The Nuffield Autumn Tour was held at Port Lincoln between March 15 and March 18. There were more than 80 participants in the tour, made up of Nuffield Scholars and their partners, and sponsors’ representatives (six from CSBP). Port Lincoln is situated at the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula, a triangular shaped area of South Australia which covers 55,000 sq km.

Port Lincoln is a prosperous, bustling town with a population of approximately 14,000. It is a major agricultural region with 1,350 farms and the agricultural industry comprises 85 per cent of the region’s economic activity. Aquaculture is currently the fastest growing enterprise in this region. It is also a popular tourist destination, especially for whale watching and fishing.

This area also suffered one of the deadliest bushfires in 20 years in January 2005, claiming land, livestock, houses and even lives. One interesting statistic is that Port Lincoln has more millionaires per capita than any other area in Australia.

Thusday March 8

Thursday was our first official day and it was filled with an array of farm and agri-business visits. The first visit was to the farm of Nuffield Scholar Mark Modra (2004), who farms mainly arable crops just outside Port Lincoln. Our second visit was to Dutton Bay Woolshed, established in 1875 by Mr Price Maurice and situated near the coastline. A jetty was built for a “land-sea” link and in its peak more than 20,000 sheep were shorn and up to 100,000 fleeces were baled and loaded for overseas markets. Since 1989, Craig Brown has slowly and passionately restored the woolshed, with a focus on tourism.

Our last visit of the morning was to Coffin Bay Oyster Farm, run by a businessman called Lester Marshall. Coffin Bay has always been renowned for high-quality oysters but Lester has capitalised on this and branded his product range and now supplies 3-4 tonnes of oysters to premium markets per week. We all got to try some oysters with lemon which were truly delicious – if a little inappropriate on an empty stomach!

After an enjoyable lunch at Coffin Bay Yacht Club we boarded the buses to Cummins Milling Company, one of very few original flourmills still operating in rural Australia. Established in 1930, flour has been produced for more than 75 years with wheat mainly sourced from throughout the Eyre Peninsula off local farms. The equipment is mostly “original” and there is a real historic feel about the place – plus very few belt guards or general evidence of health and safety precautions! They also built a stockfeed plant in the 1960s for the purpose of utilising the flour by-product and a range of feeds are produced for local farmers and fishermen.

Our final presentation of the day was “Grain and Graze”, a program which invests in research to improve the profitability of mixed farms. This was held at a local community hall in a hamlet called Edillilie.

Friday March 9

Friday was the official presentation day with six Scholars doing their Nuffield presentations following their study tours. (The other six 2005 scholars presented last October). Our venue for this great occasion was the Boston Bay Winery, a setting with wonderful gardens and views overlooking the coast near Port Lincoln.

Dave Fulwood was first and his subject was “Value- Adding Commodity Grain Products” as he is an arable farmer from Western Australia. Second we had Caroline Brown who had focused on “Renewable Energy and Biodiesel”.

After a break we heard Anthony Brandsema, the largest tomato grower in Tasmania who had focused on “Controlled Environment Management of Tomatoes” followed by Andrew Watson, a cotton grower who had studied “Water use Efficiency in Irrigation”. Fifth was Leigh Vial, a rice and arable producer who had focused on “Aerobic Rice and whether it can work in Australia”. Finally, we had Garry Hannigan, our trusty outback Australian sheep producer who had been “Gaining an Understanding of the Global Market for Organic Lamb in Developed Countries”. John Lawton, a SA 1962 Nuffield Scholar, was presented with a Nuffield Shield by Peter Treloar.

Saturday March 10

Saturday morning the group walked to the Marine Science Centre, a research education and industry development centre for the aquaculture industry. Ross Haldane and Tony Bolton did presentations which focused on seafood product quality, adding value, ecosystem services and biosecurity. We also got to witness a 25kg tuna fish being boned and cut and we all sampled fantastic raw tuna which was delicious.

We then boarded a boat to Boston Island, a 1000 hectare island owned by the Port Lincoln Mayor, Peter Davis. Peter is a fascinating man farming 1500 sheep and encouraging tourism. After this visit, which involved sitting on flat trailers and being towed around the island, we took the boat to a tuna farm supplying fish to markets across Japan. The demand for tuna in Japan is at an all time high and prices that were once 60 cents per kg are now $60 per kg! This explains why there are so many millionaires in Port Lincoln!

Sunday, before departure, saw a group of us visiting some spectacular rugged coastline south of Port Lincoln with commentary given on local whaling history.