What happens when a Merino sheep farmer turns into a digital marketplace mogul? Our guest this week, Dwain Duxson, founder of Farm Tender and The Farmers Club, shares how and why he switched career paths.


While Dwain enjoyed his time farming and breeding Merino rams, in 2011 he decided a change of gear was in order. “For me, [selling rams] was pretty restrictive in how many customers you could serve. I wanted to serve a lot more customers. I had a bit of an idea of what I wanted to do when the internet was kicking into gear. So that was the main reason we left the farm. We just wanted to try something else and service more people.”


After a few different business ideas, Farm Tender was born. Farm Tender is an online platform for buying and selling agricultural products across Australia. And, with over 72,000 members and around 40 new members joining daily, their database is huge. Dwain wanted to help farmers get the best deals and also provide them with the top-notch customer service he was accustomed to giving when selling breeding stock.


Launching an online platform, however, came with its fair share of obstacles. In the podcast, Dwain discusses the early days of establishing Farm Tender and the challenge of trying to break into the American market.


Dwain also talks about his latest venture, The Farmers Club, a daily newsletter that provides agricultural news and articles. This is where Dwain shares his insights on the current landscape of Australian farming. After years of running agricultural businesses, Dwain has realised that writing is what he loves. Through Farmers Club, he can make the dream of writing about agriculture - every day - a reality.


If you would like to find out more about Farm Tender, you can visit their website here:
https://www.farmtender.com.au/.


If you would like to subscribe to The Farmers Club, visit the following link:
https://thefarmersclub.com.au/.

Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: info@nextgenagri.com.

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