Our COVID challenge | David Thomson, StrathAyr

Our COVID Challenge

DAVID THOMSON | STRATHAYR

Our 2020 New Year started with a great optimistic outlook as StrathAyr, a 50 year old specialist turf business, had just completed a major $12m horse race track project and we were readying ourselves to commence new major sporting projects across Australia. At the local level in Victoria, we were experiencing solid growth following significant multi-year investments in cutting-edge technology to improve efficiency and productivity.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was in its very early stages in March, we staged a mock emergency event to test our lock-down systems and processes. Our office was vacated and our cloud-based systems enabled our entire operation to be managed and administered by staff working from home. Little did we know that six months later all our office staff would still be working from home as the coronavirus threat continued in the Victorian community.

With state borders closed, our interstate sporting projects were abruptly suspended and this has created tremendous challenges for our business.

At our Victorian farm in Seymour, we decided to further expand and improve our operations, utilising the precious time we envisaged would emerge from the anticipated slow-down in market activity. Our historic large-scale farm on the banks of the Goulburn River has achieved the milestone of 1,000,000 metres of natural turf in various stages of growth, with 70% of our irrigation now fully automated and controlled by smart phone technology.

The largest undertaking StrathAyr has taken during the COVID period is to embark on ISO Certification for quality, safety and environmental management. The team embraced the processes which scrutinised our business practices, and we are working through the major and minor changes required to ensure that StrathAyr continue a leadership position in our industry.

To get through the pandemic challenges, we have had to embrace that we are doing the COVID Dance whereby we take two steps forward, one step back … with a few spins and twirls in the middle.

All businesses and individuals react and cope in different ways to change and pressure and StrathAyr are immensely proud of our team who have remained connected and continue to demonstrate great resilience and professionalism.

StrathAyr thank our loyal customers and business associates for their tremendous support. "...we have had to embrace that we are doing the COVID Dance whereby we take two steps forward, one step back ... with a few spins and twirls in the middle."