Find out how this mixed farming operation has remained agile, resilient and profitable across all three of its divisions for over eight decades.

Mulyan Farms is a 1,600-hectare diversified enterprise in Cowra, central west New South Wales. The temperate Mediterranean climate makes this region well suited to a broad range of agricultural opportunities, and Mulyan takes full advantage of this flexibility. The operation breeds and trades lambs, and grows wheat, canola, maize, popcorn and oats. They also specialise in horticultural crops, including beetroot, asparagus, cucumbers and onions. Mulyan Farms has belonged to the Fagan family since its establishment in 1886 and today is managed by fifth generation farmer, Ed Fagan. Ed's vision is to maintain an agile, resilient and profitable operation across all three of its divisions.

Snapshot

Farm/Enterprise Name: Mulyan Farm

Farm/Enterprise Location: Cowra, New South Wales, Australia

Type of Enterprise: Livestock: cattle, sheep. Broadacre crops: wheat, canola, maize, popcorn, oats. Horticultural crops: beetroot, asparagus, cucumber, sunflowers.

Primary Markets Served: Australian domestic & select products international

Staffing: 20 permanent (more during harvest)

Property Size: 1,600 ha

Property Elevation: 310m

Average Annual Rainfall: 598mm

Climate: Temperate mediterranean

Website: mulyan.com.au

Farm history

A 50-year history of beetroot production.

Mulyan Farm was established by the Fagan family in 1886 as a livestock grazing enterprise. In 1939, global agriculture was severely impacted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Within months, food production throughout Europe and other parts of the world was disrupted by farmer enlistment, supply chain destruction and invasion. When the Australian government responded by expanding the nation's processed food sector, the canning industry took off almost overnight. One of the many companies to expand was Edgells, who established a processing plant in Cowra to help feed the war effort. The Fagan's pivoted their operation into cropping for canning and soon established a substantial and profitable horticultural vegetable division. During this time, Mulyan hosted a large workforce of up to 500 people, and today some historic workers housing remains on the property.

Since the early 1940s Mulyan has operated three divisions - livestock, broadacre cropping and horticulture crops - however, the markets for these three enterprises are ever changing. After the war, Australia's canned vegetable industry continued to boom, and for almost 50 years Mulyan produced beetroot, asparagus, potatoes, tomatoes and onions for canning, as well as maintaining their broadacre cropping and livestock divisions.

The pioneering team at Mulyan have constantly adjusted crop choices and packaging methods to stay profitable and in line with changing consumer tastes.

Another seismic shift occurred in the final decades of the 20th century when globalisation opened the Australian market to cheaper imported food products. Unable to compete, Australian canneries and food processing companies began to fold, and Ed Fagan and his father, Peter, were forced to explore other market opportunities for their horticultural division. The father and son saw an opportunity within the rapidly expanding fast food and convenience sector and began growing salads that would end up in burgers. Since then the salad market has boomed nationwide, and the pioneering team at Mulyan have constantly adjusted crop choices and packaging methods to stay profitable and in line with changing consumer tastes.

Ed studied Ag Commerce at the University of Sydney, then worked all over the globe, and studied Postharvest Technology at University of California, Davis. He returned to Mulyan in 2002 to begin what he happily calls his 'life sentence'. Ed took over the everyday operations of Mulyan from his father in 2008 and has since carried on the farm's legacy of mixed cropping.

Challenge: Ever-changing markets

Diversification / Markets

Trends in consumer demand are undergoing constant changes, and the rate of these changes is only increasing, which means that staying stagnant is not a profitable business model. 'Twenty years ago a salad would be made up of iceberg lettuce, celery, beetroot, carrot and a few chunks of cheese,' says Ed. 'Today, it's very different. Salads are baby spinach, mizuna, rocket or mixed greens; nuts, feta, fruit and olives. And a lot of the time it's fresh, it's in a bag and it's ready to go.' Keeping pace with market trends and consumer tastes is paramount to maintaining a prosperous mixed farming operation.

Keeping pace with market trends and consumer tastes is paramount to maintaining a prosperous mixed farming operation.

Market demand can be affected by any number of factors, both local and international. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and lockdowns were mandated, people stopped going to the cinema. This resulted in a dramatic downturn in popcorn sales and subsequently wiped out the demand for Mulyan's legendary popcorn on the cob.

Conversely, new markets can open almost overnight due to local or international events. For example, Ukraine has the highest production volume of sunflower seeds in the world; however, due to the devastating invasion by Russia, this production will be severely impacted. Sunflowers have been grown on Mulyan for several years, but now Ed will be favouring sunflowers over corn and other crops to meet market demand and to capitalise on higher prices.

Solution

Whatever the size, every beetroot finds a home.

'If we had kept on only growing vegetables for the canning market, we would've been broke a long time ago,' says Ed.

Mulyan has a long history of shifting with the market, and Ed has continued this legacy with his decisions to try new crops and methods. Mulyan was one of the first producers of baby-leaf spinach when bag salad was at its infancy in 2008. They invested in a self-propelled harvester and specialised cooling systems to maintain freshness. Then about a decade later, when the market had become oversaturated with producers for bag salads, Ed turned his attention to another opportunity. Beetroot had been grown on Mulyan since the 1940s, but there was a new and exciting market opportunity arising.

This opportunity came about when a group from a United Kingdom company called G's visited Mulyan on a farm tour. G's is one of the biggest beetroot producers in the UK and they began a relationship with Mulyan to produce beetroot for vacuum-packed bags. While this relationship has proved lucrative, the product required beetroot of a specific shape and size, leaving Ed with plenty of surplus product.

Ed reached out to Sydney food manufacturing company Three Threes, who've been producing pickles and other jarred goods since 1919. Soon, Mulyan's surplus beetroots found a new home within the Three Threes range as the Sweet Whole Baby Beets and Sweet Sliced Beetroot products.

Through Ed's awareness of the market, his outward-looking approach and networking skills, he has found a home for every beetroot, resulting in a profitable and low-waste result for Mulyan's horticultural division.

Finally, a snack company contacted Ed asking for beetroot for dehydrating. Mulyan started providing this company with the farm's largest beetroots, which weren't suitable for G's or Three Threes. Through Ed's awareness of the market, his outward-looking approach and networking skills, he has found a home for every beetroot, resulting in a profitable and low-waste result for Mulyan's horticultural division.

Outcome

'The benefit of mixed farming for Mulyan is its agility in a quickly shifting market,' says Ed. 'I can see an opportunity and if it's viable, I can take that opportunity. If we were not diversified, we wouldn't have the confidence to try a new crop or method.'

When popcorn sales dropped, Ed had the flexibility to switch to sunflowers. When the market became oversaturated with producers for salad bags, Ed returned his focus to beetroot. The result is a farm with the flexibility and resilience to weather downturns and shifts within the market and remain profitable through it all.

Challenge: Keeping a diversified operation standardised where possible

Mixed Farming

'The danger with mixed farming is you can easily get quite stretched,' says Ed. 'It's not productive to be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none.' To keep a mixed farming operation manageable, it needs to be set up in a way that prevents collisions in planting and harvesting.

To keep a diversified operation cost efficient and headache free, it's important to standardise and simplify wherever possible.

Diversifying crops often requires purchasing specialised equipment. If an enterprise needs to acquire new equipment for each new crop, it can quickly become economically unviable. To keep a diversified operation cost efficient and headache free, it's important to standardise and simplify wherever possible.

Solution

'When it comes to running a profitable mixed farming operation the word that comes to mind is "confusion",' muses Ed, 'so you have to keep it standardised where you can.'

Rotational cropping maximises disease resilience.

At Mulyan there is a variety of horticultural and broadacre crops that are cycled through. They have all the equipment required for this selection and have developed efficient farming practices for each. Ed isn't afraid to branch out to a new crop if there's a good market opportunity, but within their tried-and-true range, there's usually one that is a good fit for the current market, meaning it's relatively easy to switch between.

Ed also tries to always keep the horticultural crops on Mulyan linked in some way. For example, the planting and harvesting of sunflowers and corn is very similar, so the equipment required to produce these two crops is the same. Complementary cropping like this is a great way of saving expenditure on new equipment and on the time it takes to learn new processes.

Standardisation also can be achieved in the arrangements of fields. Mulyan's permanent bed system has been configured so that it works for whatever crop is in production. Row spacings and beds are set up in increments of 60 in, allowing all machinery to operate on permanent wheel tracks.

Outcome

By establishing operational practices that are as consistent as possible, Ed has managed to keep Mulyan diversified yet still manageable. The timing of harvesting and planting rarely crosses over, ensuring there's always something to do, with few production collisions.

Challenge: Maintaining soil health

Soil Health

Mixed farming or otherwise, soil management is key to maintaining a healthy and prosperous agricultural operation. It's an ongoing challenge that requires constant attention and action. Here's how it's done at Mulyan.

Solution

Horticultural and broadacre crops are grown in rotation. While there is no set sequence to the rotation, as this is usually directed by the market and weather, Ed makes sure that there is at least a two-year break between the same crop being replanted into the same piece of land. This system of rotation minimises disease build-up and allows for the use of a wide range of herbicides to reduce weed pressure.

Ed makes sure that there is at least a two-year break between the same crop being replanted into the same piece of land.

Mulyan's soils are tested annually, and fertiliser blends and soil amendments are applied according to the results. In addition, blocks that are to be utilised for vegetable production receive an application of a humus compost mineral blend.

To maintain healthy soil biology and structure, Mulyan is operated on a semi-controlled traffic system. Using GPS technology, tractors only operate in the furrows. Rotary hoes are used for bed prep but are limited to one pass so as not to disturb the soil unnecessarily.

Outcome

Due to the consistent work to maintain soil health, Mulyan is healthy and prospering. In 2015, Ed Fagan won NSW DPI Farmer of the Year and was commended for his soil management, innovation and leadership.

Future plans

The future looks bright at Mulyan, and Ed's vision for an agile, resilient and profitable operation is certainly being achieved.

When asked about future challenges Ed says, 'I know that the job market will be a challenge moving forward, as it has been growing harder and harder to find and retain workers.'

But with this challenge also comes new opportunities. Within the industry, there is a lot of money and research being directed towards developing autonomous farm machinery, and Mulyan has already been involved in this. Ed has hosted the University of Sydney's Horticulture Innovation Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems to run trials at Mulyan.

Industry recognition

NSW DPI Farmer of the Year 2015

Four-time finalist for Australian Vegetable Grower of the Year

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