INGRAINED IN TRUCKING

AS FARMERS sow crops early in the season, they place their faith in the weather gods that sufficient rain will bring their plantings to a bountiful harvest later in the year. Mother Nature can be fickle and sometimes has other plans for the way she disperses the water rations.

With the exception of the last grain harvest season, the Tamworth and Gunnedah region in New South Wales, like most of the country, suffered from a crippling drought for three years or more. The long dry spell and absence of any meaningful rain, left water tanks empty and crops thirsty.

Tamworth-based family-run Hollis Haulage, with its business model based heavily in contract harvesting, faced challenges of significant magnitude as the entire rural economy slowed to a crawl.

Starting in 1983 from the family’s 100-acre, property ‘Cedar Hill’ just outside the country music