely improved, that’s something to work towards, we can grow average crops on limited rainfall and that’s all to do with direct drilling and keeping summer weeds off,” said Will.
Will would undoubtedly undersell all he’s achieved, but as a young entrepreneur, thriving in some of Victoria’s harshest country, it might be worthwhile listening to the advice he has to offer other young people with a dream in mind: “If you really want to do it, work hard and try to be honest in the work that you do”.
Here is hoping the Mallee boy will reap what he has sown.
