Biolink 4 Plants was created by two Australian couples who have experienced the highs and lows of working on the land. With more than 20 years running their own dairy farms, they’re happy to share their knowledge and experience of what works with other farmers and home-gardeners around the country. Read more about their vision for the company.
Having grown up in Sydney’s western suburbs, a farming life didn’t seem the obvious career path for Kevin. After beginning his career in accounting, he quickly realised that life outside the city was his calling.
His ‘agricultural’ path started at Tocal College, CB Alexander Campus in the picturesque Hunter Valley about 180 km north of Sydney. Kev enrolled in a Certificate and Advanced Certificate of Agriculture, His thirst for knowledge led him to complete further studies at University of Western Sydney – Hawkesbury. Here, he completed his Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc), focusing on Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, Organic and Sustainable farming.
“After working on a number of farms, and having married the lovely Leisa, we decided to move to Victoria in 1998 to start our own dairy farm in the picturesque hills of South Gippsland. Leisa and I had our own dairy farm business for 20 years.”
For 17 years, Kev has worked as an agricultural consultant and contract auditor with various organisations including AsureQuality and Aus-Meat. He gets great satisfaction when he’s supporting organic and conventional farming enterprises and teaching them how to develop their operations into sustainable and profitable businesses.
Kev has worked in a variety of areas including Food Processing, Food & Beverage, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Food Safety Management System, and Strategic Planning. He also has a strong finance background.
A keen lawn bowler, Kev loves to team up with his son Hamish to compete in local competitions. He also has a dream to walk the 780km Camino de Santiago in Spain.
Leisa dreamed of becoming a vet. In the end, she became a vet nurse, working in a number of Sydney veterinary clinics over 5 years. Leisa also worked at the Department of Agriculture NSW ‘s research centre (parasitology laboratories) in Camden.
Leisa studied at TAFE, completing a Certificate IV in Animal Technicians. This course is now recognised as an associate diploma. She then did her Certificate IV in Agriculture and Dairy Farming and a Diploma in Agriculture (Dairy Farming).
“For many years, I worked alongside Kev, riding the highs and lows of the dairy industry. I took primary responsibility of the farm bookwork and calf-rearing, and I was also hands-on with milking the herd.”
In the meantime, she raised two beautiful children.
During the children’s younger years, Leisa enjoyed volunteering at school. For the last 5 years, Leisa has thrown herself into supporting the local dance clubs, sewing elaborate costumes for the children.
Leisa enjoys reading a good book, particularly biographies and history books. She enjoys camping with the family.
Like all her family, Leisa is an avid Sydney Swans supporter. Whenever they’re playing in Melbourne she and the family head to Melbourne to cheer on ‘our boys’.
Graham has been farming for 30 years at Camperdown Victoria. During that time, he completed his farming apprenticeship and an Advanced Diploma in Agriculture.
After farming with chemical fertiliser up until the year 2000, Graham decided to change his farming to a more sustainable system. He hoped to improve soil capability and find more eco-friendly ways to improve the soil life cycle. “After all, our soil provides all our plant and crop life”.
Over the years he used a large array of products with varying outcomes. With the need for better results, he and his wife found themselves looking for more consistent products.
“This is why our company was formed. It’s our belief the products in our range will greatly enhance soil life and provide nutrient and microbes in one pass. This is something our now organic-certified farm was failing to find”, explains Graham. “Becoming certified organic has been our biggest and rewarding accomplishment to date.”
“We have been composting for some years. It was a good soil improver, but lacked nutrients. We then changed the ingredients in our compost and the nutrient levels improved. Then we added Ignition to one of our piles. It was interesting that this product alone lifted all nutrients – some up to 30% higher. This also shortened our composting time and maintained consistent temperatures.”
“This was when I knew we had blended a product that actually packs some serious punch.”
In the last three years, Graham has managed to lift Brix readings (sugar levels in pasture) from 15 up to 25.
“This made silage with a crude protein test of 19% and 13 megajoules of energy – and the cows loved it!“
Graham is now committed to keep feeding his farm’s soils with compost and microbial enhancers to keep their pasture and cows healthy.
“Some people think I work too hard, but I like farming and achieving better results each year. I also really enjoy growing healthy, nutrient-dense grass for animal feed.”
“I hope one day to travel a lot and spend more time with family and friends. I’m open-minded and enjoy bike riding (rail trails) with my wife, and would love to walk the Great Wall of China one day.”
Melissa came from a dairy farming family – a family that always prided themselves on growing fruit and vegetables and cooking up a storm.
“Growing up, we would always help sow veggies and pod buckets of peas. We loved watching the crickets and preserving fruit for winter sweets.”
A qualified baker and pastry cook, Melissa started off in a small country town, then moving to Melbourne to learn as much as she possibly could about her craft. She worked at David Jones and well-known Elsternwick pastry shop Aviv Cakes.
Melissa has run her own café and worked in customer service. She currently works as an office assistant, as well as working on the family farm.
“I have always loved animals and flowers. I think the thing that gets me in is watching them grow from such small beginnings to something beautiful!”
Melissa is confident their range of BioLink 4 Plants products is going to become popular.
“Once people are aware of our products and use them, the challenge for us will be to keep up with supply. We’re committed to building up a good customer relationship with people.”
“I think the most interesting and exciting outcome is yet to come! For me, to be part of a business that believes in looking after our soil, which feeds us with nutrient rich produce, is exciting in itself.”
Melissa is proud of her husband Graham’s dedication, determination, courage and foresight to turn around the family dairy operation from full-on conventional farming practice into a certified organic farm. “It’s taken a lot of faith and trust from family members to allow this to happen.”
“I would like to think that we’re here for the long haul. We’ve been there ourselves, trying lots of different products, some good and some not so good. We want to see our customers succeed.”
“Our aim is to help them improve their operations, whether they have broad-acre crops or their own veggie patch or compost heaps – we care! We want to make a difference that is also affordable, with products that are easy-to-use.”
“My aim in life is to have a nice garden, both edible and not! My father always told me I can’t live on flowers! To be able to travel and work, sharing time with people and listening to their stories and journeys – that’s my dream. I hope to inspire and encourage people to have a go and follow their dreams, no matter how small.”
In her spare time, Melissa loves to bike ride, enjoys coffee and cake, going to the gym and horse riding. She also loves the tennis, going to the theatre and spending time in the garden – rain, hail or shine.