AARON Purssell is a long way from his English roots, but there’s no place he would rather be than with his wife and four children in Merredin.
A 37-year-old chef by trade, he has been fascinated by agriculture since growing up on a vegetable farm in the UK.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for Aaron and wife Renee, but the couple’s planting program has increased dramatically since embarking on a farming adventure in 2014.
“We started with a 56 hectare lease and next year we’re planning on putting in about 930ha,” he said.
Sixteen years ago Aaron moved to Australia and settled in Esperance after landing a farm job for harvest. There, while working for the Stewart family, he began to realise the possibility of farming on his own.
“They’re fantastic people – they’re right up there with technology and are always thinking of ways to improve, so that was a great first-hand experience with people who were trying to use technology to better their farming practices,” he said.
After two years the couple moved to Merredin to be closer to family. Aaron has worked on several farms in the region but has also been a spraying, truck driving and spreading contractor.
Renee said after working for others they were ready to start a business of their own, and Aaron borrowed and hired machinery to crop 56ha of barley in 2014.
“I hired an old header to get the crop off, borrowed a truck and just put the grain straight in there to deliver it to Merredin. I think we managed to get a grand total of 110 tonnes of barley – it went about 2 t/ha and we used the money we made to get a little bit bigger,” he said.
In 2015 the couple leased another Merredin property to crop another 70ha.
“That year went reasonably well and we saw that there was another property up for lease, so everything we earned went back into that,” Renee said.
“This year we cropped 410ha – we are just very determined to become farmers.”
This season was a tough harvest for the couple, with frost affecting their crop and machinery breakdowns. Despite this the Purssells will be expanding their cropping program and upgrading some machinery next season.
Renee said the Merredin community’s generosity and understanding had allowed their business to expand.
“We’ve been lucky that people have allowed us to pay accounts after harvest,” she said.
“It’s been people who know how hard we work, and those who know how hard it can be to get into farming.
“We could never have done this in Esperance, purely because we wouldn’t have known enough people to ask – can we take this on goodwill?
“People here have seen me grow up – they know me well, they trust us, and they know what farming is like.”
The couple is confident of having plenty of helping hands in the future with four children under the age of eight. Next season they will take on another lease to plant 933ha of canola, barley and wheat and are considering adding 300 sheep to the program.
