The 25-year-old worked on a farm for a year full-time before enrolling at Lincoln University where she completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in 2011.
She promptly went looking for onfarm experience, which was a career option not pursued by many of her fellow graduates.
“The degree is to help me on my way and it’s something to fall back on,” she said.
She will start a third season with Mark and Rachel Barker on their 380-cow farm at Awaiti, near Paeroa, as their farm assistant but with added responsibilities as Mark’s second in charge.
“I’m not from a farming background. I grew up on my parents’ lifestyle block and Dad managed an orchard but Mark had also come from a non-farming background and decided to help me reach my goal of farm ownership.”
It’s going to be a long climb with no capital behind her and a student debt putting her further behind but Marion is planning to make that climb in stages – something like preparing for Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
She’s preparing for that journey, her first trip overseas, with a friend with whom she climbs Mt Te Aroha once a week to get mountain-fit.
She also won the Franklin Vets Farming Knowledge Merit Award while Matthew Smith of Patetonga took out the DairyNZ Practical Skills Award.
