From Tonsils To Tomatoes

For Jessica Volker, a Bowen local and ex-dentistry student, becoming an organic farmer in the Lower Don was not in the script.

Yet the now treasurer of Bowen Gumlu Growers Association, agronomic scientist, and consultant is in her third season of owning and operating her farm: Bio Lower Don Organics.

“I did not think my husband and I were going to be farmers – I never thought that would happen but it is seriously the best thing we have ever done,” Mrs Volker said. Mrs Volker, although growing up in the horticultural hotspot of Bowen, had no experience in the agricultural world. Instead, her expertise was as a young dental assistant in town – eventually moving to the Gold Coast to study the profession.

“The thing I loved about dentistry was helping someone who was coming to see you – to get someone out of a jam, in a sense,” she said. “When I started studying, I had to do a lot of science subjects, which ended up being agricultural. That was when it clicked that I loved agriculture and made the switch to agronomy.

equally as important, was highlighting the role technology can play in making our farming businesses themselves more sustainable ensuring they can remain efficient and profitable, not just now but also ten years from now.

The current inflationary environment has been challenging for all in our communities, including farmers, who have seen two to three fold increases in costs of key farm inputs such as seed and fertiliser and continuing increases to transport costs making farming, and by extension food supply a business sector facing increased risk and volatility.

With a number of industry leaders in attendance and there to listen to the discussion including Federal Agricultural minister Murray Watt, BGGA has and will continue to promote the challenges and opportunities for new technology in our region highlighting the need for improved connectivity and progressing government investment into the development of the Agtech Ecosystem in North Queensland.

To this end, we’ll achieve what I’m sure we all want in furthering the mutually beneficial outcomes needed by both our farming com munities and the envi ronment.

Contributed with thanks to Ry Collins, President of BBGA

“Now I’m helping farmers out of a jam in a way. I’m the go-to when you have a problem. It’s like what I liked about dentistry but very different; only it still a people-person sort of job where you’re solving a problem.”

Mrs Volker moved back to

Bowen to work in agricultural consultancy before starting her farm with her husband, Luke. The pair knew they “had to do something different” to stand out in Bowen.

“That’s why we decided to go certified organic,” she said.

“What we love about farming is the lifestyle it has given us. It’s a back-to-basics job. It’s lovely being out there planting and picking, it’s cliché to say but it’s very wholesome and special.”

With eggplant, tomato, chilli, mangos, and more, Mrs Volker and her family have found their passion in the Lower Don.