Dairy Exporter December 2021

Page 10

MILKING PLATFORM SOUTH CANTERBURY

Sing from your

ROOFTOP TODAY Frances Coles relishes the opportunities she and her family have had to be ambassadors for farming.

F

arming is a profession to be proud of and we should be singing it from the rooftops. We feed the world. We are one of, if not the, most efficient producers of milk in the world and guardians of our land for future generations. When a global pandemic brought the local economy to a grinding halt, we kept on keeping on. While other sectors face ongoing uncertainty and massive financial challenges, we are keeping our teams working and their families housed and fed. They say you should focus on the controllable, and while it may feel like we are being tossed on the political currents like a rudderless boat in a storm, we are able to manage how our industry is perceived by the people we interact with on a daily basis. How are you telling your story daily? I’ve been so encouraged in the past few weeks by many examples of people starting the conversation small but gaining big momentum and precious large-scale coverage over time. Over the last couple of Sundays I’ve enjoyed seeing friends Wayne and Tyler Langford, and Michael and Susie Woodward on Country Calendar, sharing what makes their operations unique and special to them and generally being excellent ambassadors for the industry.

I was the last at our table to finish eating my lunch because the others in our group had so much to ask me about farming and operating a large-scale business requiring such a varied skill set. One of my daughter’s friends has had a niggling feeling for a while that farmers have been getting the short end of the stick in terms of blame for water quality issues, so set about researching a local waterway for her science fair project. She asked us about all the mitigation measures we put in place onfarm, where our water quality in the streams running through the farm is proven to be excellent. Her project ‘Battle of the Lands – Rural vs Urban’ went on to win the Senior 10

Ecan Award at the regional Sanford Science and Technology Fair. Last week I had the opportunity to attend a new ‘Women in Business Network’ lunch hosted by our local Chamber of Commerce. The idea behind the formation of the group was to bring together business women who might not usually get the opportunity to leave the office or mix with each other, and share experiences, ideas and resources to help provide personal and professional development opportunities. I was the last at our table to finish eating my lunch because the others in our group had so much to ask me about farming and operating a large-scale business requiring such a varied skill set. But the ‘small’ conversation I’ve been proudest to witness of late has been the one relayed to me by my youngest daughter. She was deeply offended when her primary school teacher implied that dairy farmers are mostly to blame for global warming during a discussion on climate change, and didn’t hesitate to challenge her to back up her opinion with facts. It was another disappointing example of someone who doesn’t understand the difference between short life cycle gases like methane and long-term gases like carbon dioxide, or the bigger picture of which sectors are pulling their weight in terms of meeting climate change targets. I’m looking forward to following up with a ‘small’ conversation of my own with her in the near future about the wisdom of sticking to the curriculum in class time and inviting her to learn more from someone who actually has a vested interest in protecting the environment for the good of my land, people and community. There are so many ways to share the positive – conversations with family and friends, photos and videos of what you’re doing onfarm shared through your social media, the opportunity to host field days, making it known how your farming business supports your local community with time, resources or money... Remember to be proud to be a farmer – how will you sing from your rooftop today? Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | December 2021


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Articles inside

The Dairy Exporter in December 1971

3min
pages 90-92

Gen Z to make their mark

4min
page 89

Tracmap unit eases compliance pain

3min
page 88

Never too late to learn

5min
pages 86-87

A beetle to beat the thistle

2min
page 85

Plants waiting to be weeds

2min
page 84

The art of saying no

5min
pages 82-83

Variety from consulting to composting

7min
pages 78-81

Vet Voice: More to it than

4min
pages 74-75

Fast track to management

5min
pages 76-77

Reducing heat stress over summer

2min
page 73

M. Bovis: It had a head start

6min
pages 71-72

Restoring Horowhenua’s waters

6min
pages 65-67

And now, freshwater plans

3min
page 64

Sustainability: Gaining the knowledge

8min
pages 58-61

Open Country: Online tool for FEP

3min
pages 62-63

When will all this end?

5min
pages 54-55

Social media and anti-vax The dirty dozen

6min
pages 56-57

How to handle Covid-19 coming onfarm

3min
pages 50-51

No Jab, No Job in the milking shed

4min
page 48

It’s a health and safety issue

4min
pages 46-47

Dealing with vaccine reluctance

3min
page 49

Taranaki soft core

12min
pages 34-38

When the lights go red

5min
pages 44-45

Prepare for a virus attack

6min
pages 42-43

Ryegrass: Twelve years of torture

6min
pages 39-41

Benchmarking: Measure it to be sure

5min
pages 32-33

Ahuwhenua Trophy: Taking the leap to manager

5min
pages 26-27

Spending the payout: new kit or cutting debt?

8min
pages 14-17

Ahuwhenua Trophy: Quality on the coast

9min
pages 22-25

Frances Coles loves being an ambassador for Kiwi farming

3min
page 10

Future farming will need to give more than profit, writes George Moss

3min
page 12

What a payout, writes John Milne, but what prices

2min
page 13

Market View: Hedging bets on Singapore

3min
pages 20-21

Global Dairy: All change at FrieslandCampina

5min
pages 18-19
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