Sallie Jones

Sallie Jones's Biography

Sallie Jones is a farmer's daughter, a farmer, an innovator, a mum, a mental health advocate, and a leader. Sallie is the Co-Founder of Gippsland Jersey, an independent, farmer-owned premium milk brand that ensures farmers are paid a fair price for their milk.

Sallie has leveraged her Gippsland Jersey identity and profile to help break down the stigma associated with mental health issues in the industry and the agribusiness sector in general.

Sallie was born and raised on a dairy farm in Lakes Entrance, East Gippsland. She spent her childhood milking cows, making ice cream and working in the ice cream parlours scooping ice cream to the tourists before heading to Melbourne to work in PR for a couple of years. In those short few years Sallie learned the value of relationships and networking, the power of media and the confidence to be a bit wild with her ideas before returning back to the family farm/factory to start a milk brand with her dad before having three children.

In April of the following year, tragedy struck when Sallie's father suicided at his Lakes Entrance dairy farm. Shortly afterwards, the dairy industry was rocked when the major milk processor Murray Goulburn slashed the price they paid to farmers for their milk resulting in the milk crisis. This left a trail of debt and despair throughout Australia.

At a crossroads but keen to honour her farming background, Sallie wrestled with the twin challenges of how to produce exceptional milk sustainably while supporting farmers who were struggling and through this, Gippsland Jersey was born.

Gippsland Jersey does things differently, sourcing milk from smaller, family farms with incredible dairy farmers paying farmers a fair price for what they produce. By sidestepping large milk processors and value-adding already premium jersey local milk, we ensure a healthy wage for farmers and a clear choice for consumers.

And by manufacturing in regional Victoria, it keeps the dollars local, as well as delivering random acts of kindness to the Gippsland farming community and creating social change in rural mental health by championing the emotional wellbeing of dairy farmers who may be struggling.

Speaking Topics Include

Committing to social change in rural health & wellbeing and suicide prevention

How Gippsland Jersey was started

The ups and downs of owning a business

The role of women in the agriculture industry

Gippsland Jersey –a brand driven by morals, values and heart