Friday, March 29, 2024

A full dance card

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A Canterbury farmer who wears many hats including that of dance teacher, agribusiness lecturer, company director and rural advocacy group trustee is always up for a challenge. Tim Fulton reports.
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Canterbury farmer Victoria Trayner’s dance card was already fairly full, so to speak, but she was ready and willing to step up and advocate for the industry.

Trayner and husband Glen and their daughters Lacey, 5, and Maella, 2, milk 630 cows on the 219 hectare family farm at Oxford.

She is one of seven founding trustees of a new Waimakariri-based farming advocacy group, Next Generation Farmers Trust and a director of the farmer-owned irrigation scheme, Waimakariri Irrigation.

The farmer-led trust was established to raise awareness of nutrient policy changes and support farmers as they implement new and improved farm management practices.

Over the years her roles, which include a string of volunteer positions, have given her an insight into rural and social challenges in Waimakariri.

The district is a narrow strip of towns, farms and lifestyle blocks within sight of Christchurch and the Port Hills. Geographically and socially it’s a melting pot of interests. For every big, pivot-irrigated farm there’s just as likely to be a long driveway beside it with a dozen mailboxes.

Farming is arguably just as diverse, including dairy, sheep and beef, cropping, deer, pigs, forestry and a salmon hatchery.

Through the trust she is trying to unite those interests as the district grapples with new nutrient management regulations, in particular the Waimakariri Zone Committee’s draft zone implementation addendum (ZIPA). The ZIPA, released by Environment Canterbury last December, features a set of recommendations to address water quality and management issues.

She was drawn into the fledgling group after getting to know Oxford farmer Scott Evans, whose daughter was taking dance lessons with Trayner at the dance school she runs.

Neither farmer agreed with details in the proposed plan but nor did they think it was best to fight the principle tooth and nail.

“We were like we want to accept that it needs a changed perspective. And we want to accept that we value the land, to look after it so the next generation can farm. 

“So, we stood away and said well, we actually want a different story.”

The first trust meeting attracted a strong turnout of youngish farmers and a commitment to evolve with the times under an achievable timeframe.

Trayner says right from the start the trust was optimistic about farmers’ ability to embrace, unite and move forward together. Led by Evans as chairman it has promised to work with industry groups including DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb, Fonterra, Federated Farmers and Horticulture New Zealand to show what farmers can do to comply and thrive under the new plan regulations.

The trustees felt comfortable about being a new entrant to agri advocacy, even though it has long been dominated by Federated Farmers and the levy-funded industry groups.

“Federated Farmers are spread quite thinly on the ground so we feel that we can work with Federated Farmers, with DairyNZ or with Fonterra or whoever. Our aim is basically to keep the communication and industry bodies open and work together so our goals are all the same at the end of it. We do think communication and education is the key.”

That means getting all perspectives, including stories from leading farmers and sharing best-practice use of farm environment plans.

“It’s creating a network for farmers to communicate with other farmers as well. What one farmer does might not suit another but it might highlight something that suits someone else.”

And having grown up on the family farm and teaching agriculture she knows only too well just how diverse farming practices can be and how important it is to share information. 

She is the fifth generation of Timperleys to farm in the Oxford area. Her parents Clarence and Linda are successful dairy, beef and pig and cropping farmers while one of her sisters, Hazel, and her husband Matt manage a dairy farm in rural-residential Swannanoa, near Christchurch.

After growing up on a 219ha farm near Oxford she has come full circle in farming and agribusiness after setting out for an education away from the land.

Trayner did a double degree in fine arts and history before teaching at Christchurch Boys High School.

Her connection with farming runs deep and it wasn’t long before the school recognised that. Even as she taught social studies, history, photography and art she also ran the agriculture programme.

While she initially pursued an education and career outside agriculture, rural life was never far away. 

Living at home on the farm she was also teaching calf rearing before and after school as well as milking.

As a teacher she found the arts-to-agriculture curriculum crossed the so-called urban rural divide, appealing to country boys and city kids alike. The school is built on the original bush-clad farm of the Deans family, some of the first European settlers on the Canterbury Plains.

For some of the country boys in the boarding hostel the blend of agriculture and history felt familiar – relevant to their own family farming stories.

“I actually ended up with the same students because the majority of the subjects I was teaching inter-linked through arts practical. It’s hands-on and farm boys like that. They think with that side of their brain. It’s problem solving.”

The can-do element of the curriculum appealed to the city kids too, inspiring careers in primary industries.

“I’ve had kids who struggled at school and they found agriculture. 

“They were brought up in Merivale or Fendalton and they’ve gone on and had successful careers as farmers or livestock agents and the like.”

Then and now she is determined students and a next generation of farmers have a chance to go farming. 

Alongside farm and family commitments she lectures in agribusiness and production management for Primary ITO.

“I value the importance of nurturing agriculture in education so students have the choice of farming as a viable career.”

With her teaching background, one of her initial goals for the trust is to introduce agricultural education into local schools, like biodiversity projects. 

“I guess that’s my passion, with my background, working in that space and also trying to promote the good in the industry.”

Above all, she hopes farmers can keep their agriculture options open, whether they are old hands on the land or just starting out.

“I think we have to respect our heritage and what our whakapapa or our grandfathers did before us, whether we have that personal connection to the land or not,” she says.

“The next generation is going to farm completely differently because of environment rules. 

“We can’t go independent. We’ve got to rely on industry, rely on our neighbours’ support and rely on working together to allow that generation to have the choice to farm.”

But change starts now. As Waimakariri Irrigation shareholders the Trayners are implementing a farm environment plan, using technology such as moisture meters, Tracmap and GPS on K-Line, fertiliser and effluent application.

The farm Tracmap is being used for anything from identifying no-go areas for spraying to riparian buffer zones and health and safety risk areas. 

The system has made a huge difference to on-farm practice and efficiency, she says.

Just over 180ha effective of the Trayner farm is irrigated but the lay of the land is variable.

“We end up getting a lot of that run-off from the hill and the back of the farm, which gets quite wet, whereas the other side of the farm is totally different. It gets really dry.”

The property is also a little bit different for having a combination of K-Line, pivots Rotorainer and guns. 

“We’d love to have the simplicity of pivots,” she says, adding that she’s looking on the bright side.

“I always tell my staff, if you can farm here you’ll be able to shift irrigation anywhere.”

As well as the many hats she now wears Trayner sat on numerous educational boards while teaching, served as chairwoman and secretary for the Waimakariri Young Farmers Club, organised three regional Young Farmers contests and introduced TeenAg into secondary schools. She also led the Christchurch earthquake art auction for the rebuild and is a member of the Oxford A&P Association.

How it works

The Canterbury Regional Council’s plan change 5 was split into two parts.

Part A set region-wide rules for good management practice (GMP).

Part B has sub-regional catchment provisions for the Waitaki to deliver the outcomes in the Zone Implementation Programme – it used the Part A provisions to ensure all farmers in Waitaki were at GMP.

Plan change 5 is now operative and forms part of the Land and Water Regional Plan.

Proposed Plan Change 7 is in three parts.

Part A is a region-wide omnibus.

Part B has ub-regional catchment provisions for Orari, Temuka, Opihi and Pareora.

Part C has sub-regional catchment provisions for Waimakariri.

Parts B and C use the region-wide provisions in plan change 5 to require farmers to achieve GMP. They then go further than the region-wide provisions to ensure GMP.

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