Farmers at the two-day event in Invercargill will hear from former Paralympic blade runner Liam Malone, a double-amputee who overcame all sorts of challenges to succeed.
Malone, who was born with fibular hemimelia, suffered anxiety and depression as a teenager. He made some bad choices but turned his life around after the death of his mother. Just three years later he won two gold medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
While he knows little about dairying he hopes to inspire farmers to stay strong and continue rising above the challenges facing the sector.
“I realised you can’t outrun your problems, you need to face them.”
While the dairy sector has done a good job facing its challenges over the last decade the obstacles continue and that has taken a toll on some farmers.
Malone likens dairy farmers’ journey to that of a marathon not a sprint.
While changes are coming fast, they are constant and farmers need to be prepared to stay the distance.
“I’m sure at times farmers feel as though they’re in a race to meet all these new regulations and consumer expectations coming at them thick and fast and that the finish line seems a long way off.
“While I’ve never worked in the dairy sector I can relate to what they’re going through.
“But they’ve put in the training and they’re off the starting blocks and that’s half the battle.”
Supported by DairyNZ, SIDE is one of the largest dairy events of the year. It is run by farmers and lines up industry experts to deliver keynote addresses, networking sessions and practical workshops in a revitalised format.
SIDE is in Invercargill on June 25-26. The theme for this year’s event is Creating Our Tomorrow and the event will focus on sector positivity, celebrating the industry’s successes and overcoming challenges.
The event features four keynote speakers, 19 workshops and opportunities for dairy farmers and their teams to learn and network.
SIDE chairman Simon Topham said the first day will focus on Celebrating Today while the second will look at Investing in Tomorrow.
This year’s SIDE is all about celebrating farmers’ sheer grit and drive to constantly do better by their people, cows and environment, he said.
“Dairying in New Zealand is world-leading on many fronts and we should celebrate this more often. So, with that in mind the first day’s theme is Celebrating Today, our success stories in a wide range of topics and helping bring back some of that pride in what we do every day.
“Day two, Investing in Tomorrow, in contrast is about acknowledging that as a farming community are under increasing pressure on many fronts and though we are world-leading, there is a need to still step it up another notch. So we build on the first day and get informed on what we can do to embrace the challenges as a farming community.
“The sector has come a long way in a relatively short timeframe and farmers have a lot to be proud of.
“SIDE is an opportunity for farmers to get together, celebrate their wins and discuss the future of dairy.”
Other keynote speakers included All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka, Real Insight chief executive Sue Lindsay and Golden Bay You Only Live Once farmer and blogger Wayne Langford.
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