Federated Farmers: Ann Thompson notches up a decade in the saddle

Change and technology advances have been a constant in the 10 years Ann Thompson has been Dairy Policy Adviser and a highlight of the role has been contact with some wonderful farmers.

One thing I have noticed over my 10 years at Federated Farmers is how far dairy farmers have come.

One of my first meetings I attended was the 2007 Science Policy Forum. It came out of the Dairy Industry Strategy for Sustainable Environmental Management and included a field trip to Scott Farm in Newstead. There I saw the use of mitigation tools to reduce nutrient loss to waterways - riparian margins, stand-off pads and effluent systems.

The change in science around nutrient management and water quantity has meant farmers are sometimes required to spend money on one system, only to have to spend more money as the science showed this was no good.

This is especially true with managing farm dairy effluent, where first it was direct to stream, then putting it through a two-pond system and now it is storage for, in some catchments, 60 days, before putting it back onto pasture.

As for water use, Canterbury farmers have gone from border dyke flood irrigation to roto rainers applying 60mm, to pivots applying 10mm and are now down the path of variable rate irrigation.

The improvement in cellphones and apps are helping farmers farm better, though for some cellphones (and internet) access is still not great. Timesheets can be filled in and sent direct to payroll through our strategic partner, Simply Payroll, pasture plate readings can be logged straight away, and soon we'll have an app that tells farmers if their stock are fit to transport and what time their bobby calves were last fed.

Irrigation and effluent system technology enables machine failure to be noticed immediately via a telecommunicated warning system and the machines can be switched off remotely.

The employment record of dairy farmers is improving too, thanks to the work Federated Farmers and DairyNZ have done. Through the Workplace Action Plan we're able to show how working on a dairy farm is an attractive option for our young people.

Through the Workplace Action Plan we're able to show how working on a dairy farm is an attractive option.

In some areas, however, there are not enough suitable New Zealanders and we are still striving with Immigration NZ and the Ministry of Social Development to get better access to migrant workers.

We are also working in various parts of the country on getting agriculture into the school curriculum. This is certainly true in Canterbury, where Federated Farmers was instrumental in flying teachers across the region to show them the diversity of their land and the importance of it to their own community.

The contracts and agreements developed by Federated Farmers continue to improve, clarifying areas in which experience has been shown to be unclear.

The Variable Order Sharemilking Agreement was updated in 2011, the Herd Owning Sharemilking Agreement has been through a major revamp and a couple of minor ones, and then, horror of horrors, we've developed the Contract for Contract Milking. This latter was a big hurdle given some see it as the end of the sharemilking system.

Then there's the Grazing Agreement, developed by both the Dairy and Meat & Fibre industry groups.

All of these have been a mission, but I take my hat off to 'our' farmers who helped with this - they are keen to get something that is clear and in a language that farmers understand.

My constant companion has been the DIRA (or Dairy Industry Restructuring Act), which is again before the industry (see page 23).

And at the forefront of it all, I have met some wonderful farmers.