Dawn is approaching, the beginning of the new day. The sun’s glow reflects into the fields, slowly colouring them gold.

For grain farmer Gus Poulston, farming is not only his business but his life.

Gus has  been a farmer for more than 50 years. He now takes care of a 1200-acre grain farm where he specialises in wheat, canola and sometimes barley.

With this experience, Gus has been able to adapt between the methods of farming and has found what works and what is needed when harvesting.

He has gone through farming conventionally, to spraying and then drilling the soil with a “cocktail of chemicals” to now working with the soil..

But this even process is starting to not work.

Therefore, Gus needs to adjust his farming methods to retain moisture in the soil.

Additionally, he needs to find ways to adapt to the climate. Even though drought and dry days are more common, Gus says it is fires that have destroyed his grain three times in the last few years.

Tackling the challenges the Australian climate brings is bad enough. But this is not the only speed bump farmers like Gus must deal with. There are challenges with supplies and the marketing environment.

For instance, one time Gus received dodgy fertiliser. He says it was “like concrete” and he is still waiting to be compensated for faulty fertiliser.

This not only delays their process of making the grain but also leaves them losing money due to the supplier’s mistakes. This is already a difficult process, but it is way more difficult with a legal fight.

When exploring how the grain market works it is seen to be symbolised like the two sides of a coin. Each side balances the other as the market has its pros and cons.

The issues of the grain market are that the quality of your grain is an issue, and finding the right person who will pay; additionally, the price is less than it was 15 years ago.

However, Gus is very organised with is marketing of his grain. Starting off, he has 450 tonnes of storage, where the product is kept until it is eventually sold off.

Gus has planned out where each product has gone, as he usually sells to dairy farmers or piggeries. However, the canola is stored in a warehouse until a deal is finalised.

He has adapted to the climate and incorporated technology to assist with the farming process. Using equipment like seeders, Air seeders and Auto Seeders helps plant seeds more efficiently and accurately than manually.

Through all the struggles that came with farming, Gus says downsizing and moving the family to town, now that the kids are at school, was his hardest decision.

But, after rearranging the whole lifestyle, he says that it was a “no-brainier”.

In the end Gus does like working in the farming industry. He says, most of the year you run your own race, there’s no one to answer too, and you work outside and grow stuff

But overall, it is “not a gig you would to lightly”.

This story is part of a project exploring regional Victoria and the issues farmers are facing. See the whole collection here.