Business Rural North Winter 2021

| 43 RURAL PEOPLE » Ben Anderson: Puketotara Farm Monetising sustainability key for Nuffield Scholar • from page 42 have plenty of ideas about how best to bring their own mark of stewardship to the farm. Khim and Alan have run the farm on their own for years until Jamie’s return. Alan feels the wool price situation will improve and has faith in the industry. “You know it cost us $6,500 to have our sheep sheared and we got about $4,000 for it and that’s a really sad situation for so many farmers to be fac ing at this time, but I think that world-demand for natural fibres will see it improve in time.” Future plans ahead for Mahoenui will depend on what direction the children collectively choose to take the property. There’s talk about eco-tourism and branding which Alan says is an exciting prospect. “My part has been to build on from the decades of hard-work, breaking in this property and to leave it better than before. Khim and I have achieved this, and the work isn’t over yet!” Optimism around wool price Richard Loader 2 021 Nuffield Scholar and Hawke’s Bay deer farmer Ben Anderson has always held the belief that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. From a past life spent in the New Zealand Army, and then working in security and munitions’ clearance consulting in the Middle East and Africa, much of Ben’s extraordinary career has been about protecting people. Ben’s next mission is about helping farmers monetise sustainability to maximise their returns. “A crisis event has a degree of danger but it also has a degree of opportunity to it because it enables you to disrupt norms, think about things in a new way and potentially leverage benefits,” explains Ben. “With farming, I see real market disruption with alternative proteins, climatic issues and regulation. They all have the ability to significantly disrupt the industry and you can think about that from a crisis perspective. I’m saying we can take the bull by the horns and not just minimise damage but look for the commercial advantage that will come out of it.” Ben and his wife Amanda farm 600 English Red Deer inland from Waipukurau underneath the Ruahine Ranges, in the Totara Belt and in an area typically considered summer safe. Encompassing 135 hectares, including 20 hectares of bush, the Andersons farm an intensive deer velvet operation, with a few cows and calves for pasture management. “We bought the farm as a going concern in 2018. The previous owner had invested heavily in genetics and we have some very good deer as a result. So our primary focus over the last three years has been on capitalising on that. We’ve spent a lot on infrastructure, increasing genetics and the potential from better feeding. We cut 900 kilograms of velvet in the first year and we’ve increased that to 1.8 tonnes.” Growing up on a sheep and beef farm on the King Country, Ben joined the army as a 17 year old in ’94, exiting in 2003 to take on private consulting work overseas for fifteen years. Ben says a return to farming was always on the programme but he and Amanda had to build up the capital to do so. “We’re deeply passionate about farming and the future of farming. In the farming sector we get very busy looking at what we’re doing right now and maybe one or two seasons ahead. But we need to look at what some of the macro- trends are as well. If I’ve learned anything from my time doing risk management overseas, we need to see what is coming over the horizon, both from a climatic and a consumer preference perspective. We need to be more proactive in the way we address those issues rather than be reactive, which is what I suggest we do now.” No stranger to study, Ben completed a Masters Degree in International Relations in 2007. The Nuffield Scholarship will provide a superb opportunity to re-introduce the disciplines re- “Where products are produced and marketed sustainably, it is largely the retailers and marketers who capture the value, not the farmer. I would like to change that and help farmers achieve better financial returns for producing what our customers now want from us. This will incentivise farmers to farm as sustainably as possible, as well as provide them the financial headroom to do the environmental work we all want”. P: 09 438 1020 E: info@semenoffgroup.co.nz Specialist in: Bulk Cartage, Livestock & Logging Fertiliser • Sand • Scoria • Metal Ben Anderson - Puketotara Farm Are proud to support Making life on the farm easier [a] 49-51 Takapau Road, Waipukurau [w] www.millshonda.co.nz [p] 06 858 9109 W&J ANDERSON CONTRACTING Call Wayne today and arrange for him to view and assist you with your on farm plan in regards to all your cultivation, direct drilling and harvesting needs. From spraying to planting, mowing to wrapping he’s got you covered. Phone Wayne H: 858 5405 M: 027 444 1270 Or for Baleage and Hay Phone: Simon Reisima H: 858 8792 M: 027 478 1345 338 Te Awa Road, RD4, Waipukurau quired for study and learning. But more so, Ben says it will provide the op- portunity to give back to the industry that has been very good to him. In the world of Covid, the New Zealand Nuffield Scholars have been visiting farms throughout New Zealand, which Ben says has exposed them to many innovative and clever kiwis. Ben has chosen monetising sustainability as his individual research topic and suggests that sustainability is currently treated as a regulatory tool with a hand brake effect. “Where products are produced and mar- keted sustainably, it is largely the retailers and marketers who capture the value, not the farmer. I would like to change that and help farmers achieve better financial returns for producing what our customers now want from us. This will incentivise farmers to farm as sustainably as possible, as well as provide them the financial headroom to do the environmental work we all want. We want farmers to farm in a way that’s not only sustainable but is good for the back pocket. I want to produce a model for the deer industry that will achieve that and I want to see our industry thrive and do well.” Ben Anderson and wife Amanda farm 600 red deer near Waipukurau.