.png)
1 day ago
14
On a farm south of Auckland, Cam Clayton breeds sheep and cattle – working alongside the dogs he’s trained since they were puppies. There, he looks out on knobbly hills and tree-filled gullies in Waikato, close to where he grew up.
“I have the best office, with the best views,” says Clayton.
The 30-year-old is part of a changing sector in New Zealand: data from the statistics agency shows the number of farms has been steadily declining: from 70,336 in 2002, to 47,250 two decades later – a drop of 33%. The land area taken up by farming has shrunk too, by 15% over the same period.
Historically an agricultural country, dairy, meat, kiwifruit and apples are still major exports for New Zealand. While the number of farms has declined, some have grown from small holdings into big businesses. New Zealand’s farmer-owned dairy co-operative, Fonterra, has recently sold its consumer businesses to French dairy giant Lactalis for nearly NZ$4bn ($2.3bn).
Yet while dairy fetches record prices, it’s difficult for young farmers like Clayton to follow the traditional path to farm ownership. In the past, young farmers would often run a farm owned by someone else in return for a share of the profits, while saving to purchase land of their own. But land is becoming more expensive; prospective farm owners have to save for longer, and look for other types of work to make money.
“Someone buys the neighbour’s farm, then the next neighbour, suddenly you have a portfolio of five farms and Joe Bloggs the young farmer can’t buy a 150-cow farm to get started,” Clayton says, who leases the block he works on.
“You have to be really passionate and in it for the long haul.”
Cheyne Gilooly is chief executive of the Young Farmers club, a 98-year old institution that connects people across New Zealand. Finding a way to buy land is a frequent topic of discussion at the dozens of clubs throughout the country which are open to people aged under 31 – fewer and fewer of whom own their farms.
“The big challenge at the moment is helping people finance their way into farm or land ownership as land gets more expensive,” says Gilooly.
Cam Lowery, 27, and his partner Poppy Mitchell, 25, are one year into holding a lease for Lowery’s parents farm near Milton, south of Dunedin. They have 2,700 sheep, as well as some cows, calves and hoggets – young sheep who haven’t been shorn.
After going to university, Lowery worked as a shepherd across the South Island.
“I just couldn’t see a way into farm ownership through shepherding,” he says. Kiwisaver, a government-supported retirement saving scheme, can be used for first home payments, but can’t be used to buy a farm.
“It’s hard to build equity off-farm,” Lowery says.
For now, because the farm is owned by family, they are settled. Mitchell works as a physiotherapist in Dunedin during the week, an hour’s drive away. Lowery does all the farm work, with Mitchell’s help on weekends.
“My days start at 7 or 8 am and I keep working until 7pm at the moment,” he says. The work is hard, but it feels worth doing, Mitchell adds.
In Waikato, Clayton does a bit of everything: he helps on his parents’ dairy farm, manages a 600-hectare (1,480 acres) block of land, breeds and sells his cattle and sheep. It’s lots of casual work “just hopping around farms”. One day, he might be milking; the next, mustering ewes for a neighbour or inseminating cows.
Clayton was a recent finalist at the Bay of Plenty-Waikato Young Farmer of the Year contest. He will now compete against other regions in challenges including identifying horse tack, grading different types of wool and demonstrating his ability to communicate with dogs. A written test includes questions about plant varieties, agricultural legislation and irrigation.
“It’s a broad spectrum, looking at all things rural,” Clayton says.
The long-term plan is to own a farm with his partner, Emma. There’s lots to learn, he says but loves the variety of life on the land.
“I can’t get out of bed fast enough to see what challenges the day will throw at me,” he says.
