30 | nzdairy Societal scrutiny ‘a tough one for farmers’ Virginia Wright Former Dairy Consultant and Nuffield Scholar Corrigan Sowman knows first-hand about the changes farmers continue to face as their impact on the land and the environment comes under increasing scrutiny here and around the world. For the last 13 years he and his wife Ruth have been running the family farm in Golden Bay with his brother Sam and Sam’s partner Steph milking 700 cows on 270 or so hectares. Corrigan uses their farm as an example of what he means. “There’s been some pretty radical changes in land use in the 75 years since we first stocked the land to today where it’s a reasonably high performance farm, supporting a lot of families, and contributing to the local community and the national economy, but what will it look like in 75 years? “And how will we get there? How can we still contribute as much to the economy while not being detrimental to the climate? We’re probably going to have to be absorbing carbon rather than producing it and so on and so on.” Corrigan recently completed a Nuffield Scholarship which he undertook with the intention of looking at exactly those questions as they’re being addressed around the world. But by the time he’d completed his 18 weeks of travel his focus had been taken to what he found to be of pressing concern everywhere. Farmers around the world were all saying the same thing, “that the climate was very, very different to what it used to be, and that pressure was coming on farmers from all sorts of different angles as to what our role might be in climate change, what things we’re going to have to do differently, or whether there even should be animal agriculture. Corrigan Sowman: “The sort of change that we’re facing in terms of food in the world means that we’re going to be uncomfortable as farmers for a while, and around the world mental health in terms of agriculture and farmers is really suffering ...” DAIRY PEOPLE » Corrigan Sowman / C & N van Dorsten Pokuru Farm a long-term Sue Russell Moving from Outram, Otago to Pokuru, west of Te Awamutu in the Waikato, was an important step in redefining Cameron and Nicola van Dorsten’s farming journey to date. “We decided that was the right time to take a year off and re-evaluate where we were at with our farming and give us time to reflect on where we were wanting to head,” says Cameron. Looking for an equity partnership or good 50:50 sharemilking job seemed the logical progression and with a good CV with the bank, and a home bought in Kihikihi, Cameron temporarily managed one of Jim Kirkham’s farms for three months while his manager went back to India. “I really liked the farm, Jim’s farming philosophy and said to Jim if he wanted to sell a share I’d be interested. Instead Jim said to me if I ever wanted to buy a farm he would go in with us to make that happen,” Cameron explains. The goal was to own and run a farm that would be home to 300 plus cows so the farm could continue to employ staff. The van Dorsten’s had kept 75 of their young stock when they shifted north giving them the beginnings of the new herd once a farm was found. Enabling the purchase of the farm was the equity in the home they had bought in Kihikihi which, when sold, contributed to funding their equity in the farm with Jim Kirkham. “It’s a rolling farm of 129ha with about 115ha effective. It has definitely got character, a ‘fix-me-up’ farm for sure.” Priorities on taking over the farm have been controlling weeds, enhancing pasture quality and tidying up the farm, the aesthetics, with riparian planting. Nicola is propagating native tree species with 1000 planted from seed collected on the farm. These are being planted as gorse is being retired, something Cameron says, in time will transform the whole look and feel of the property. Working with the couple is Taylor Cresswell as 2IC along with a relief milker called in when necessary. “We’ll peak milk about 380 cows going forward and we’re not 100 per cent sure of what system will work best on the farm; we’ll just figure that out as we go.” The farm at Outram was run to a System 4 and For all your Transport and Logistics requirements www.sollys.co.nz 03 525 9843 Freight | Storage | Bulk Cartage Livestock | Stock Feed | Fertiliser Proud to support Corrigan Sowman Tristan Strange 027 515 5204 Takaka, Golden Bay strangecontracting@gmail.com Specialising in: · Mowing · Raking · Tedding · Square Baling · Round Baling · Cartage · Tow and Fert Where quality and service count For all your contracting requirements Phone 07 872 0000 .nz www.johnaustinltd.co “The thing that really stuck out for me was that it’s not like a passing thing. The sort of change that we’re facing in terms of food in the world means that we’re going to be uncomfortable as farmers for a while, and around the world mental health in terms of agriculture and farmers is really suffering through the change that’s occurring,” says Corrigan. While dealing with change in terms of commodity cycles or weather events has always been part of life for farmers it wasn’t generally accompanied by the social stigma which Corrigan found to be a big part of what farmers find so challenging as they deal with rapid and accelerating changes. “These days it’s scrutiny, and it’s often societal scrutiny and that’s a tough one for farmers. One of my findings was that it’s because the world has had a pretty rapid technological change in terms of how we connect together and the feedback I regularly got was that you’re only one photograph or video or clickbait away from being in the media on something that may not be particularly true but that’s what it looked like at the time, so that sort of change in social media exposure is new and it’s stressful,” explains Corrigan. Corrigan’s work through his Nuffield Scholarship led him to talking about mental health from the angle of farmers thinking more about how they’re thinking. “Having that self-awareness of ‘am I thinking well here or am I not and what are the things I can do about it.’ It really reinforced for me that the changes we’re dealing with in agriculture and the climate and everything it still boils down to people. “It’s about taking care of our mental health and finding the things in farming that join people together, and walking through that change together, rather than taking sides and positions.” As far as Corrigan’s concerned farming still is as it always was – a noble occupation.
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