Sowing the seeds of farming life A shared passion for motorbikes led to a Massey University student finding a job in the seed industry. Tony Leggett reports. Photos: Natasha Chadwick.
G
ore might be a long way from the leafy seaside suburb of Birkenhead on Auckland’s North Shore, but Fred Milford-Cottam feels right at home. He’s now five months into a new role with H & T Agronomics as South Island manager. He jokes it’s manager of one as he is the sole company employee in the South Island. But it mirrors H & T’s steady North Island expansion over the past decade. H & T Agronomics provides farmers with agronomic advice and retails seed and seed treatment services direct to farmers and a small number of other retailing companies. MilfordCottam got his first insight into farm life as a youngster, while holidaying at his family’s bach at Port Jackson on the Coromandel Peninsula. He started working some of his holidays for local farmer, Alexander Ward, on his 2000+hectare farm which surrounded much of the Port Jackson inlet. ‘It was my first taste of farming, but it also meant riding motorbikes which I really enjoyed doing. I then started working for him in my Christmas holidays and when I got my driver’s licence at 15, he employed me as junior shepherd every school holiday,” Milford-Cottam says. The seed was sown in his mind to get into a career that connected with farming. Not having a family farm, a visit to his careers advisor at Westlake Boys High produced the suggestion that he should head to Lincoln or Massey University to pursue a degree in agriculture. “Out of about 500 boys in my final year 13 at school, I was the only one who went to Massey or Lincoln.” He chose Massey because he was racing motorbikes at the time in a national enduro/cross country team backed by motorcycle brand KTM, and most of the competing was in the North Island events at that time. He signed up for a double degree, choosing a Bachelor of Science majoring in agriculture. In his final year of study, he was also running coaching clinics for young motorcycle riders as part of his contract with KTM. At one he ran in Wairarapa, he met a director of H & T Agronomics, Paul Oliver, who had two boys in the clinic. Left: Fred still gets to ride his bike. 80
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | September 2021
