110 Australian Country HOMES
This page: Ashley, Ruby, Grace and Louis enjoy time at home in the Wheatbelt during school holidays.wool side of things too much. In farming
everything gets bigger as the margins
get tighter. In the early 2000s, land
prices went up 80 per cent, so we were
faced with a choice of either accepting
marginal rates of return or becoming
more intensive.”
Consequently, the Wieses diversifi ed
into crops ranging from oats and wheat
to quinoa, the Andean superfood that
is enjoying its day in the sun for its
versatility and health benefi ts. Ashley
and two fellow Wheatbelt farmers
have established Three Farmers, a
quinoa brand that has proven a golden
opportunity for Yarranabee. These
days, the most signifi cant building on
the farm’s undulating landscape is no
longer the somewhat down-at-heel
shearing shed, but the swish new quinoa
processing plant: a metaphor, if ever
there were one, for the changing face of
agriculture and the journey enterprising
farmers such as the Wieses are taking
to bring their businesses into the 21st
century. While the Wiese children
are way too young to have made any
decisions about where their careers
might lie, it’s reassuring to know that
there will be a future down on the farm,
should they choose to pursue it. ACH