In this episode of Selling in the Paddock, I’m joined by Jess Federow from Copper Creek Contracting in Central West NSW – a former primary school teacher turned rural contractor, systems thinker, and freshly minted Nuffield Scholar.

Jess and her partner Ross don’t just “put up fences”. They design whole-farm infrastructure that actually works in the real world – for people, livestock, seasons and the future of the business.

We dig into Jess’s winding path from:
Canberra kid ➝ NT station work ➝ primary school teacher ➝ DPI education ➝ rural contracting ➝ now shaping the future of farm design through her Nuffield research.

In this ripper chat, we cover:

• 🧠 Systems thinking in ag – why Jess struggled with a siloed ag degree, and how that “umbrella view” is now her superpower on-farm

• 🛠️ Copper Creek’s 5-part framework – Grow, Graze, Move, Handle, Feed – and how one missed “movement” detail exposed a blind spot (and led to a better method)

• 🚜 From “just build the fence” to solving the real problem – the questions Jess asks to get past “I need 500m of fence” and into what’s actually going on in the business

• 🤝 Building trust with clients – how she does it over the phone, when to lean in with ideas, and when to trust the farmer’s experience and simply execute

• 🧱 Values in business – why Jess and Ross refuse to sell projects they don’t believe in, and how they handle jobs where the “vibe” and values don’t align

• 📈 Measuring ROI on infrastructure – what Jess will be exploring through her Nuffield Scholarship and why infrastructure is an underrated lever for productivity, efficiency and resilience

• 🐴 Life outside work – getting back in the saddle after kids, riding with her daughter, and why the best pasture check is from the back of a horse

If you’re feeling overwhelmed about where to start with farm improvements, or you work in ag and want to think more holistically about your clients’ businesses, this episode will give you simple language, practical lenses, and a fresh way to see your farm as a whole system – not just a list of jobs.

👉 Connect with Jess & Copper Creek Contracting

In this episode of Selling in the Paddock, Georgia heads to California (well… via Zoom) to talk tomatoes, trust and teamwork with William “Skeeter” Bethea from The Morning Star Company – the processor behind around 40% of California’s processing tomato crop.

Skeeter lifts the lid on how Morning Star runs a massive, highly technical tomato operation with no traditional bosses, and what that actually looks like day to day for the people growing, transplanting, harvesting and moving fruit through the factories.

Together, we dig into:

• 🌱 From seed to sauce – how Morning Star handles transplants, harvesting and trucking across Bakersfield, Sacramento and beyond

• 🧠 Planning backwards – why they start with factory demand and work back through the whole supply chain

• 🤝 Trust and collaboration – building relationships in a no-boss structure and why staying in your lane helps the whole team win

• 📊 Data, timing and adaptability – using growing degree hours, soil types and forecasts to hit tight processing windows

• 🍅 Yield vs flavour – stories from tomatoes, berries and onions, and what happens when “through the windscreen” meets “it has to taste good”

• 🧭 Integrity in ag – what Skeeter learned from a short detour into cannabis and why he came back to mainstream agriculture

• 🏈 Football and field teams – how American football tactics mirror high-performing teams in ag and sales

Welcome back team to another episode of Selling in the Paddock!

Today I’m joined by Ben Van Delden — founder of Delco AgriFood, co-founder of We Three AI, and a key partner in the Australian AgriFood System Alliance.

If you’re picturing a simple job title, think again. Ben’s world crosses oysters, circularity, AI, livestock, climate strategy and big-picture system change in Australian agriculture and beyond.

And yes, we recorded this rugged up on the first day of Melbourne summer. Of course we did.

• ​Ben’s childhood in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty
• ​Canoeing to school and working on his parents’ oyster farms
• ​Early lessons in labour, risk and why he chose to pair agriculture with a business degree

Ben breaks circularity down in practical language:

• ​Using resources for as long as possible within a system
• ​Moving from “waste” to “value” in horticulture, livestock and processing
• ​Real-world examples:

◦Hail-damaged crops and second/third pathways

◦Nutra V and broccoli powder

◦Dairy by-products turned into new value streams

◦Using organic waste for energy and methane reduction

We dig into how We Three AI is building a kind of “virtual vet”:

• ​Using cameras and computer vision to:

◦Count cattle more accurately

◦Flag human–animal interactions and potential safety issues

◦Detect health issues, lameness and shy feeders earlier

• ​Reducing wasted feed and unnecessary antibiotics
• ​Helping animals reach target weights faster, with better welfare and lower emissions

Ben shares insights from his time in places like Denmark:

• ​Why strong social systems can fuel innovation
• ​How Denmark’s people voted for a 70% emissions reduction target
• ​Alignment between government, research and industry
• ​Carlsberg’s water reduction goals and what that means for Australian barley growers

We explore the work of the Australian AgriFood System Alliance:

• ​Bringing commodity groups, processors, retailers, finance and others into one system view
• ​Designing structures and strategies that sit above individual sectors and states
• ​Why climate, circularity and food security can’t be solved in silos
• ​The big challenge: shifting behaviour in an industry built on fragmentation and competition

This is where it lands for leaders, sales teams, and anyone working in ag:

• ​Why behaviours are so deeply ingrained and hard to shift
• ​The role of vulnerability and mission in changing how we work
• ​The importance of picking issues big enough that no-one can solve them alone

Ben also shares a powerful piece of advice from Barry Irvin (Bega Cheese / Regional Circularity Cooperative):

Share your problems widely – even with competitors. Human nature makes it very hard for people not to help you solve them.

Gold.

• ​Coffee order: Almond flat white (long black at home)
• ​Music: Bruce Springsteen – Should I Fall Behind (his wedding song)
• ​Watching: American Primeval
• ​Reading/Gaming: More systems and strategy than Netflix, but that series has him hooked

In the show notes I’ll link to:

• ​Delco AgriFood
• ​We Three AI
• ​Australian AgriFood System Alliance
• ​Ben Van den Delden on LinkedIn

🔍 In This Episode We Cover🌊 1. Growing up on an island & canoeing to school♻️ 2. What the circular economy actually looks like in ag🤖 3. We Three AI – computer vision for cattle and welfare🇩🇰 4. Lessons from Denmark, the Nordics and global leaders🇦🇺 5. The Australian AgriFood System Alliance🧠 6. Behaviour change, trust and sharing the hard stuff☕ Rapid Fire – Get to Know Ben🔗 Connect with Ben