A desire to give back to an industry that has been good to his family was the premise behind Orroroo woolgrower Geoff Power throwing himself into advocating for the state’s livestock producers.
But after nearly two decades, including nearly three years as Livestock SA president, he “stepped aside” last month.
Mr Power has spent countless days away from his farm at grower meetings or representing SA’s interests on North Terrace or Canberra.
But he says all the kilometres in the ute or on flights have been worth it, lobbying for drought reform, increased funding for wild dog control, Q-fever vaccine subsidies for livestock workers and protecting the South East from fracking.
Mr Power leaves a strong legacy, with Livestock SA having more than 3000 members and active branches in the northern and southern regions.
“We were the first state to sit down with the RSPCA and PIRSA and set out standards and guidelines for sheep, cattle and goats which have now been legislated,” he said.
“It protects our industry so even if the animal activists wanted to ban calf castration or even mulesing, it would be difficult.”
Mr Power was born and raised in Melbourne, but from a young age he knew his future lay in the bush.
“Watching my father drive to work at the same time and drive home at the same time, I knew I didn’t want that – even in those days he complained about the traffic,” he said.
Mr Power’s first job was with Dalgetys. Two years later, he joined Southern Cross Irrigation and moved to Broken Hill, NSW, with wife Val.
Later they moved to the Upper North of SA with the company, where they achieved their dream of buying land.
“In the early 1970s there was one hell of a drought and wool was only worth about $150 a bale when we bought our first block,” he said.
Through hard work, the Powers have built up about 5000 hectares, running a self-replacing Merino flock, as well as a 200ha grain property near Jamestown.
“If I did it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said.
His tireless advocacy began in 2003 when he joined SA Farmers’ Federation livestock’s committee. From 2004-15, he was SAFF’s representative on Wool Producers Australia, including chairman from 2013-15.
He also served on the SA Sheep Advisory Group, advising the Agriculture Minister on the spending of the Sheep Industry Fund.
Mr Power was a founding board member of Livestock SA in May 2013 and was elected president in December 2014.
Mr Power says his decision not to re-nominate at the last annual general meeting was about “succession planning”.
“We have improved the brand and got the confidence of producers and have created a Sheep Industry Blueprint and are now working on a Beef Industry Blueprint,” he said.
“With low commodity prices and drought, we lost a generation and a half, but the past few years I have really noticed a lot of young people coming into the industry, which is great.”
