The milk payout has lifted and along with it the mood of farmers, but the wet spring is putting a dampener on their good spirits, says a dairy leader.
“Farmers have had to deal with some difficult challenges this season,” says DairyNZ regional leader for Canterbury-North Otago, Virginia Serra.
“The payout has lifted, but the winter was tough and the wet spring is not helping. But most definitely, the mood of farmers in our region is a lot better than it has been in the past couple of years.”
She has been a DairyNZ consulting officer since 2004, firstly in Wairarapa, then in Canterbury since 2007. She took on the regional leader’s role in 2011 and has seen and lived through it all – from earthquakes and fires to drought and flooding and the low payout, and seen the impact it has had on the region’s farmers.
“You realise how volatile the industry is and how much farmers rely on milk price,” she says.
“There are definitely lessons that can be learnt. Through working with our farmer groups it has become evident that the ones that who have lived through these things in the past can teach the younger farmers how to cope and get through.”
She says the biggest thing was to try and minimise the damage to farm businesses and adopt new or different measures along the way.
“Our older farmers, especially those who went through similar things in the 1980s, have seen it all before.
“It is important, though, for all farmers not to lose sight of their business and their goals. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Her team of five consulting officers looks after 25 farm systems groups, up to seven progression groups, two pasture groups, plus seasonal workshops and field days.
“We have run a strong campaign on cost controls and growing pasture on-farm.
“There has been a lot of communication round this and a number of field days, and as result farmers have looked more closely at their systems and their facts and figures.
“It is not just about the cows and grass, everything has to be looked at and combined to make work and achieve good results.”
The best part of her job, she says, is interacting with farmers and learning from them as well as being able to help them by bringing them research when information becomes available.
“A lot of the research we are doing focuses on maintaining profitability on-farm but at the same time reducing their environmental footprint.
“We are looking at how they can do things differently, what changes can be made to their system or can they plant different pasture species. There is a lot of interesting things coming out and the discussions around environmental regulations is ongoing.”
She says farmers are doing their utmost to protect the environment.
“Dairy farmers in the region have farm environment plans, which means they are set up to farm in an environmentally sustainable manner 365 days of the year,” she says.
“Another major focus is on efficient water use, including good management of irrigation where more and more farmers utilise the latest technology water meters to ensure no more water is used than necessary. Farmers in our region are proponents of the Sustainable Dairying Water Accord and doing their part.”
She feels right at home and in her element on-farm although she is more than 10,000 kilometres from her home country.
The daughter of dairy farmers, she grew in up in rural Florida, in Uruguay.
“It is very similar to New Zealand in terms of agriculture.
“About 1.5 million people live in the capital and 1.5 million live in rural areas. Growing up on the farm I knew I didn’t want to be a dairy farmer because I didn’t want to milk cows every day, but I did want to have a career in the industry.”
Her goal was to become Uruguay’s Minister of Agriculture.
“It was my dream. But you have to be a politician and I wasn’t interested in going into politics.”
Instead, she attended the University of the Republic in Montevideo in 1991 and completed a five-year degree in agriculture engineering. She then went on to a consulting role.
“I enjoyed it a great deal but I wanted to continue my studies.
“As I had studied English since I was a child, I was keen to continue my studies in an English-speaking country and decided that New Zealand would be a good place. I considered it to be a world leader in dairying, a professional place where farming was done really well.”
In 2001, she applied for a scholarship and moved to Canterbury to attend Lincoln University, where she completed a master’s degree in applied science and agribusiness management.
She met her husband Juan while at Lincoln and they married in 2003. They have two children, Luka, 10, and Lucia, 5.
“My plan was to return home to Uruguay after I finished my studies.
“But in 2003, South America was hit by a financial crisis and Juan was very keen to stay In New Zealand. With the crisis at home, we thought it was a good idea to stay put.”
In 2004, as luck would have it, a consulting officer’s position became available with Dexcel.
“It was perfect. It was something I enjoyed doing – working outside with farmers and in an area I wanted.”
Taking on the role, and becoming established, all thoughts of returning to Uruguay were forgotten.
She did a stint in Wairarapa and then in 2007 they moved back south to Canterbury just a couple of months before Dexcel become DairyNZ.
Her heart was in the South Island which she happily calls home.
“The North Island is a bit too busy for me – too many people.
“Canterbury is home and I really like it even though it is a bit colder.”
As the regional leader, she supports her team of five consulting officers in their extension activities as well as being the regional contact for DairyNZ for farmers and rural professionals.
“I really enjoy it,” she says. “I have picked up a lot of new skills and there are plenty of opportunities available for training or within the industry.”
She says one of the best things about working for DairyNZ is that there is a focus on what is beneficial for farmers.
“Being a farmer’s daughter, this is close to home and important to me.”
“I love working with a great team of dynamic people and feeling valued. You can’t put a price on these.”
She says the future of the dairy industry is bright and that people are “key to the success of the industry”.
“It is the people in the industry – the farmers and professionals – that make this industry great.
“Finding the right people to work in it and the next generation who will own the farms is ongoing. We need to do a lot of work to encourage people from a young age to enter the industry. As an industry, we don’t interact enough with our urban counterparts and this needs to change.”
Source: http://bit.ly/2inmAlt
