LUMEN Summer 2020 - Flipbook - Page 25
The dairy farming family fighting
back in the face of adversity.
STORY BY MICHAELA MCGRATH
O
n 1 July 2002, Misty Brae dairy farm
owner Gino Pacitti lost a third of his
income overnight when the price of
raw milk dropped from 36 cents to
24 cents per litre.
from
the other
students.had deregulated the dairy
The
Federal
Government
“I wasin
still
crosscompetitive
the road, tomarket
tie my
industry
anlearning
effort totodrive
shoelaces,
and catch
buses bycosts.
myself. That was
forces
and minimise
consumer
my world was.
Andand
hereDiploma
were these
Forhow
the small
Myponga-based
farmer
of
other
honours
students
talking
about
going
Applied Science (Agriculture) alumnus, it wasout
a
on the weekend,
or going
onincreasing
holidays. Iinput
didn'tcosts
significant
blow. Drought
and
understand
any decades
of that. So
didn'tfarming
get along
meant
the last two
of Idairy
have
with
them.”
been
a near-constant
battle against the odds.
After
finishing
her honours,
moved
to lame
“You
have
your better
years andSarah
you have
your
Adelaide
and started at
University
years,
but unfortunately
forFlinders
the dairy
industry,to
the
commence
a a been
PhD.short-lived,” explained Gino.
better
years have
wasthese
lonelyhard
the whole
time, and
whilerecession
I
In “I
2011,
times reached
a new
loved
the
research
and
the
brain,
I
missed
when “the power of the supermarket” rearedthe
its
connection
people.”
head,
offering to
milk
to consumers for just $1 per litre.
was working
towards
her PhD, she
“ItWhen
did usSarah
no favours
whatsoever,
it completely
startedour
tutoring
to supplement her income.
devalued
product.”
“I impact
reachedwas
theso
end
of the PhD
and
The
significant
it led
theI thought,
lifelong dairy
‘science
where
I wanttotoconsider
be. What's
madeout
farmer
andisn't
his wife
Mandy
“bailing
me happy
is teaching.’
of the
dairy industry”
in 2012.
“I came
to thereceiving
University
of Adelaide
“The
pricesover
we were
were
abysmal, to
input
study
teaching
and
had
the
most
magic
time
costs were getting exorbitant and there were no
there.”
profit
margins.”
Sarah is now a relief teacher and recently
published author, living with her husband Alan
in a farm opposite Kuipto forest.
“I absolutely love teaching. And I'm so glad the
accident happened because had it not, I wouldn't
be a teacher. And I wouldn't have so much fun
every day going to school and working with
kids,”
said Sarah.
Sarah tells her incredible story in her new book
My Lucky Stroke, available now in book stores
and online.
But, perhaps surprisingly given their formative years
were shaped by such a volatile industry, Gino’s thenteenage sons persuaded their parents to push on in
the face of adversity.
“Their argument was that they could see dairy
farming could be a career pathway that they were
interested in and wished to pursue.”
During his childhood and adolescence, Gino was
“part of the labour force”, milking cows before
school and inadvertently cutting his teeth in the
dairy industry.
It was in 1978 that the then 18-year-old Gino
departed the Myponga farm for the first time to head
up north to Roseworthy for a tertiary education.
More than 40 years later, Gino still calls on the
knowledge accrued during his time at university.
“Like a lot of educational experiences, you often
don’t understand or don’t realise the impact it has on
you until later life.”
This spirit of education has continued well beyond
Gino’s university years.
Where others may understandably waiver in the face
of continued tribulations, he instead chose to alter
the industry’s fate through education.
Aiming to teach consumers about the quality, health
and economic benefits of buying locally branded
products, Gino and Mandy in 2016 were integral in
forming the Do Dairy campaign.
Do Dairy encourages consumers to purchase
dairy products that are sourced and processed in
South Australia.
“We’ve made it a personal challenge of ours to try
and educate as many non-farming people as we
can,” said Gino.
PICTURED
Gino Pacitti
ALUMNI MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2020
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