Good People to Know

In the last episode, Damien Gallagher spoke with Dr Kyle Mulrooney, co-Director of The Centre for Rural Criminology at the University of New England. The two spoke about rural crime impacts on farmers, their families and their communities. During the conversation they touched on one of the emerging threats to farms, cyber-crime. 

With ABS data showing that one in five agricultural businesses have experienced a cyber incident, this is a real and growing threat. To find out more, Dr Kyle Mulrooney shares his insights into what cyber-crime looks like for agricultural businesses, how increased on-farm digitisation and automation are elevating ris...

In this episode of Good People To Know, WFI Executive General Manager Damien Gallagher shakes hands with Dr Kyle Mulrooney from the University of New England’s Centre for Rural Criminology to chat about rural crime and its impact on farmers.

Dr Mulrooney’s recent major national farm crime survey, reveals just how common rural crimes—such as trespass, illegal hunting, and livestock theft are, with more than 90% of New South Wales farmers affected and around 30% victimised 7 or more times. The conversation touches on the emotional and financial toll these crimes take on farmers, their families, and entire...

National Farm Safety Week is a time to reflect on how we can make Australian farms safer.

Tragically, 2024 was a devastating year for Australian farming communities. The industry suffered its highest year of fatalities in over two decades, with 72 lives lost.

Last year on the podcast, FarmSafe Australia Chair and Tasmanian farmer, Felicity Richards, shared insights from the 2024 Safer Farms Report about how farmers can make their world a safer place.

Felicity now returns to discuss Farmsafe Australia’s 2025 Safer Farms Report, proudly sponsored by WFI, with new podcast host Damien Gallagher. Conversation ce...

Today on National Ag Day themed ‘Grow you Good Thing’, we celebrate farmers and the incredible contribution they make to the lives of all Australians. Farmers are central to the future of this country and serve as an incredible example of resilience and ingenuity, adapting to the harsh Australian climate to feed the country and the world.

One of those farmers is Brad Egan, who was awarded ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ in 2022 for his utilisation of technologies to help decision-making and lift productivity on farms. During the series, many of our Good People to Know have discusse...

With spring upon us, many regional communities’ thoughts are turning to preparation for bushfire season. With climate change causing an increase in the frequency and severity of bushfires in Australia, there is a pressing need to reduce emissions and find new ways to make communities resilient.

In this episode Andrew Beer speaks with Sean Appoo from the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, an organisation who use traditional burning methods to reduce the impact of bushfires and the emissions they cause. Working with traditional owners and organisations like the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, landowners can not only make their farms more re...

1820 people have died on Australian farms since 2001. It’s a sobering statistic made worse by the fact that nearly 15% of those deaths were children under 15.

This is just one of the statistics raised in the 2024 Safer Farms Report which was released today to mark National Farm Safety Week. The report is an important resource for farmers and their families, with the purpose of promoting safer work practices that save life and limbs.

This National Farm Safety Week, Tasmanian beef farmer and Farmsafe Australia Chair, Felicity Richards is asking farmers and the industry to join Farmsafe Au...

Last month over 120,000 people from around Australia and the world descended on Rockhampton for Beef Week - a wonderful reflection of the strength and scale of agriculture in Australia. With red meat production accounting for just under 11% of Australia’s emissions, it was a big focus of conversation at the event.

In this special episode recorded on the ground at Beef Australia 2024, Andrew shakes hands with Agforce President, Georgie Somerset, and Agforce CEO, Michael Guerin, about the role the beef industry plays in addressing climate change.

Andrew, Georgie and Michael chat about the importance of su...

Whether it’s macadamia nuts, kakadu plums, bush tomatoes or lemon myrtle, native Australian ingredients are having a real moment. But did you know that Australia is also home to a variety of traditional grains used in what is thought to be the world’s oldest bread?

In Narrabri, NSW, the University of Sydney is working with the local Gomeroi people to research the use of these grains using modern agricultural techniques. More suited to our harsh climate and more resilient to the effects of climate change, native grains could well be a way for farmers to impr...

With women officially representing 33% of the workforce according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), Australian Agriculture is an industry that has historically had a significant gender imbalance.

In today’s special International Women’s Day episode of Good People to Know, Andrew finds out more about this gap in diversity by shaking hands with President of Australian Women in Agriculture and National Farmer Federation’s Independent Board member, Nat Somerville.

Nat is a farmer of Torres Strait Islander descent that lives and works on Ngadjuri Country in South Australia’s Mid Nor...

In this episode, Andrew Beer chats with GIVIT CEO Sarah Tennant, about how GIVIT is helping Australians who have been impacted by natural disasters. Disclaimer: WFI’s parent company IAG, is the National Disaster and Emergency Partner of GIVIT. As part of this partnership, IAG has provided funding to GIVIT to help support pandemic and disaster impacted communities. 

This year to date, there have already been countless storm, flood and bushfire events impacting communities across Australia. Regional communities are particularly vulnerable to these weather events, and people sometimes find themselves in precarious situations having lost all or most...

In our last season we spoke at length about the increasing frequency and severity of weather events due to climate change, and it’s a topic that regularly comes up when talking to our farming communities.

With natural disasters impacting more regional Australians than ever before, Andrew shakes hands with El Carter, National Emergency Response Lead with Australian Red Cross. They discuss her experience and how regional communities can better prepare for future weather events.

With over 17 years at Australian Red Cross leading their response to some of the nations’ biggest disasters, El truly is a go...

In October the National Farmers Federation held their annual conference where the theme was ‘Australia to the World’. With around 70% of Australia’s produce being exported, it’s an important topic to Aussie farmers.

We were there shaking hands and speaking with leaders and experts on Australia’s moral and financial obligations in feeding a world heading to upwards of 10 billion people, the issues that affect Australian exports and the role sustainability plays in a warming world.

This is the final episode of the first season of Good People to Know. We would be very interested in your thoughts on the first season and would love to know what other topics or initiatives you would like to see in the future. Please click here to share your thoughts.

In today's episode Andrew continues his conversation with Scott Hammond, CEO Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast about mental health and the unique challenges faced by Regional Australians.

During this second part of the conversation they discuss the role of social media, the pressures...

Roughly one in five Australians will experience a mental health condition at some point in their lives – a statistic that’s true for the city and the bush. But it has been suggested that mental health conditions in Regional Australia are under reported and to make matters worse, the age-standardised suicide rate is 60% higher in regional areas compared with capital cities, with the rate increasing with remoteness.

To chat about this important topic Andrew is joined by Scott Hammond, CEO Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast. With over 20 years’ experience and managing an area of over 1.2 million km acr...

Australian farms consistently top the list of most unsafe workplaces in Australia, with roughly one in six people killed on the job in Australia working on a farm.

Andrew chats with John Darcy from the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) about how we address safety on Australian farms.

Free safety materials are available to farmers Australia-wide by visiting makingourfarmssafer.org.au.

Traditionally farms get passed on from generation to generation, but with many farmers not having children to pass their farm onto, the average Australian farmer is now in their 50s leading to economic and social challenges for agricultural communities.

This week Andrew is joined by Cultivate Farms CEO, Sam Marwood to talk to about how we keep more older farmers on the land, bring new families onto farms and revitalise regional communities through investment.

You can find out more by visiting Cultivate Farms.

The development and adoption of new technology on farms is touted is one of the key drivers in the National Farmers Federation’s 2030 Roadmap.

To demonstrate the future of farming through robotics and artificial intelligence, as well creating new sustainability and carbon models to drive improvements in farming practice, Charles Sturt University recently launch a ‘digital hands free farm’ in Wagga Wagga.

To tell us more, Andrew is joined again by the projects chief scientist, Professor David Lamb.

In today’s episode Andrew digs into Australia’s emerging carbon economy and what’s in it for farmers with Professor David Lamb - Chief Scientist at Food Agility and Adjunct Professor at University of New England (AU). Working in precision agriculture for more than 25 years and leading more than 40 industry-funded R&D projects, David really is a good person to know.

During the conversation they discuss how farmers can help the fight against climate change by not only reducing their carbon footprint, but also helping to draw carbon out of the atmosphere whilst opening new revenue stream...

Technology, social media and the COVID-19 pandemic have opened up new exciting business opportunities for regional small businesswomen. To find out more our host Andrew Beer, EGM WFI, sat down with Carrie Kwan from Mums & Co and Edwina Sharrock from Birth Beat to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities regional businesswomen face and how female entrepreneurs can help address real-world issues in the regions.

Both Carrie and Edwina show how living regionally is no barrier to running a successful business and how, in the case of Edwina, female entrepeneurship has helped overcome the barrier of distance in...

In part two of Andrew's conversation with National Farmers Federation President, Fiona Simson, they discuss some of the risks to the NFF's 2030 Roadmap.

How will the industry find the investment they need to adapt to changing technology and become more sustainable? What does volatile international trade mean? And how does insurance help mitigate risk in an industry where a years income can be lost in a day?

The agricultural industry is an exciting place to be at the moment - advances in technology and preferable weather conditions have led to much optimism in the sector.

In the first of two episodes, Andrew is joined by National Farmers Federation President, Fiona Simson, about their 2030 roadmap for the Australian agricultural industry to reach $100b in farmgate output and the role of sustainability, climate and technology.

Biosecurity, extreme weather, trade, climate, changes in technology… there is a lot on the minds of our Aussie farmers at the moment.

To discuss this and more our host, Andrew Beer, spoke with NSW Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW Dugald Saunders.

In our very first episode, Andrew Beer, Executive General Manger from WFI, talks to WFI’s meteorology specialist, Dr Bruce Buckley, about climate change and what impact this will have on regional Australia and the agricultural industry.

Are there ways that regional Australia can prepare for weather events? What changes can farmers make to remain profitable even in the face of unpredictable conditions? Does climate change offer any positive opportunities to Australian communities? Join us to find out.