Known affectionately as "The Unbreakable Farmer", Warren Davies has been clocking up thousands of kilometres on roads across the outback in Australia, spreading his support far and wide for vulnerable people in farming communities.
Cost-of-living pressures and unfavourable weather conditions are two of the main factors contributing to the difficult circumstances many farmers have had to deal with throughout the autumn and winter period so far this year, something Davies is all too familiar with given his farming background.
The motivational speaker, who has amassed a large following across the country, recently embarked on a tour of Western Australia and will soon address a large audience in Meningie, in South Australia - a Flow FM network town.
Davies phoned-in to the Country Viewpoint program to discuss his 2024 itinerary and to provide listeners with invaluable advice.
"We traveled over 4,000 Ks right down to Albany and then as far up towards Geraldton, so a lot of territory covered and it was great to connect with all those communities," Davies said.
"I've been connecting with other communities around the regions and doing some school talks and also some other events around some launching of some blue trees and painting of some blue trees which is going to be exciting considering I've just been working with the Blue Tree Project over in Western Australia.
"I encourage people to get along, have conversations with their neighbours and community, find out where the support is that you can lean into and make sure that you're getting the support that you need in.
Davies also attributed the live sheep export bill which recently passed in the Parliament of Australia, meaning an end to Australia's live sheep exports by sea from 2028, as one of the key factors as to why farmer morale is being crippled.
"I think a lot of those conversations that I had, those challenging conversations, were all based around the live sheep export and not just with farmers, but with associated businesses, truckies, stock agents, all those sort of associated people and the business owners within the towns, just the impact that that's going to have in those communities," Davies said.
"Even though 2028 sounds like a long way away, it's a fairly short time span for a generational business to pivot and try and create another income stream and one of the things that I probably realised that I was a little bit naive to, is the importance sheep play within those marginal areas in regional Western Australia, in their business structure and their income.
"Some of those areas, they realise that they might miss out on a crop here and there and the sheep play an important part in stabilizing their income.
"I've talked to one bloke in particular that really stood out to me within those conversations, where he's only been in that FIFO lifestyle for about four and a half months and he's completely broken already and that's really sad to have those conversations, with people that thought that they'd be working on the land for all their life."
Warren Davies - The Unbreakable Farmer will be at the Meningie Golf Club in South Australia on Friday the 9th of August from 7pm.
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