| 71 MEAT & WOOL » Mark Patterson Challenges aplenty but future bright Federated Farmers Otago president Mark Patterson. Sue Russell For Mark Patterson, the ability to transfer his skills and experiences as a former MP into his local Federated Farmers group was a key reason why he put up his hand to get involved in farming governance. Mark and wife Jude farm at Lawrence, about 100km inland from Dunedin. The farm measures 300ha and recently there’s been a shift away from the core activities of sheep and beef farming, to include forestry on the areas that were unproductive. At Federated Farmers level Mark feels getting stuck in and involved at this time matters a great deal. He is currently Otago Federated Farmers President. “There is so much coming toward farmers driven by government policy and its essential that this organisation has the teeth to represent the farmers voice effectively,” says Mark. There are two aspects to his role with Federated Farmers. At a local level, engaging with Otago Regional Council and the regional plans which are currently being updated. “There’s an element of frustration to the cycle of review. We’ve been very involved in having the plans settled and now the process begins again. I think this is one of the things that can get the farming fraternity down; its just one thing after another.” The other work involves feeding into the national body’s policy responses and debates in areas such as climate change, winter grazing and fresh-water quality as they impact on the rural sector. Mark says he’s putting in a lot of energy in focussing on interacting with the local farming fraternity, to gain a really clear picture of their reality and to ensure, as members, they understand the work Otago Federated Farmers is engaged with at a local level and in the bigger national picture. “With issues such as winter grazing, what has been proposed by government policy just isn’t practical. I’m encouraged to think they have now worked out that they need to come up with solutions that can actually be implemented well by farmers.” It’s about bridging the gap between perception and what farmers are actually already doing in signi cant ways. Farmers, Mark says, are very much taking care of their patch and seeing bene ts that ow. “It’s really more about the speed in which change in practice needs to occur. Nothing in a farming system is a quick x or quick change and the environmental policies need to re ect this.” Where Mark’s farm is located, on the border of central and south Otago, has its own climate. The farm experiences a good mix of weather conditions reasonably reliably. The move toward some forestry activity is part of a transition, including selling down a block of land at Waitahuna. “We’ve consolidated down to the home farm at Lawrence, with Jude having recently taking up a Dunedin based job and with our daughters also heading through there to high school, so it’s a bit of a life stage thing.” Like so many farming sheep, the value of wool is of real concern. Mark describes it as a mountain to climb to get the wool sector viable again. It’s going to involve an overhaul of the wool sector including how it markets and values itself, nding new ways to promote and engage just how wonderful wool is. He describes the farm as fairly typical in terms of how the sheep and beef operations on hill country works. “We have 80% sheep and 20% beef. Cattle do a really good job at setting the pasture up for the sheep. Our sheep are romney/texel cross and we use a Southdown ram as a terminal sire. Our beef cattle have an angus base.” The transition in the farming business is a three year process that is going well; redesigning the farm to make it easy care. The plan is eventually to have about 25% of the steep faces and gullies in planted forestry. “With some plantation forestry we will have a better farm at the end of it.” Due to the autumn drought this year, the decision was made to sell the bulk of the Angus herd keeping about 20 breeding cows to build back up in time. The role of President is a three-year term and Mark says he thinks its really important that at the end of that term he steps down. “You want new people coming into the organisation with different backgrounds and ideas.” And while there may be challenges facing the sector, Mark rmly believes that the bigger picture is a bright and positive future. “I think we are uniquely placed globally to deliver on a lot of consumer expectations and would say we are potentially going into a golden era.” “I think this is one of the things that can get the farming fraternity down; its just one thing after another.” www.layassociates.co.nz Rolleston office 03 347 4501 Ashburton office 03 324 3030 Lincoln office 03 3243030 Leeston office 03 324 3030 Don and Jo Murray ‘ R I V E R S I DE ’ R.D.3 Waitahuna Otago Phone 03 4859 186 | 027 410 7774 joanddon@xtra.co.nz “Our focus is survival and early nishing on Hill country”. EBVs
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