Taranaki Young Farmers club participate in gumboot challenge

District members helping out at the 2020 Young Farmer of the Year Taranaki/ Manuwatū Regional Final in February.

A pair of gumboots and a video challenge has helped Taranaki Young Farmers club members stay connected.

Club members took part in the gumboot challenge where each person caught a gumboot, pulled something out of it and threw it to the side.

Taranaki/ Manawatu Young Farmers chairwoman Jessie Waite has been involved with Young Farmers for eight years.

"I've been the chair for two years and I love it. It's created a huge network throughout the country and I'm happy I can give back to the Young Farmers what I received from the organisations."

She says she got the idea for the video after watching other challenges on social media.

"A group of Young Farmers in the United Kingdom used toilet paper but we decided to use a gumboot instead. We wanted to make it different so we added the element of pulling out the gumboot."

Jessie says Taranaki and Manawatū will be collaborating their challenge videos to create a big video.

"Our region is Taranaki/ Manawatū so it will be cool to have a big regional video."

She says members of the different Taranaki clubs could send in a video to be added to the final product.

"We had over 25 people send in videos."

Jessie says she enjoys the social side of Young Farmers.

"The reason most people join is the social aspect and because we're in lockdown we can't do our monthly meetings and weekly catch-ups. This is a way we can still do an activity together."

She says it's more important than ever to stay connected.

"Some of our members live rurally so they are already in isolation. We've been having Zoom calls so we can all stay in touch. It's important to keep connected."