In this episode, Jake sits down with West Coast farmer Jim Evans to talk about the journey of building a farming business from the ground up. After starting out in contracting—running spray rigs, headers and trucks across the country—Jim made the move into farming in 2000 following the ’99 drought.
Over the past 25 years, he and his wife Janet have steadily grown their operation to around 35,000 acres of cropping, a mix of owned and leased land across the Upper Eyre Peninsula.
In this practical conversation, Jim shares how long-term planning, disciplined decision-making and careful cost management have helped the business navigate rising input prices and the challenges of farming in a marginal environment. They also discuss machinery replacement strategies, the role of lentils in the rotation, and how recent rainfall is shaping decisions as the new season approaches.
It’s a grounded look at the mindset, planning and risk management needed to run a large cropping operation in today’s farming landscape.
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