Australia’s Monumental Harvest Rolls On
When The Burton arrives at the Travers farming operation near Springsure on Queensland’s Central Highlands, harvest has begun with the usual combination of urgency and inconvenience.
Four headers are making their way through 4,000 hectares of desi chickpeas. Or at least they are when they’re working: the machines are clogging, forcing operators to stop while a team clears them out.
"The chickpeas are a little bit sappy,” says contractor Charlie Ryan. “We’ve had a few troubles with them feeding and blocking concaves and stuff like that, but it’s all part of it.”
Charlie and his team are a week in, working alongside farmers and brothers Ash and Matt Travers. Until now, it’s been a dream run. Today is different.
This is harvest reality,” Matt says as he passes tools to Charlie, wedged into the front of the combine. Not every day brings a breakdown, he reckons, but probably every second one does.
There’s always something new thrown at you. Whether it’s the crop or the conditions or the weather or the machinery.”
The season has been dry. The Travers received just 16 millimetres of rain at the beginning and nothing since. The chickpeas have grown largely on sub-soil moisture, but yields are better than expected.
"We budgeted on around 1 to 1.2 tonnes a hectare,” Ash says. “It’s been 1.6, so above what I was expecting.”
Harvest is the point when a year’s work, and much of the farm’s income, comes down to a few weeks. “All your money comes in once a year,” Ash says. Which explains the four headers. The Travers would rather throw machinery at the crop while conditions hold than take their chances with spring weather.
Australia’s winter harvest starts early in Central Queensland before rolling
south. This year, the nation is expected to produce around 61 million tonnes of winter crops. From the cab of a header, though, those numbers matter less than what’s standing directly in front of you.
The Travers family has farmed here since 1912. Ash and Matt are the fourth generation, following their father Ernie. Ernie has retired and lives at the beach, but still returns when things get busy. According to Matt, he's the chief engineer, chief mechanic and all-round problem solver.
"It gives me a purpose actually and I really love it,” Ernie says. “You don’t get it out of your blood.”
To an outsider, harvest can look chaotic. Ernie calls it “very organised chaos”.
"You’ve only got a certain amount of time to get the crop off,” he says, “and you’ve got to hurry and do the job in the time allocated.”
Extra machinery helps. Charlie and his brother Fergus are from Coonamble. Springsure is the start of their harvest run, which will take them south through New South Wales and into Victoria.
"The longer you can keep the machine going for, the better,” Charlie says. “You’ve got to make it pay for itself.”
His crew is young. Emma has just returned from two years in Europe and is now sleeping in a swag and spending more than 12 hours a day in a header.
"It’s so fun,” she says. “Working with friends, great crews. I feel like the people really make it. It’s a real community harvest.”
At the Travers place, that community starts with family. During harvest, Elise and Kristen Travers take on much of what happens beyond the paddock: children, groceries, meals and the logistics of feeding people whose arrival times are largely theoretical. Elise brings the kids down for dinner because otherwise they might see Ash at breakfast and not again
before bed. Matt says Kristen calls herself a “harvest widow”.
"We all work together to make it happen,” he says. “We all know this is our livelihood and this is how we pay our bills.”
The nearest major supermarket is more than an hour away, so Elise and Kristen rely on meals that can wait, travel and be reheated: lasagne, apricot chicken, lamb roast, curry and sausages.
"If you come back next year, I’ll be cooking the same things,” Elise says.
Dessert follows similar rules. Frozen options are out; self-saucing puddings, crumbles and sticky date are safer. One year, under pressure, Elise made an impossible pie and only realised much later that she had forgotten the sugar.
"Everyone was very polite and said it was amazing,” she says.
Read more great regional stories in our paper. Issue 01 available now in RB Sellars stores and with every purchase online.
The Burton
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Bleeding Blue
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All Hands On Deck
Long days, breakdowns and big machinery as as harvest gets underway in Central Queensland.
The Long Thread
After 200 years of wool growing, Victoria’s Mount Hesse Station is adapting for a changing future.
Whatever It Takes
Life on a vast Northern Territory cattle station where no challenge is ever small.
Look Westward
Amid ambition and setbacks, is cotton reshaping the future of Western Australia’s Ord Valley?
A Cut Above
Meet the mates who bonded over meat, and saved their local butcher shop.
Bleeding Blue
A county rugby club fights for a home premiership with a town behind it.
The Long Thread
After 200 years of wool growing, Victoria’s Mount Hesse Station is adapting for a changing future.
From Steel
Horses, family and a life on the land inspire a rural sculptor turning discarded steel into art.
Of Salt And Sky
Rare floods transform Lake Eyre into an inland sea, revealing the beauty of Australia’s interior.
All Hands On Deck
Long days, breakdowns and big machinery as as harvest gets underway in Central Queensland.
Whatever It Takes
Life on a vast Northern Territory cattle station where no challenge is ever small.
