2012 Member of the Year

2012 Member of the Year

Rural Irrigation Supplies – New owners, family tradition

Rural Irrigation Supplies owners Mark and Jackie Bratti have set about to 'make their own mark' — and have gained industry recognition in the process. Part of the Casino (NSW) landscape for over 30 years, one of the factors to the success of Rural Irrigation Supplies (RIS) has been family involvement.

In the early days Terry Brown (the company's founder) worked from a home office and did installation jobs on the weekends. Today, the business employs five full-time staff and services a wide variety of clientele from its Walker Street premises.

An employee of Rural Irrigation Supplies for over 15 years, nephew Mark Bratti and his wife Jackie bought the business from Terry and Carol Brown in 2009, "having literally grown up in the business, I knew and liked it – customers, suppliers, staff. As well, I love our region. With Jackie, taking over the business seemed a natural fit." Mark's role from employee to business owner is one he relishes. He enjoys the challenges of designing and organising the implementation of projects that in the past he has installed himself. Jackie adds new dimensions to the business. Originally from Brisbane, Jackie moved to Casino in late 2006 and taught Japanese at the local high school for a few years before becoming a full-time mum and business owner.

Rural Irrigation Supplies services a wide variety of clientele and deals with all forms of water needs – from irrigation, stock water, domestic pumping, garden watering systems and household filtration. The main focus of business is industrial, with many family dairy farms scattered around Casino and surrounding areas. Rural Irrigation Supplies provides on-site service as far north as Tweed, east to the coast, south to Grafton and west to Tenterfield. "With people becoming more conscious of environmental issues" says Jackie, "we're also seeing increased demand for household equipment, particularly in areas of grey water, sprinklers and extra water storage. With the increase in the price of electricity, solar is becoming a cost-effective solution to water usage."

Terry and Carol Brown joined Irrigear in 1999. Mark and Jackie were very happy to keep this association running. Being a Member of Irrigear allows Rural Irrigation Supplies to be competitively priced, have access to the best suppliers and products in the industry and also to build a great network.

Irrigear General Manager Simon Treptow said “RIS demonstrates many key attributes that define Irrigear —consistent delivery of quality service and after sales support; indepth product knowledge; and longstanding customer relationships. In addition, the Bratti's are a case study in how generational change can provide new energy to an already successful enterprise. We're proud to welcome Mark and Jackie to the Irrigear network – what better way than to have recognition as the 2012 Member of the Year.” 

 

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Irrigear® Independent Experts – Award-Winning Leadership

Recognition of Excellence.

Irrigear continually seeks to 'raise the bar' on professional standards and practices, by continual programs of training, information exchange, networking and review processes which recognise excellence.

Yearly, we celebrate the achievements of our 'Irrigear Family' through two major Awards – 'Member of the Year (MOTY)' and 'Supplier of the Year (SOTY)'. The winners are selected based on results of an annual appraisal process, that scores Members and Platinum Suppliers across a range of performance and industry criteria. This year’s Awards were announced in August 2023, at the Irrigear National Conference in Brisbane, Queensland amongst Irrigear Member Stores and Platinum Suppliers.

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