Proactive spirit shines bright in Keith
Keith is shaped by a youthful, enterprising community and an agricultural backbone of lucerne. The generous can-do culture of the town sees it as a finalist for the 2025 Agricultural Town of the Year Award.
In the springtime, the Limestone Coast town of Keith is hugged on all sides by fields of purple lucerne flowers. With over 80 per cent of Australia’s lucerne crop grown within 100 kilometres, Keith is known as the Lucerne Capital of Australia.
Locals are highly productive in farming through their access to underground aquifers, paired with a get-it-done mindset. The managed access to water makes Keith an ideal growing location for many crops and consistent grazing, keeping the district busy year round.
Maddie Willoughby and Simon Allen farm lucerne, which Maddie calls the town’s “bread and butter,” alongside wheat, barley, canola and Merino sheep. Like many local families, they run multiple streams of farming where both husband and wife play big roles.
“We’re a humble town. We don’t tend to brag. We just get it done,” Maddie says.
“A lot of people have moved to the district and bought farms, so they know what it’s like to be new in the community. It’s quite welcoming.”
Sarah Secker moved to Keith from Burra and started a lucerne and lamb farm with her husband, Will Secker.
“As a young person coming into the community, when my husband and I started our farming enterprise together, we were very well supported,” Sarah says.
You might like
“Access to mentors and the generosity of people before you is unlike anything I have seen anywhere before. Your neighbour is not your competitor. Your neighbour might be someone who is impressed by you and wants to see you succeed.”
Named the Tatiara District Council’s 2025 Volunteer of the Year, Sarah credits a community culture that values action and generosity.
“Keith’s history is really young, and because it’s so young, with a lot of first, second and third generation families, there’s a strong ‘can do’ attitude that’s come from establishing your family,” she says, where Keith is shaped by the postwar AMP Land Development Scheme in the 1950s.
“It flows into your volunteering attitude where there’s a lot of ‘she’ll be right’, ‘we’ll get it done’, ‘help a mate out’. These people aren’t looking for fame.”
That pay-it-forward mindset runs through Keith Area School, which helps keep young people in the district through its strong agriculture program which runs from Reception to Year 12.
“My main aim is that kids who walk out of Keith Area School are employable in our district, and if they want to leave our district, go out and be contributing citizens somewhere else as well,” agriculture teacher Russell Wotton says.
Backed by a hands-on agriculture block and deep industry links, students learn both off and on farm, including handling day-old chicks and a bee garden in early years; running soil and wheat pot trials by Year 5; managing a Merino flock in Year 8; and, in senior years, operating a cropping enterprise with local farmers.
Industry connections lead to careers where many students take school-based apprenticeships on farms and in ag-service businesses, staying local, studying and working at the same time.
For students like Alana, a Year 8 who moved from Clare with her family, the agriculture program has opened doors and built confidence. “I would love to take over my family’s farm or start my own. It’s my whole life,” she says.
Stay informed, daily
This year, the school opened KAS Café, a fully student-run enterprise where secondary students manage budgeting, ordering and social media, and learn how to run a business.
Keith’s location is another strength. At the junction of two major highways between Adelaide and Melbourne, the town thrives on freight access, which together with the entrepreneurial, community-minded culture, fuels a lively city centre.
Agricultural service businesses span stock agencies and seed cleaners to fertiliser depots, irrigation specialists, and machinery dealers, joined by cafés, retail shops, hairdressers, beauty services and pilates studios.
Adding to that mix is Harvest Providore, a coffee shop and wine bar within a former tyre shop. Opened last year by Kirsty Wood, the space has quickly become a community hub.
An ex police officer, Kirsty now splits her week between running the café and working on her and her husband’s lucerne hay farm after moving to Keith from the Adelaide Hills two and a half years ago for a career change.
“The community is amazing. If we had known how good it was, we would have come earlier,” Kirsty says.
“We didn’t know anything about farming and people helped us learn it. Everyone is so welcoming, even with Harvest Providore. People who have lived here for years love it. People have donated items, and the men’s shed has built furniture for us.”
Visitors are drawn to Keith by agriculture-based events as well as town attractions. The volunteer-driven Keith Show Revved Up grows stronger each year, which features classic agriculture show attractions along with entertainment like jet boat racing at a man-made arena.
The Land Rover on a Pole, viral Country Fried Chicken and the redevelopment of Don Moseley Park and its playground make Keith an ideal stop for travellers.
For locals, though, it always comes back to spirit.
“Generosity is probably the word for me that sums up Keith,” Sarah says.
“Nobody takes themselves more seriously than they need to, and people with knowledge and skills share them willingly.”
Subscribe to InDaily to be the first to see the 2025 Agricultural Town of the Year winner which will be announced at a celebration dinner on Wednesday 5 November.
