Farm Source has 65 stores nationwide with expert staff on-hand to help with day-to-day inquiries. We talk to Te Awamutu Sales Specialist Jeremy Smith about the role.
I moved to the Waikato in my teens and started working for Farm Source when I was still in high school, helping out in the Cambridge store on the weekends. After finishing high school, I completed a Bachelor of Communications degree, majoring in journalism.
I then went on to work at a wide variety of newspapers in Fairfax’ Waikato stable – some of which included reporting on farming matters.
I kept my hand in at Farm Source throughout, working as a journalist during the week and the Farm Source store at the weekends. During my time here, I have worked in the Cambridge, Otorohanga, and Te Awamutu stores. While I enjoyed writing, and was in the media industry for several years, it was, at times, a fairly solo activity, and to be honest, I missed the interaction with both the staff teams and the customers that Farm Source roles afforded me.
In 2016, after going on an OE the year before, I had the opportunity to join Farm Source full-time, working in the Cambridge store. Last year, after a four-year break from the company, I came back and took up a role here in the Te Awamutu store.
One of the great things about our Farm Source store team is that we all have a lot of product knowledge – we are dairy experts in what’s available at Farm Source. I’m from more of a lifestyle block, rural upbringing, while several of my colleagues are either former farmers, have studied agricultural science, or have worked in various parts of the dairy industry, giving them first-hand knowledge of farming business goals, regional regulations and market conditions. With our combined experiences we can offer effective farming strategies.
One of the things I love about this role is building a rapport with farmers, creating a connection with our customers and helping them find solutions. You get to know people and they get to know you. Our customers value real consistency, and that helps them build trust in us. It creates a really special working environment when they know who they’re dealing with in-store, and we know them. The Farm Source moniker is “Our Place” and it really is – a hub where people enjoy visiting and want to catch up. It’s a privilege to be part of an awesome team that strives to make our store just that each and every day. It makes me love waking up in the morning to come to work.
The Farm Source stores are more than just retail spaces. We have meeting spaces and catch-up zones. Here in Te Awamutu, we’re quite central in town and we often host a wide range of industry workshops and meetings. We engage with customers on many fronts – we recently held a workshop on how to change the tyres of the new electric PHEV vehicles that are used on-farm. You meet people from all sorts of walks of life in the rural community as they pop into the shop – farmers, community board members, councillors, all sorts.
Customers come in with a wide range of queries and requirements, and it’s a fun challenge to find solutions for them. We’ll source anything we haven’t got in stock to make sure our customers have the best products or services for their needs – everyone has a unique need and business goal, and we will tailor our response to the specific challenges and opportunities of each farm.
"We’re connected with the whole Farm Source and Fonterra team, so we have nationwide support at our disposal. We’re really one big family, and I feel privileged to be trusted to play my part in that in the role here"
We’re actively involved in the community and represent Farm Source at events like judging local school ag days (in my case, it’s usually putting ribbons on animals and hoping they don’t fall off!), fundraisers, and other community events. Our store is a strong supporter of Pūniu River Care, and we display a variety of native plants that farmers can use for riparian, wetland and hillside erosion planting. We also help at planting days with local schools as they look to help improve biodiversity and water quality in the area.
As a team in-store, we’re always looking to improve as well, with our customers first and foremost in our minds. Just like our farmers are looking at ways to make their farms more efficient, we regularly look at how we do things in-store to streamline our processes – even integrating scanners and technology to perfect the stock receipting process. It’s just one of the ways we make sure we’re providing top service every day.
It all comes back to the bigger picture of serving farmers in the best ways we possibly can.
Pop into your local Farm Source store for the latest deals on agricultural supplies and information for farmers.