Eskview keeps Young Farmers Club going in the Bay

Alexander Holt is the chairman of Eskview YFC, the club recently awarded the New Zealand Young Farmers membership growth award. Photo / Supplied

The sole remaining young farmers club in the Napier-Hastings area has received a national award for its attempts to reverse trends of declining membership in the movement.

The Eskview YFC was presented with the membership growth award during a big week in Invercargill, which included the Young Farmer of the Year Award finals.

It has trebled its membership from 11 last year to almost 40, and is continuing the drive as it draws members not only from farms but also the service areas such as livestock and wool buyers, veterinarians, bankers, horticulurists, and even regional council staff and people in the food service industry.

Among them is Carrfields livestock and bull sale representative Chris Campbell, who lives on the family farm at Puketapu, and says that while the membership is showing the diversity of the modern rural sector, all have a rural background.

"In my job I do get around and see a few people," he said. "So I invite them along."

The YFC movement currently has 79 clubs nationally, serving about 1500 members, a shadow of the highs of the past, although the movement covers the schools-based TeenAg arm established about 10 years ago, putting the combined YFC and TeenAg membership at over 3700.

In 1966, there were 369 YFC clubs nationwide, with combined membership of 10,786. Eskview holds the end up in a vast area stretching from north of Napier to south of Hastings, from the coast to the ranges. The nearest YFC to the south is at Tikokino and to the north in the Gisborne region.

The award was presented to club chairman Alexander Holt, who said afterwards: "Winning was a massive surprise. To have beaten all those other clubs is awesome."

"Our biggest focus has been on broadening our membership base," he said. "We've been trying to get the word out there that our club isn't just for farmers.

"Hawke's Bay is well known for its wine and fruit. We have a couple of members from those sectors, but we'd like more," he said.

Holt works on a family sheep and beef farm on the outskirts of Napier.

"We exist to provide a place for young people to meet and have a meal and a chat," he said. "We're probably a 50/50 split of men and women. It used to be hard to be appealing to women when we were a room full of blokes."