When you next tuck into some great Australian pork, you may have Cowra’s latest Order of Australia Medal recipient to thank for his hard work making the meat a staple on our dinner plates.
Geoffrey Baker has been celebrated for his dedication and innovation across the pig, livestock and agricultural industries. Recognised for his service to primary industry and the community, Mr Geoffrey Baker was warded an Order of Australia Medal (AM) in the general division on Australia Day, Sunday January 26.
Cowra may only recently be home to Mr Baker, who moved with his wife, Ruth, from Gooloogong, where the family managed a successful mixed farming and cropping enterprise.
But the road to recognition was not always easy for the pair.
"It probably started when I left school at 14, and became a wool classer." he said, "We had to make our own way in life."
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"It was a battle to start with, we had no money. People took confidence in us at different stages of our life. But we always had a few pigs, because you had to, in order to have a bit of pocket money. In those days, the industry such as it was was mainly what was called 'fruit on the sideboard' - you got a little bit of money and it'd food aside. That got us going, we got a stud going, got to showing pigs - youngling pigs then. We finished up not only doing country shows but six Royal shows."
"We were involved in the carcase and trying to improve, the industry wasn't like it is today, nowhere near it. They had no standards. People didn't know what they were doing. The pig weight was too fat. Anyway, the Lachlan Valley Pig Producers were formed and away we went. For some reason, they elected me president."
Perhaps drawing on his background as a wool classer, the organisation established standards that producers saw fit to adopt, improving not only Australian pork, but other livestock.
"That group was really good for the industry," said Mr Baker "We needed a way of identifying carcass quality, which led to classification, which led to sale-wide descriptions."
State services also supported the endeavor, with Department of Agriculture (preceding the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development) working to develop protections to livestock, particularly as the industry grew in the eyes of consumers - and government.
"It's unfortunate they're no longer with us, but we had good fellows in the Department of Ag, Dr Ted Bannerman and Dr Bryson Wilson at the research station in Grafton, who did a lot of good work for us and it put us on the way."
"Once we had standards, we found we had no political clout - so we got involved in NSW Farmers, and while each state its own representation it had no national representation, so the national body was born."
As the Australian industry grew, it faced down threats against importation from overseas, as well as local piggeries operating en masse.
"It was also at a time when intensive industries were being spoken about, the big piggeries you might see today. We tried to work together for a number of years, but the smaller fellows figured there wasn't a future in the industry. Which I, at the time (and still do) thought was wrong, because there are a lot of niche markets."
With local, state and federal representation, farmers had to remain agile.
Mr Baker was a founding member of the pre-internet livestock marketing program ‘CALM.’ The Computer Assisted Livestock Marketing program evolved to become part of the modern day AuctionsPlus software, helping sell buyers find and purchase stock before they’d even left the farm, something we take for granted today but was revolutionary at the time.
Raising the profile of Australian livestock, most notably pork, became a lifelong passion for Mr Baker, who was awarded NSW Farmers Association, Pig Producer of the Year, 1996, NSW Farmers Association, Pig Industry Person of the Year, 1990, as well as CALM - Computer Aided Livestock Marketing, Award for Service Rendered in the Establishment Computer Aided Livestock Marketing, 1988, as well as a Medal of Honour, NSW Farmers Association.
"If you can visualise the pig industry for the minute, it wasn't the most favourite industry as far as meat or organisation because it didn't have the image the others had," he said. "Once you get going, it's amazing. You'd get to the point where you'd have customers wanting 500 stock, a week, all at the same quality."
Both Geoff and Ruth Baker acknowledged that starting a career can be challenging for young entrants, with both crediting their successes to a close and supportive 67 year marriage, and a tight knit family.
"The main thing is to do what you think is right," he said.
"Today, big seems more profitable than small. Unless you're in, in a big way, you can't afford to keep going. Where most of us started off with nothing and worked our way through ... the cost of everything today means you can't do that."
Mr Baker's firm assessment of the current market landscape, with record high prices per acre and some tough barriers to entry still holds a kernel of hope for young people looking to get their start in agriculture.
"I've always thought - and Ruth will back this up - if you have a passion about something or think it should be better, there's no good sitting around wondering. Go and do something about it."
