Expanding his farm ownership has been "far more achievable" since then, thanks to flexible shareholding. He has since purchased two more farms with partners, one of which he's taking over from June 2024, and is supplying Fonterra.
Previously, pathways to farm ownership for young farmers had been looking pretty dire for many, he says.
He has a lot of young farming friends who have faced tricky successions and he could see that having the strength of a co-op behind him would be an asset in that situation. Ben says the new capital structure made the move a "no-brainer". While he still has two sharemilking jobs with Oceania, he sees it as important that the next generation of farmers grows the Co-op.
Ben says he's very optimistic about the future of dairy farming and thinks there has been too much negativity in the public discourse, which creates barriers for young people going into farming.
"I think we've got an amazing industry with huge opportunity for people who want to get stuck in and the rhetoric around people, farmers, and the media and everything at the moment is so doom and gloom. We are not looking at any of the positives, at how good we are at what we do."
"If we put barriers to entry people get disillusioned. The split from 50:50 sharemilking to farm ownership is still huge. Being able to entice people by having a lesser share requirement, personally I don't think long term we are going to have any negativity around that."
Farmers were unlikely to sit on the minimum number of shares long term, and instead they will want to invest in their co-op, he says.
Ben says he values the Co-op for providing the security of market for his product, and feels as a shareholder he's in control of his own destiny and likes the fact that as an industry, farmers work together to gain the maximum price as opposed to competing with each other.
He values the support Fonterra provides for making environmental improvements on farm and thinks this is generally underutilised by Co-op members.
Using Fonterra's sustainability platform he was able to tap funds to help plant up the waterways on his farm, and even used it when buying the last farm to get environmental advice on both its capabilities and drawbacks.
"The experience was very good, the Sustainable Dairying Advisor had a wealth of knowledge. Across the whole Co-op there is a whole range of people and if they don't have expertise they can ring someone in those certain areas, which is awesome."
Success starts with your farm.
If you'd like to talk to us about your relationship with Fonterra, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to your local Co-operative Services Area Manager.
Or if you're considering joining Fonterra, organise a catch-up with one of our team.