Leader elected for Taranaki farmers clubs

(L-R) Guy Harvey, Jessie Waite, Matthew Herbert and Dylan Brunton.

A Kaponga dairy farmer will continue leading Taranaki's booming NZ Young Farmers clubs.

Contract milker Matthew Herbert has been re-elected for a second term as district chair.
"It's been a stellar 12 months for Taranaki's five NZ Young Farmers clubs and I'm keen to continue that momentum," says Matthew.

A new club was launched in South Taranaki last September and Central Taranaki was named New Zealand's best Young Farmers club.

"We've doubled our membership in the last 18 months, which reflects the hard work being done by our clubs," says Matthew.

"We've gone from 60 to 130 members. That's clear evidence of a huge resurgence of NZ Young Farmers in Taranaki."

The district's annual general meeting was held at the Waimate Hotel in Manaia.

Dylan Brunton, who's a herd manager on a 500-cow farm at Cardiff, was elected vice-chair.

Taranaki Federated Farmers' Jessie Waite was elected secretary and Kaponga contract milker Guy Harvey was elected treasurer.

Matthew Herbert sought member approval to create a new position of club development officer.

"I see it being an advisory role, helping our clubs continue to grow their membership base," he said.

"My goal is to have 200 members in Taranaki by Christmas."

Long-serving members Kenzie Bellringer and Nick Brown were elected to share the role.
NZ Young Farmers clubs play an important role in connecting and upskilling young people in the agri-food sector.

Members also support AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg competitions, which highlight career opportunities in the primary industries.