He took a gap year where he spent six months working on the farm and another six in a landscaping business.
All of it was enough to confirm his passion for the property and the industry, and after specialising in plant and soil science he combined his experience with his new expertise to cope with his primary interest – low rainfall farming and how farmers can overcome lower, or more variable, rainfall.
To finetune his approach to his fledgling career, he was also the recipient of a GRDC-sponsored Agrifutures Horizon Scholarship.
His last detour en route to Narraport and the region’s less-than-reliable rainfall was a 12-month stint on a cattle station 700km south-west of Katherine in the Northern Territory.
“Now I am looking forward to becoming more involved in my family farm and contributing to the decision making, as well as maintaining a work-life balance where I can still travel,” Mr Lee said.
When he’s not on the farm he can be found on the footy field, exercising to be on the footy field, or working on a project.
“Whether it’s out in the garden or building something – and I recently got a new pup, so I’m currently in the process of building a kennel for him and will be spending a lot of time training him,” he said.
“Our farm is a mixed enterprise of sheep and cropping, we predominantly grow barley, lentils, wheat, vetch and occasionally canola, and in 2021 we invested in trucks to cart grain.
“My dad (Andrew), brother (Jack) and I are the primary operational workers on our family farm but we also employ a full-time farmhand, a full-time truck driver, and typically a seasonal worker during the harvest period.”
Mr Lee said a major challenge for the next generation would be the scale of management.
He said smaller farms are becoming a thing of the past, “so when going through succession and transitioning the next generation to management, there is a lot to wrap your head around”.
“This is why I chose to join the Cultivating Futures in Farming mentor program being hosted by Birchip Cropping Group,” he said.
“There’s always lots of agronomic advice on offer, so finding a program focused on the financial and business side of a farm business has been a great opportunity.
“Since Jack and I have become more involved in the farm business, a priority for us has been to gain clarity around the numbers to make more informed decisions.
“To support this, we have started using an app for our livestock called Mobble, which has helped with record keeping. Since our experience with that has been so great, we’re looking at implementing a system such as AgWorld for the cropping side of our business.”
While Mr Lee hasn’t yet experienced severe drought, his father has, so they always ensure their farm business is well diversified to mitigate the risks.
And although 2024 is not looking too bad he said they would need rain in the next week or two.
Mr Lee said they had always kept the cropping and sheep, and more recently in 2021 brought trucks into the business.
Although he conceded it could be a logistical headache from time to time, he said it was good for cash flow.
“We’ve always had an agronomist, and use Bruce Adrian from Nutrien for all agronomic advice, and more recently we have brought in a farm business adviser – who has been excellent,” he said.
“Similarly, with implementing Mobble for our livestock management, the intention behind this was just to get more clarity around our decisions and decision making,” he said.
“Our adviser has provided clarity around many things for us, and helped implement structure in some parts of our business which has been a great process to have been a part of.
“Dad has the knowledge from years of farming experience, so this move is more so for the benefit of my brother and me. That way, we can optimise the handover process and get clarity around numbers and benchmarking.”
