Business Rural Winter 2021

40 | A ‘reasoned voice’ Karen Phelps S outhland farmer Geoffrey Young has just finished his term as president of Federated Farmers Southland and is proud of what he has achieved but acknowledges there is still much work to be done. “Hopefully I stood up and was a reasoned voice for grassroots farmers. Because at the end of the day that’s what Federated Farmers is all about – empowering farmers to keep producing high quality food and fibre in a sustainable manner.” Seminal moments in his leadership include the stance Geoffrey took against the Essential Freshwa- ter requirements when he encouraged farmers to refrain from applying for resource consent, particu- larly around re-sowing dates for winter crops. “There was no scientific basis for that at all and it was completely unworkable.” The result was reconsideration by Government, which has seen farmers given more autonomy for 12 months to make improvements to their systems before a re-assessment of the situation. Geoffrey would like to see Government listen- ing to input from farmers in order to find practical solutions to challenges. He points to the wilding pine issue on Mid Dome, which was the result of Government planting unsuitable pines for erosion control and not listening to farmer concerns, now resulting in a multi-million dollar issue to eradicate, as the species has now spread as a pest species. He points to the success of initiatives such as the Pomahaka Catchment Project in southwest Otago, a farmer led initiative that is improving water quality. “Farmers aren’t really being listened to but a lot of our best ideas come from the shop floor and farmers can put a lot of balance into rules and regulations. “They know the practical side of what will and won’t work. It’s not all about having regulations; it’s about achieving the right outcomes.” MEAT & WOOL » Geoffrey Young With regards to the winter cropping issue farmers are employing methods such as cropping the right pastures, ensuring critical source areas are not win- ter grazed, keeping cropping away from waterways likely to flood and creating buffer zones around waterways to filter sediment and contaminants. Geoffrey says that animals in Southland are consist- ently well-fed 12 months of the year because of cropping and this gives them resilience in harsher weather events. “Having animals well fed is very important. In the wild they seek shelter but would have a poorer quality food source. Our stock in Southland has been bred to live outside in this environment and thrive.” Other big issues for farmers he has helped medi- ate during his term included Environment South- land’s water and land plan, which seeks to address activities that are known to have a significant effect on water quality, such as land use intensification, urban discharges, wintering and stock access to waterways. Geoffrey is the owner of Cattle Flat Station, a 5400ha, 15,000 stock unit farm in Northern South- land. The station operates as primarily a breeding unit selling lambs and cattle as store stock. He continues to improve his property, including fencing off more waterways and aiding native bush regeneration. Geoffrey remains on the Federated Farmers Southland executive and hopes to keep pushing for more input from farmers with Govern- ment on key issues such as the shortage of both skilled and unskilled staff in the primary industries. “We are desperate for willing staff, in particularly the horticulture, dairy and arable sectors and in fact most other rural services. “The government needs to allow more migrants in to fill these vital roles in our most essential export earning industry.” “Farmers aren’t really being listened to but a lot of our best ideas come from the shop floor and farmers can put a lot of balance into rules and regulations. They know the practical side of what will and won’t work. It’s not all about having regulations; it’s about achieving the right outcomes.” Cattle Flat Station is a 15,000 stock unit farm in Northern Southland, which operates primarily as a breeding unit selling lambs and cattle as store stock. “as used by Geoffrey Young” genetics proudly supplied by Turanganui & Mount Guardian Run a smarter, better business with tools to help free up your time. Talk to us about Xero and Figured today. mmca.co.nz | 03 214 4166