140 years of history and the next generation embraces the evolution at Pine Hill, with Ted Langley.
“You've just got to be there, in the discussion, because something will trigger something and make you think, and I think that's the best thing”
- Ted
18 months ago, tragedy struck at the Langley’s property at Pine Hill in South Australia.
After suffering a medical episode, Ted Langley’s brother would pass away. After 30 years in Partnership, the succession to the next generation would be immediate.
140 years on from when the Langley family would first establish themselves on the property, Ted alongside his daughter and two nephews are continuing the families legacy.
“It's just exciting sharing what we do, understanding seeing them learn the ropes and be interested into be farming and it keeps you young to an extent having younger people around and working in the team.”
Whether it’s been how the family have transitioned farming practices or how they have approached the succession of the next generation coming into the business, the Langley’s have embraced change.
“we were fortunate enough our father did let us have some say in some control over decisions. but I'd say traditionally, in this area, the father or the grandfather holds on to the reigns and doesn't let the next generation try many new ideas. But our father fortunately said, Well, yes, you can. we weren't absolutely the first ones in the district to try and no till. And that's the sort of the direction we went in, the cropping.”.
As time in farming passed, Ted and his brother would transition their farm to eventually have a larger cropping portion than livestock production. This decision would drive a continual shift into the future operations,
“Everyone knows the wool job hasn't really changed in 30 years. And you can make money out of it. But things haven't progressed {in wool] like in the cropping side. So the cropping is now three quarters of our operation. And livestock is only a quarter. But it's still there in the background”.
Ted recalls his fathers famous words,
“This is never going to work”
As they approached a transition to adopt new machinery within their cropping operation. The evolution of crop growing to reduce the impact on soil, also known as ‘No-Till’, would see plenty of discussion amongst the community.
“Funny stories about older farmers driving past and pulling up and going “Is this the one you did with half the machine missing?” And it's just a funny transition, but how it's become so successful, and obviously, you know, trend transitioning into that”.
Image provided by Ted Langley.
In this episode, Oli get’s Ted to break down how the business has changed their practices to understand the evolution and positive impact these changes have had on Ted.
Whether it was better yields, or less time in Machinery, reduced servicing costs on Machinery, the changes that once ‘were never going to work’ benefited the business in multiple ways.
When looking to the future, Ted is open to exploring new ways in his farming operations, Not ruling out adoption of biological approaches in nitrogen capture, pest control and fungal monitoring traps as possible and exciting developments.
“It's [evolution of farming practices] sort of like something we've always tried to focus on, even though you think you're on a good thing, you still have got to try and evolve, and try and approve little areas”
In order to make changes on their family farm across generations, Ted believes the ability to learn from others is vitally important,
“A local farming group went to New Zealand on a bit of a study tour 10 years ago. And the feedback I got after was, they wanted to know what everyone got out of it. And one of the guys goes, well, I met one of the other participants. And he solved three of my problems in the airport lounge in Melbourne waiting to fly out. But that's what it's about. You've just got to be there, in the discussion, because something will trigger something and make you think, and I think that's the best thing”.
Listen to Ted’s podcast episode on your favourite podcast app, or in the link below.
Ted Langley is a 2023 Syngenta Growth Award recipient, in the category of Productivity. “The goal of the growth awards is to recognise growers and advisers who are making a difference to the Industry through leadership, best practice and innovation”.
Ted’s story is one of several we are sharing in partnership with Syngenta Australia, where we are featuring the stories of the 2023 Growth Award recipients. You can learn more about the Syngenta Growth Awards and the 2023 recipients HERE.