Leading by learning
Participating in the Australian Rural Leadership Program was the experience of a lifetime for South Australian wool producer Maurice Collins
Fourth-generation fine-wool producer Maurice Collins says he applied to the Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP) because he wanted a challenge. Little did he know how much the program of physical and self-awareness activities and overseas travel and the range of people he would meet would challenge and reward him.
Maurice describes his 20-month journey with 30 other participants as an "experience of a lifetime that taught him mateship, hardship and leadership".
"The ARLP condensed a lifetime of experiences into a few months, and supported us as we worked through situations in our daily lives as individuals and as members of a team," Maurice says.
For the past 30 years, Maurice has farmed 1100 hectares near Tungkillo, South Australia. He runs a self-replacing flock of 2500 Merino ewes producing 17 to 18-micron wool. In addition, about 1000 prime lambs are produced each year, sired by Poll Dorset rams. The majority of grazing on this undulating country with 500 to 550-millimetre rainfall is native pastures. This is supplemented by a small area of irrigated native and improved pasture, and purchased forage when required.
Saline recharge has been a major influence on the quality of pasture, and over the past 10 years Maurice has revegetated more than 60 hectares. Despite a five per cent reduction in grazing area, livestock numbers have been maintained and wool quality improved. Maurice is passionate about improving the management of the farm’s natural resources and is convinced that the reduction in saline recharge has resulted in more palatable and productive pastures.
As chair of the local Landcare group, a representative on the SA Murray-Darling Ranges 2 River Sub-regional Group, and a member of the Producer Advisory Panel for SheepPlus, AWI’s extension program that operates in South Australia, Maurice is able to share his experience and enthusiasm for natural resource management, as well as to lead by example.
"One of the greatest things I learnt from the ARLP is that even though I am an owner-operator I don’t have to do everything, I am not invincible; what I have to do is focus on what is most important to me and my business," Maurice says.
During the course, he decided that improving the natural resource base of his farm by further revegetation and encouraging a greater diversity of native pasture species was an important personal and business goal.
"The ARLP taught me to analyse and assess information, showed me my strengths and weaknesses and encouraged me to question everything," Maurice says. "It can be a confronting process, but the program and the other participants provide support."
Every ARLP course is unique, because the individuals determine their own mission and vision as well as the topic the group will study.
The mission statement of Maurice’s group was ‘prosperous communities through innovation’ and their vision to be taken away from the course was ‘a rural and regional Australia where we are all proud to live, work and play’.
"It was no simple task for 31 people to agree on the wording and meaning of these statements," Maurice explains. "They evolved from much discussion over the 60 days we were together."
For most of those 60 days the group worked in harmony but their first meeting was as teams. For two weeks in May 2005, they competed in challenges during a survival-skills course in the Kimberley. "An important thing I learnt there was to assume nothing when approaching any decision," he says.
In the following months Maurice travelled to state capitals, where organisations including the Ford car company, the Australian Federal Police and the Salvation Army played a part in challenging the participants, exposing them to new situations and teaching them new skills.
"For some, a five-minute TV interview might have been the biggest challenge; for others it may have been working on the streets of Kings Cross with the Salvation Army or hiking with a 20kg backpack," Maurice says.
For him, a highlight was two weeks in Brazil. The group took the opportunity to look at the beef industry, their chosen study topic, as well as the sugar, cotton and ethanol industries. "I was impressed with how open people were with their production and business information. I was also amazed to learn that in Brazil the jail term is longer for cutting down a tree than for robbing a bank!"
In November 2006, the participants met in Canberra for their graduation. Maurice says this was not the end of his ARLP experience; the lessons learnt were too big and the friendships too strong to end after 20 months. As a memento, the graduates produced a recipe book, each contributing a favourite dish.
Maurice says it illustrates the diversity, innovation and spirit of rural Australia. "It takes the right ingredients, properly prepared, to make a tasty meal, and the same can be said of the people who will sustain rural communities. I encourage anyone interested to take up this challenge."
More information: www.rural-leaders.com.au
Supporting future leaders
Maurice Collins says he feels privileged to have been sponsored by AWI to complete the Australian Rural Leadership Program. Sponsors pay 90 per cent of costs, with participants paying the remainder.
Ian Rogan, AWI general manager for wool production, says that each year AWI supports a wool-industry person in the program as part of its investment in industry leadership.
"With at least one member of each of the AWI and Woolmark Company boards graduating from the program, I know this investment is helping encourage and develop future leaders," Mr Rogan says.
Applications for the Course 14 intake of the program close on 31 July.
Find out more about AWI's education program.
Return to Beyond the Bale Issue 27 index page.