When Nigel Herring talks about research, he doesn't speak of labs or white coats. Instead, his focus is on those who live and breathe the land.

 

“AMPS Research has always been about farmer-engaged research, practical research activities that change what we do on farms,” says Herring, CEO of AMPS.

 

That simple philosophy of research rooted in reality has shaped AMPS into something rare in Australia’s agricultural landscape - a research organisation that belongs to the people it serves.

 

The NSW agribusiness was born 25 years ago when 23 farmers, frustrated by the limits of traditional research, decided to “take greater control of our destiny.” From that seed grew an independent, not-for-profit research arm, supported by a commercial business selling agricultural merchandise.

 

The profits from the business fund research, education and innovation. There’s no reliance on grants or government, just farmers backing farmers.

 

It’s a resilient model, and it works. “This year, we’ve probably got 25,000 trial plots,” Herring explains, “spread between summer crops and winter crops, over an area from north of Dubbo to the Queensland border, east of Tamworth to west of Walgett.”

 

Unlike traditional research organisations, AMPS doesn’t rely on centralised sites. Every trial happens on-farm, under real conditions and pressures.

 

“Farmers really want to see that the research is done in their backyard,” Herring says. “It gives them confidence that the results apply to their conditions.”

 

That confidence is amplified by scale. When a trial succeeds in one location and then echoes across four or five others, trust grows.

 

According to Herring, in agriculture, trust is everything - and AMPS was built to withstand the volatility that tests it.  

 

 “The original 23 farmers said, ‘We need to survive good years and bad,’” Herring recalls. So, they created a business that could weather droughts and downturns and fund research regardless.

 

“The drought was really difficult for us, but we continued to fund research to that same extent all the way through,” Herring says. “Farmers learn as much in dry years as they do from really good years.”

 

That resilience gives AMPS a rarity in research: agility.

 

“We’re able to move really quickly because there’s underlying funding from the commercial business,” Herring says. “We won’t do a trial for the sake of doing a trial. It’s got to be meaningful, practical and lead to practice change on farm.”

 

Agriculture is a long game, where incremental gains compound over decades. “Over 20 years, when you look at those two percenters each year and put them on top of each other, it’s enormous,” Herring says.

 

Right now, the research arm is zeroing in on soil health, one of farming's biggest challenges.

 

“Soil carbon is the big game changer,” Herring says. “We’re investigating alternate sources of fertilisers and how practical and applicable they are compared to synthetics.”

 

Underlying it all is a sense of community. “AMPS is more than just research,” Herring says. “It’s about making sure good people are in rural communities, they’re supported and they want to stay there.”

 

That sense of solidarity extends to partnerships. Herring credits Westpac for standing by AMPS during the drought. “At no point did they not back us,” he says. “It’s very encouraging to see the focus on regional Australia - having [Westpac’s CEO] Anthony Miller in rural towns is a really encouraging thing for rural Australia.”

 

For Herring, the real measure of success is practical solutions, strong communities and farmers who can feel confident about the future.