JOURNALIST: Ros White
IN the 1850s, Yorke Peninsula resembled an unshaven leg, bristling with native scrub. 
From its back-breaking infancy, the peninsula has grown into one of Australia’s premier farming regions, much of its agricultural land now covered in golden stubble.
How did this metamorphosis come about? Through the blood, sweat and tears of pioneer farmers and their families, whose descendants still work family farms today.
The peninsula has a proud farming history and its future is bright with farmers utilising modern technology and practice, including sustainability of natural resources.
But let’s travel back in time to see how hard yakka and ingenuity shaped the face of farming on YP.
Copper was discovered in 1859 and cereal farming started soon after, although sheep were already grazing the area.
Pioneers cleared native scrub, selling mallee stumps to the mining companies to use in fuel boilers. Stone heaps grew in paddocks as the infamous limestone was picked, first by hand then using stone pickers.
Although wheat farming began in earnest in 1865, declining yields in the 1870s led to necessary research and the resultant application of superphosphate boosted returns.
For the full report, see the print issue of this week's YP Country Times.