As a huge grain producer, john Nicoletti is no stranger to hard work. According to John, the growth of his company, Newmount, over the last 26 years has been due to a combination of drive, determination, dedication, a personal commitment to following his dreams, and a less traditional business approach to farming.
Merredin, located 238km east of Perth, is a large regional centre in Western Australia’s central wheat belt. John currently owns 90,000 acres of wheat and sheep farming land east of Merredin in Westonia shire. He also leases a further 110,000 acres.
“My wife Julie and I started the farm 26 years ago. I’ve been a farmer all my life,” says John. “But farming is not a tradition anymore. Farming is a business – it’s a big business, it’s a serious business and that’s how I’ve always treated it from day one.”
From humble beginnings in 1979, John’s business has grown exponentially, to incorporate transport, grain storage and tyre stores, along with farming. His fleet of equipment now includes x trucks, two Volvo wheel loaders, and a Volvo EC290B excavator.
“As the business grew over the years, we developed a need for bigger loader. We tried the Volvo and were very happy with it. We’ve had three since,” says John.
“We’ve got an L70E and an L90C. They’re used for gravel work and cleaning dams on the farm. I just like nice big gear. If you get called to do a big job, you need something that will get the job done quickly – so we bought the L90C and it’s the best thing we ever did.”
“The loaders are very fast down the road, very fuel efficient, very comfortable to drive. Plus the quick-hitch system and user-friendly controls make them extremely easy to operate.”
In fact, John was so happy with the Volvo loaders, that when it came time to purchase a new excavator – he went straight to Volvo. John took delivery of a Volvo EC290B about 18 months ago.
“Every time we buy a farm, the first thing we do is drainage,” explains John. “Once the drains have been constructed, they have to be kept clean, if you want them to work properly.”
Drainage is especially important in regional WA, where salinity has become a critical issue in recent decades. The water table rises, bringing salt to the surface and making the soil useless for growing crops. Drains transport the salt water into natural salt lakes, allowing the soil to be used for pasture and crops.
“That’s where the Volvo EC290B comes in,” says John. “We construct the drains by digging through the valley floor – the drain is dug in the middle of the creek, so we don’t change the waterway. We dig the drains about 2 metres deep. We’ve dug about 60km of drains so far, and the results have been tremendous.”
He says that the fuel efficiency and productivity of the Volvo EC290B have been excellent. “It’s a very fuel efficient machine. We’d save around 30 – 40 % in fuel costs, which is really good. You really have to look at those costs today – fuel is no longer cheap and it’s becoming a major cost component of our business, so we have to use something that does the job, without using the fuel.”
“The excavator has done about 1300 hours in the last 18 months. It’s been very productive. It’s also used in our gypsum mine operations – for breaking up and screening the gypsum.”
“We had a Cat excavator before,” continues John. “We found the Cat was very pricey and we thought that for the difference in price that we’d try a Volvo. We’d had a good run with our Volvo loaders so we decided to give a Volvo excavator a try. We’re very happy with it – it’s as much a Volvo as the loaders are.”
John’s long-standing relationship with CJD Equipment, Volvo’s national distributor, has also contributed to his decision to use Volvo. “I started dealing with CJD in 1992,” he says. “The service that I get from CJD is very good – and it’s important to have a good relationship with your suppliers.”
John says the future is looking bright for Newmount. “All good businesses are built on sound management and hard work – those are your best ingredients for success. Business is going really well at the moment.”
“In farming you have your ups and downs, but if you have decent equity in your business you can ride the down times, droughts, commodity prices, and you’ve always got to be ready to capitalize when things come good. And you’ve got to remain positive – that’s the most important thing.”