Ploughing on through: small-scale farmers’ big dreams

The local region is a carpet of grazing and cropping land. Agriculture is a way of life, with generations carrying on family traditions of producing livestock and facing cycles of planting and harvest. Some area producers do the same, but they have evolved their production methods at a much smaller scale – some from scratch, others after a life on the land. Wendy and Lawrie Brooks of Shallom Grove Olive Oil and Goats are small producers who have launched two enterprises and experienced the extremes of building a small business and learning about the land.