2013 Farmer of the Year finalist John Fairley
John Fairley is the sixth generation of his family to own and operate a 120 hectare dairy at Picton south of Sydney.
John has taken an innovative path to securing the future of the family business by moving into value-adding, building a factory on the farm to process his own milk as well as the milk from seven other farms under the Country Valley label.
The business employs 22 people and processes fresh milk, including organic, yoghurt and cream on-farm while butter and cheese are made off-farm.
At the same time John has pursued a biological farming approach to the 240-head dairy farm with a major focus on soil health.
He aims to look after the environment and his community using sustainable methods as much as possible.
John has brought in vegetable waste mixed with horse manure, sawdust and straw from Sydney to compost and use for fertiliser.
Through the biological approach involving minimum chemical use, John has seen soil carbon levels rise dramatically, earth worms and clover return, soil biota benefit and the soils retaining more of the annual rainfall.
John is also planting tree lanes around the paddocks as a long-term environmental investment
He has a 10kw solar unit attached to the dairy which nearly negates his electricity bill in summer. He has conducted energy audits and a carbon audit to use as a baseline measurement. Bottles, water and cardboard are all recycled.
His most exciting innovation is the development of a methane project which has been assessed and approved to use food waste from Sydney to fuel a Bio-Digester which produces methane.
This will drive an 80kw generator to get the farm and factory self sufficient. Any excess electricity generated will be sold back to the grid. The water from the flare off stack is 90 degrees and will be used for pasteurising the milk. The gas (CNG) will be compressed and used to fuel the fleet of trucks and milk tanker.
John has also taken an innovative approach marketing the businesses. Rather than selling bottles of milk, Country Valley sells the story of how they operate the combined businesses.
John uses Twitter and Facebook to promote and keep the public informed about the happenings on farm. He says people love to hear the stories of cows calving and the calf getting onto its feet within half an hour, as an example. This social media contact has led to stories and films being made about the business.
His marketing success has enabled Country Valley to hold its pricing in the face of the cheaper supermarket home brands.
John helps out with his community and shares his experiences. He hosts groups interested in sustainable farming regularly and welcomes student placements from schools and universities learning the practical skills of their chosen courses. Country Valley supplies milk and milkshakes to many local schools and charities for fetes and fund raising. John sponsors a local sports club and donates Dairy Packs for raffles and prizes, as well as supplying milk to the local high school to allow disadvantaged students the opportunity to have breakfast in the morning.
