Two staff at an iconic SA agriculture business have reached significant career milestones in recent months, with a staggering eight decades of service between the pair.
Al Schumann celebrated 40 years of service to Ramsey Bros in August, while fellow service department employee Craig Furnell reached the same milestone in December.
The duo both started their careers with the Eyre Peninsula-born business in 1983 at the Cleve branch and are the company's longest serving staff members excluding members of the Ramsey family.
Throughout their years of service, they each would have assisted with the growth and harvest of about 10 million tonnes of grain and have contributed countless hours of work to the business.
While Craig relocated to the Wudinna branch about 23 years ago, Al has remained at Cleve for his whole career with the company.
"I did an apprenticeship in Adelaide before I came back and worked for a few local businesses," Al said.
"But I liked agricultural machinery and the maintenance side of my career so when the job popped up I applied right away.
"Back then it was Eddy (Ward) who gave me the job and now here I am 40 years later."
Throughout four decades, Al says he has seen huge advancements in agricultural technology, with the biggest being machinery's computerisation.
"When I first started everything was as you'd expect - you'd get in the tractor and steer around the paddock," he said.
"But now they're all auto-steer, so you can just jump in an air seeder and it knows the paddock so it can just drive itself.
"It can do all the monitoring, it can really do most things without us.
"We also used to have a lot of tractors broken down throughout the seeding and harvest, but now the technology is advanced that we don't see that stop and start as much."
While Al already had a few years under his belt when he started at Ramsey Bros, Craig's career kicked off as an apprentice with the company.
"We'd just come out of a drought and Ramseys were putting on three apprentices at the time," he said.
"I managed to get one of the apprenticeships at Cleve and stayed there until 2000 before I went to Wudinna.
"We're really one big family at Ramsey Bros and on Eyre Peninsula as well and I think that's been part of what has kept me going."
Craig echoed Al's comments about the technology advancements he has seen throughout his career and said machinery is unlike what he ever expected.
"There were no buttons in machinery back when I started, it was all cables and levers," he said.
"Years ago you'd only be getting a couple of bags per acre but now farmers are growing so much more than that.
"Technology is becoming more savvy but cockies are too and the younger farmers are especially right up there with all the new technology."
The resilience of the region's farmers and the Ramsey Bros business is something Al said he admired.
"In 2022/23 we had the biggest harvest we had probably ever seen," he said.
"No one had reaped crops like we did that year, but just a few years earlier we were in drought.
"I've seen a lot of that over 40 years, but I also see how the farmers manage in the tough times as well as the good, and how Ramsey Bros is able to work through those times with them but also as a company.
"There are always highs and lows in the industry but the core of it stays the same."
The pair both believe the community connection is one of their biggest driving forces behind four decades of service and are grateful for the relationships they have been able to foster along the way.
"I'm seeing grandsons now stepping up to take on the farm after I worked with their grandfathers years ago," Al said.
"Getting out into the community and speaking different people every day is one of the best parts of the role.
"If I had to wake up every day to do the same thing I don't think I'd still be doing it, but every day is different and you work with so many people which keeps things interesting."
Through their time with the company, the pair both rose through the ranks to become service managers at their respective branches, with Craig still in the position and Al stepping down after about 12 years in the role.
While Al is nearing retirement, he says his body is still keeping up with the work so he doesn't expect to slow down just yet.
His legacy within the company will also continue for many years to come with his son following in his footsteps and working at the company's Cummins branch.
Meanwhile, Craig said he was keen to stick around for the foreseeable future and encouraged the younger generation to seek a career in the industry.
"At Ramseys we have plenty of branches on Eyre Peninsula and a couple others so it's a great company to get involved with and grow," he said.
"But in general, agriculture is a secure industry and if you're good at what you do there are always opportunities."
Katie Jackson
Journalist at Stock Journal. Born into a journo family in the state's South East, Katie made the move to the big smoke to join the team in early 2022 after seven years spent at various mastheads in the regions.
Journalist at Stock Journal. Born into a journo family in the state's South East, Katie made the move to the big smoke to join the team in early 2022 after seven years spent at various mastheads in the regions.
