They are also challenged to get up with the game and communicate in the same space as their urban counterparts.
That means telling their farming stories where urban people tell their stories – in social media circles.
Water quality is going to get harder and biodiversity is still to come with a national standard in the pipeline, possibly even this year.
“But we do have good views and a farm environment plan (FEP) is a unique opportunity in the high country to develop the biodiversity we do have.”
It’s also the opportunity to formulate accountability and the opportunity to tell a good story.
But farmers need to get up with game when it comes to story-telling, van Reenen said.
“Some of you may be regulated to have an FEP and that can be a useful tool if used properly but a tick-box system is not worth anything.
Van Reenen urged high country farmers to develop a plan that’s important to their farming operation and generations to come.
That starts with understanding what’s happening in streams and soils and relating back to what farmers are doing that is affecting streams, waterways and biodiversity.
“You need to sort out the wood from the trees, not getting hung up on Overseer but knowing your waterways and what’s happening in your catchment and how you can help.
“A good understanding of your base resource, soils and climate will all drive how you run your farm businesses.
“High country farm systems are pretty unique and only you, the farmer, knows it best and a good FEP must be driven by the farmer, not a consultant telling you what to do.
“If not farmer-driven and built from in-depth understanding of your base resources, written down with realistic actions, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.”
It’s also important to identify both short and long-term actions.
“Your farming in the high country is not short term.”
Done properly an FEP will give a degree of accountability when it comes to external perception.
“It’s proof of your stewardship.
“It may not give you premiums but it will keep our ticket to play in the market, maybe even result in market opportunities.”
Changing public perception is about moving from being largely reactive to being proactive.
“The public have a filtered view of the world through twitter and Facebook where most people get their views these days.
“As farmers you need to understand the context of the urban population.
“The New Zealand public drive our regulation and sources of engagement.
“Consumers are driven by what they want and farmers need to understand their perspective – walk a day in their shoes.”
In farming the usual response is to present a whole lot of facts.
“Their (consumers’) context is important when driving your approach, a whole bunch of numbers doesn’t do it.
“Farmers need to get up with the game. You need to engage in the same space and maybe it is that some of you need to engage in social media – tell your stories where they tell their stories.
“It’s unreal what you can do engaging with those who it directly matters to.
“We have to engage and we have to be not scared of it,” van Reenen said.
Molesworth Station manager Jim Ward said FEP is a journey all farmers will have to go through at some point.
“Down the track it will be more and more meaningful for our farming businesses.
“People don’t care about facts or a whole bunch of figures, they care about what they believe,” Ward said.
