Ewen Beaton is the cropping manager of Kioma a mixed farming enterprise owned by the Fairfax family in Goodiwindi.
Ewen loves that there’s always something new to learn working in farming, guided by the newest technology available and the challenges that presents.
Ewen enjoys the strong sense of community afforded him by his lifestyle in grain and being part of a close-knit industry where ideas are shared for the mutual success of grain growing in Australia.
Ewen grew up in rural Scotland and moved to Australia in 1997, and has been working in his current role for the past 15 years. The Kioma enterprise makes up 10,000 acres of a 37,000 acre property and is used for the cropping of wheat, barley and chickpeas during the winter months and sorgum in summer.
What is one thing that you are continually striving towards as a grain grower?
“Profitability is number one; if you’re not making money you’re going to go broke.” However to that end he raises the importance of care for the land, “I strongly feel as farmers we’ve got to be more sustainable, we can’t be exploiting the country as we have done for years. That means we must try new things, you’ve got to try and fail before you succeed.”
What is one thing you love about your job or lifestyle in grain?
“Something I try to do every day is to laugh and to learn something new. I love that there’s always new challenges, new developments, new technology. We use satellite guidance and imagery, yield marketing and so on. I just love the challenge of it.”
What do you value most about having mates in the grain industry?
“Information sharing. The grain industry is pretty good about sharing information and being in the area we’re in you can always find someone to bounce ideas off.”
Developed by Wright Social for Allied Grain Systems.
