Annual Farmers' event

Our free Farmers' event is run annual, usually around March.

For more information on upcoming events please join our Mailing List at the bottom of this page.
You can read about our past Farmers' events below.

Past events

2022

After a two year 'Covid break' it was fantastic to be able to bring our Farmers' event back to the community and we had a great venue in Palling Bros Brewery.
The theme for our 2022 event was 'Safe 'n Secure' and 40 local farmers were able to walk away from the evening feeling equipped with a little bit more knowledge on keeping their properties safe.

Senior Farm Safety Advisor for the Victorian Farmers Federation John Darcy spoke about the important work he does in helping to prevent farm accidents and had the crowd asking lots of great questions while Vic Police Central Victoria Firearms and Farm Security Liaison Officer Dan O’Bree shed some light on how a farm theft operation works and updated the crowd on new firearm regulations that will be coming into effect.

Attendees on the night enjoyed a Palling Bros beer, Heathcote Lions Club sausage sizzle and the chance to hear from the experts. We were also able to run a lucky door prize and were pleased to hand over a Stihl battery powered chainsaw after the event. Heathcote & District Community Bank Acting Branch Manager Teri Johnson and Bendigo Bank Equipment Finance Specialist Andrea Vollbrecht took the opportunity to speak about the services that they are able to offer farmers.

Local resident and hobby farm owner Tony Juhanson said "The Community Bank Farmers' events provide really useful information that supports country living. It was good to find out about new gun safe requirement changes, plus be informed about the OHS education and audit services offered by Making Our Farms Safer to improve farm safety. The event also gives you a chance to catch up socially with locals and meet new people in town.”

2019

2019 saw another fantastic morning with Heather Ewart (ABC's Back Roads) entertaining the audience with tales of her travels around rural communities.
Toni Barton (Barton Smallgoods) took us through the development of her Lamb Bacon business and Ben Rose (Performance Viticulture) discussed land valuations. We also presented our inaugural Rural Scholarship - a Scholarship made available to those looking to study in the Rural Industries.

2018

2018 saw Jane Bunn provide over 100 attendees with valuable knowledge on understanding the weather. Guests were also treated to talks on Livestock nutrition, feeding methods and Equipment Finance by various presenters.

2017

We launched our Farmers' event in 2017 with Alex Gartmann, Rural Bank CEO discussing the current state of Australian Agriculture, agricultural land valuations and more. Men's Health Nurse Practitioner at Bendigo Community Health Services Peter Strange also presented on healthy farmers.