"Inspiring" was how Nilma farmer Dianne Davey described her latest bus trip.
Organised by Gippsland Agricultural Group (GAgG), the farming tour began last Sunday in Bairnsdale and headed north, visiting progressive, large-scale dairies, grain growing operations, sheep producers and beef cattle studs from Omeo to Albury, Holbrook, Wagga Wagga, Cooma and Orbost.
"I'm a farm girl and I just love anything to do with agriculture," Dianne said. "Seeing the new breeds of sheep on this trip has been fascinating.
"When I got home, I told my husband Brian we needed to delay the caravanning and buy a bigger farm!"
As president of the Warragul Beef Cheque Group, Dianne also has plans to become a member of GAgG and also possibly organise a trip to the Gippsland Research Farm for Beef Cheque members.
Anne Palmer, also a Warragul Beef Cheque member, said she had been impressed by the scale of LambPro owner, Tom Bull's business model.
"You do think about the business side of farming but probably not as much as you should," Anne said.
"Also, the way these farming families are there for back up for each other, they're all cogs in a wheel that includes education and trials.
"It surprises me how much these people fit into a day."
GAgG general manager Jen Smith said the research tour gave producers an opportunity to get off their farms, to connect and to learn from other farmers and each other.
"It gives them the chance to get off the tools, to stop working in the business and start working on the business," Jen said.
"So often we get bogged down on the day-to-day jobs that we don't have time to work on the strategy and future direction for our agribusinesses.
"Tours like these are opportunities to see what other farmers are doing and to work on that strategy builds resilience and capacity for our businesses to grow and thrive.
"Building the knowledge skills and confidence of our region's farmers on these tours is the type of activity that will get us ready for drought and unlock the production potential of our region's farms," she said.