19/10/2026
For our Over the Fence visual stories, we wanted to capture the full spectrum of farmers within the Weddin District from the smaller acerage, low input graziers to the mixed-enterprise farmers to the broadacre croppers. For the fifth film as part of this series, we take a look at the Holland family (Koolpari Enterprises) who are broadacre croppers near Kikiamah, at the southern end of the Weddin Mountains.
Watch their story here 👇
https://youtu.be/9M8uzNnskmg
We first got to know Broden Holland at our initial Over the Fence field day and via his socials, where he openly shared information with other farmers about what he is doing on his place. This is what this project is all about – farmers talking and sharing with other farmers with curiosity, not judgement – so we wanted to hear more of Broden’s story.
Broden and his father, Chris, and their team have moved from a diversified farm to concentrate solely on cropping because it’s what they know and love best, it helps with the work-life balance and they feel that they have equal ability to make improvements to soil health as they would under any other system. They are open to change and constantly look to improve their cropping system, with new crop rotations being trialled and new technology being explored.
One of the key aspects of the Holland’s operation is the efficiencies. Technology such as GPS, protein mapping, variable rate spreading and spray technology has enabled them to adopt precision agriculture. Every operation is done as efficiently as it possibly can be, which helps to reduce input costs as well as the cost to the environment. Data and technology play a big role across the farming business, from extensive soil testing to determine the soil and crop needs to shared drives connecting the owners and employees on jobs/tasks to programs that capture operational and compliance data. The inputs and outputs are captured in fine detail to help support decision making and meet regulatory requirements.
To the Hollands, ‘sustainability’ is primarily about the viability of the business, while still being aware of the environment around them. They measure and consider the impact of their actions, but approach decisions with pragmatism and understand that there are a wide range of factors that feed in to farm management. Broden gives an example of a trade-off he makes when burning stubble to reduce Nitrogen tie-up, at the risk of losing soil moisture and organic matter, with one of the driving factors being the exorbitant cost of fertiliser.
The film highlights the need for farmers to have the ability to pull the full array of tools out of the toolbox at times to make things work because farming is such a complex beast. There is no silver bullet and they’re not only dealing with nature and it’s ever-changing climatic and seasonal conditions, but also markets, input availability, family dynamics, social pressures and more. Chris and Broden describe the mental load and the weight of the responsibility that farmers carry on their shoulders. It’s huge. Every farmer is out there trying to do their best, with the knowledge and resources they have available. Every decision is made with intent and sometimes decisions are made for the short term but most farmers have a long-term goal to leave their place in a better condition.
Broden says ‘Australian farmers need to grow together’. So let’s support our farmers in their many and varied forms, to continue to grow and evolve. If we don’t we’ll start to lose more and more of our family farms, like the Hollands, and with that will go generations of intricate knowledge and farmers with a true love for the land and what they produce.
Thanks again to Stuart Walmsley for once again capturing this farming story with honesty, heart and some incredible footage.
This project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.
📷🎥 stuartwalmsley.com
