MBA gives farmer the edge
by Charlotte Knottenbelt
Chicken farmers must sometimes feel sandwiched. On the one hand chicken meat is
more popular than ever – South Australians eat about one million chickens a
week, and we're estimated to consume a whopping 35 kilograms of chook each per
year. On the other, animal welfare has become part of mainstream consciousness
and consumers are demanding better quality food and care for the environment,
right at a time when land is at a premium, under pressure from the ever-growing
city.
It sounds like a tightrope, but one worth treading by those prepared to adapt to changing conditions and explore niche markets. It’s been worth it for Laura Fell, a UniSA MBA graduate who runs a barn chicken farm on 10 acres in Blewitt Springs.
Fell and family keep 70-80,000 thousand birds at any one time in their large barns in a region better known for its wine than its chickens. The barns keep out the predators and nasty weather, and the chooks are free to wander about eating top quality grain to their hearts’ content. The Fell’s don’t own the birds, they are contracted to feed and fatten them – a chicken Hilton if you like.
Fell describes the business as a “commercial enterprise with a farming lifestyle.” She and her husband Ron were not always farmers – they chose the life, first dipping their toes in ‘89 when they bought a hobby farm at Mylor. “It was never very profitable but it was a great way to learn,” she says.
They bought at Blewitt Springs in ‘93, Ron quit his public service job and both threw themselves head-on into the challenges of 21st century smallish scale farming.
When she took up a position as chair of the South Australian Farmers Federation’s Chicken Meat Group, Fell decided to swot up. “I realised there was information I needed to know about the business environment – and I wanted to get it in a short space of time.”
She saw an ad about a UniSA/TAFE partnership which recognised prior experience and provided a pathway to study for an MBA to people who didn’t already have an undergraduate degree, and decided to take the plunge into tertiary education.
It’s a decision she hasn’t regretted. “It’s given me insights into the thinking behind big business decisions and that has enabled me to put balance into the perspective in which I approach issues.
“And the intangible thing is it’s given me confidence. That’s something that I don’t think you can put a value on, but it’s pivotal.”
Although their business caters purely to the domestic market, Fell’s expertise has won her places on privately sponsored trade missions to Brunei and the Middle East, and she’ll soon be heading overseas, this time on a consulting mission. She was even voted runner-up SA rural woman of the year in 2004.
“From my experience on both sides of the fence there’s no question that the MBA’s been worth it. The personal rewards are huge. It does change your life. It changes how you see the world,” she says.
“And it changes how others in business see you – you can almost see them relaxing when they can see there are credible qualifications behind the experience.”