Page 24 - Food&Drink Nov-Dec 2020

✷ RISING STAR
The Rising Star class of 2020
Industry pioneers are taking an alternative route from what is conventional and expected to achieve success – and their impact is being felt across the sector. As a follow-on to the feature on Grounded Foods (page 20), we bring you a snapshot of all our Rising Stars from 2020.
Driving the herd
In one of Australia’s largest dairy regions, two friends were having a very tough time. With indomitable spirit, Sallie Jones and Steve Ronalds decided to fight for their livelihood and community their own way. Premium dairy brand Gippsland Jersey is the result.
SALLIE Jones is a third- generation dairy farmer, growing up as a free-range kid on the family farm in Lakes Entrance. Steve Ronalds is the fifth generation in his family, and the third to be farming his Jindivick property, established by his great great-grandfather in 1895.
In 2015, the two largest milk processors in Australia at the time – Murray Goulburn Co-operative and Fonterra – slashed the farm gate price for milk to below the cost of production. Murray Goulburn also imposed retrospective price reductions demanding farmers reimburse it for what it called an overpayment for milk already delivered. Within a year, Australia’s milk production was at a record 21-year low.
While Ronalds grappled with a $170,000 debt, he had a motorbike accident that left him with multiple broken bones and a long, painful recovery. It was eight months before he could milk his herd again.
Meanwhile, Jones’s parents were facing their own challenges. They were getting older, still caring for their severely autistic son and facing economic strain from the milk crisis. They decided to lease the farm and move into town.
In April 2016, five months after Ronalds’s motorbike accident, Jones’s dad, Michael Bowen, took his own life.
In the aftermath, Jones says she had a defiant feeling that there was “no way in hell” that was how he was going to be
remembered. “I needed to make something good come from it.
I didn’t know that it was, but I knew a new chapter was going to be written.”
Jones says: “So, we were sitting in Steve’s living room, two broken people, talking about starting our own milk brand, when I noticed he had a hole in the sole of his sock. I went on Instagram and said, let’s see if we can get this farmer a new pair of socks.”
In September 2016, Ronalds and Jones officially launched Gipplsand Jersey, at Warragul Farmers’ Markets.
A strategic plan may not be drawn out, but Jones and Ronalds have three very clear pillars that underpin the brand: that dairy farmers be paid a fair price for what they do; a commitment to reducing the stigma of mental health among rural men; suicide prevention; and kindness.
“Neither Steve nor I are financially motivated, much to my husband’s annoyance! We just love what we do and why we’re doing it. It’s not about money, it’s about looking after our dairy industry,” says Jones.
In March, the dairy had 35 per cent growth, and year on year since it began it has grown 75 per cent.
“We are so tiny, like 0.1 per cent of the fresh milk market in Australia. But we are only limited by our imagination and our energy because Gippsland is Australia’s largest and best dairy region,” says Jones. ✷
24 | Food&Drink business | November-December 2020 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au