Growing up on the Kapiti Coast around agriculture and a family with farming connections, I always enjoyed working alongside farmers. Some on-farm experience in Northland as part of my ag science degree at Massey led me to my husband and eventually to Stratford where I’ve been based ever since.
Herd testing at LIC in Taranaki was my foothold into the industry and it was a great way to get to know farmers and the region. From there I picked up a job within the Co-op, where I worked in the microbiology lab before moving to Taranaki Regional Council as a riparian officer, helping farmers with waterway fencing and planting.
The council role was where I got into the compliance and people side of things, supporting farmers through managing all the regulations that come with running a farm. So when this role came up at Farm Source, it felt like the perfect fit.
As a Co-op Business Associate, I work across South Taranaki and the South Coastal areas which includes around 650 farms from Opunaki on the coast, Stratford in central, to Waverley in the south. My role sits alongside our Co-op Business Partners and Sustainable Dairy Advisors, Farm Source store teams providing practical day-to-day support to farmers including Co-operative Difference paperwork, farm dairy assessment preparation and digital help.
Some farmers I visit on-farm; others I see at drop-in sessions at our local Farm Source stores and some I speak to over the phone.
It's really about being flexible to whatever suits farmers on their digital journey. Some are right at the beginning and it works best if I visit them on-farm to work through things. Others just have a quick question and are happy to sort it in store or over the phone.
When I’m visiting on-farm, my approach is never to arrive with a checklist and clipboard. Instead, I start by understanding how their farm works and what’s been going on for them. Once I’ve built that picture, the questions I need to answer then fit naturally into the conversation, so it becomes about the farm rather than a compliance exercise.
The part of the job I love most is watching farmers succeed. Farmers don’t farm to sit in front of a computer, so admin and compliance is often not the most appealing space for them. But knowing they trust me enough to ask for help, and that I’ve made a positive difference is a genuine joy.
And in my experience, there's very little that can't be sorted. Farmers often come to me worried something is a bigger deal than it turns out to be. Most of the time, there's a straightforward path through it. At the end of the day, we want the same things, which is for their milk to get the best possible price, and for the requirements that support that to feel manageable.
So if I can make compliance feel less like a burden and more like something they're on top of, that's a win for everyone, and I'm proud to be part of that.
