3 minute read
Phone and talk
PHONE
AND TALK!
Words by Anne Hardie
Some of the RSE team at Golden Bay Fruit get to meet rugby star Sam Whitelock
Trust your gut instinct if you think someone is struggling, and get in the car and visit them or phone them for a chat.
That’s the advice from All Black Sam Whitelock who put on his Farmstrong ambassador hat to talk with Motueka growers who had suffered brutal losses from the Boxing Day hailstorm.
One of the reasons he joined the nationwide well-being programme for the rural community was that he had witnessed challenges faced by his own family. Several years ago his parents lost a lot of their stock during a salmonella outbreak on their dairy farm and struggled with the trauma and stress it caused. He witnessed the pressures of working in an isolated environment with long hours and no time for a work-life balance.
Today he visits groups around the country in between his rugby, and having studied plant science at university, knows a thing or two about horticulture. On his fleeting Tasman visit, he wanted to know about the challenges in the region which had gone through a tough season.
Apple and kiwifruit growers around the table with Sam described a year that began with the Covid-19 lockdown, followed by ongoing government regulations being thrust upon them and the challenges of international markets. That had all been manageable with a great crop of fruit shaping up in the orchards, until Boxing Day delivered another blow. To have such a good crop demolished by a hailstorm left growers heartbroken, said one of them. Many were reluctant to revisit orchards after the storm because “they were toast.” But they had to, because the workload in a bad year is double that of a good year. Following huge losses this year, growers said they still don’t know what the crop will look like next year after the damage to trees and vines.
They also described labour as a “massive, massive concern” and feel the government is disinterested in the pressures they face. Growers have to show leadership when the going gets tough, but there is no-one for those leading growers to go to for leadership, with no support from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) or other government sectors.
Sam Whitelock and Golden Bay Fruit managing director Heath Wilkins look at this year’s crop in the packhouse
Sam drew on his own experience in rugby, when from being a younger player through to leadership in the sport there has been the pressure from the public to win. Sometimes players have had to find support within their group, and he suggested growers might need to look for similar solutions. If growers in leadership roles can’t get support from above, such as from government, they might need to go sideways to find it, he said. That means other growers or someone who had been through those challenges in the past, and as a group, creating their own support network.
One of the big things – even in top-level rugby – is making the most of the good times to outweigh those tough days.
“You have to make sure the enjoyable days are more than those that aren’t enjoyable,” he said. “As a family, making sure the lifestyle is enjoyable, because why are you doing it?”
About 20,000 people turned up last year to different Farmstrong events and Sam said people weren’t interested in being lectured to, or told how to run their life, but rather in sharing stories and simply getting together to talk things through. For that reason, he said something as simple as picking up the phone and going for a beer is a good way to get people together to talk, and by doing that, help build resilience.
Farmstrong’s website, www.farmstrong.co.nz, shares tips from the rural sector that are supported and informed by well-being science, with the aim of helping farmers and growers cope better with the ups and downs of farming.
