As a keen amateur sportsman, Hamish Cooke knows what it’s like to be disciplined and work hard, but he reflects that it was immediately after finishing his Year 12 exams and heading to a mate’s farm for harvest that he learnt what an honest, hard-day of work was like.
Cookie, as he is more commonly known, has always loved agriculture, from his mates in the boarding house to spending holidays on a family friends’ cattle property in the Hunter Valley of NSW.
After a false start at uni studying engineering, Cookie quickly made the decision to enroll in an Agricultural Science degree at Sydney University.
“I quickly realised that wasn’t where I wanted to be so I went back to what I enjoyed and that was agriculture and being involved in rural communities”
As his time at uni drew to a close, so did his part time role as a project coordinator for a retail construction company. With a need to be close to family for personal reasons, an opportunistic conversation one day led to Cookie learning more about an opening as a market operator at AuctionsPlus.
Overcoming adversity
Joining the team at the beginning of 2019, Cookie immediately felt a sense of community alongside his colleagues but moreso as he met various producers and agents. Despite feeling the opportunities within the business, it was the realities of the drought that really struck a chord with Hamish.
“I remember talking with people from a few different areas and hearing about the drought and what it was like on the ground was really quite confronting”
As a problem solver, it was during these times that Hamish really felt a sense of comradery amongst the team and as the seasons turned, the focus and work really ramped up as he rolled his sleeves up, some days it was as an analyst, helping with market reporting, operations and marketing.
The opening of opportunities
As the business has grown over the past few years, Hamish has enjoyed taking opportunities to be part of new areas.
“On the commercial sales side, it was really interesting to be part of developing the platform for goats including the sales and assessment”
As the diversification of the business continued, Cookie has been on the ground helping vendors and agents with their livestock & property sales as the Regional Sales Coordinator. The next step commences shortly for him, which is moving into the new Regional Agency Services Team focusing on southern NSW and northern Victoria regions.
Cookie remains passionate about where Australian agriculture is heading and is excited about the digitisation of the industry.
“I enjoy bringing value to the businesses we work with, helping them save time, increase their returns or operate more efficiently. I think that’s a really important part in playing a bigger role which is helping the whole industry to achieve its goals”
To stay up to date with what Hamish is up to, you can connect with him on LinkedIn.