New Zealand<\/a>. While the number of farms has declined, some have grown from small holdings into big businesses. New Zealand\u2019s farmer-owned dairy co-operative, Fonterra, has recently sold its consumer businesses to French dairy giant Lactalis for nearly NZ$4bn ($2.3bn).<\/p>\nYet while dairy fetches record prices, it\u2019s difficult for young farmers like Clayton to follow the traditional path to farm ownership. In the past, young farmers would often run a farm owned by someone else in return for a share of the profits, while saving to purchase land of their own. But land is becoming more expensive; prospective farm owners have to save for longer, and look for other types of work to make money.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone buys the neighbour\u2019s farm, then the next neighbour, suddenly you have a portfolio of five farms and Joe Bloggs the young farmer can\u2019t buy a 150-cow farm to get started,\u201d Clayton says, who leases the block he works on.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be really passionate and in it for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clayton walks fence lines with his dogs. Photograph: Fiona Goodall\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Cheyne Gilooly is chief executive of the Young Farmers club, a 98-year old institution that connects people across New Zealand. Finding a way to buy land is a frequent topic of discussion at the dozens of clubs throughout the country which are open to people aged under 31 \u2013 fewer and fewer of whom own their farms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big challenge at the moment is helping people finance their way into farm or land ownership as land gets more expensive,\u201d says Gilooly.<\/p>\n
Cam Lowery, 27, and his partner Poppy Mitchell, 25, are one year into holding a lease for Lowery\u2019s parents farm near Milton, south of Dunedin. They have 2,700 sheep, as well as some cows, calves and hoggets \u2013 young sheep who haven\u2019t been shorn.<\/p>\n
After going to university, Lowery worked as a shepherd across the South Island.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just couldn\u2019t see a way into farm ownership through shepherding,\u201d he says. Kiwisaver, a government-supported retirement saving scheme, can be used for first home payments, but can\u2019t be used to buy a farm.<\/p>\n
Cam Lowery and Poppy Mitchell in New Zealand. Photograph: Cam Lowery and Poppy Mitchell<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to build equity off-farm,\u201d Lowery says.<\/p>\n
For now, because the farm is owned by family, they are settled. Mitchell works as a physiotherapist in Dunedin during the week, an hour\u2019s drive away. Lowery does all the farm work, with Mitchell\u2019s help on weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy days start at 7 or 8 am and I keep working until 7pm at the moment,\u201d he says. The work is hard, but it feels worth doing, Mitchell adds.<\/p>\n
In Waikato, Clayton does a bit of everything: he helps on his parents\u2019 dairy farm, manages a 600-hectare (1,480 acres) block of land, breeds and sells his cattle and sheep. It\u2019s lots of casual work \u201cjust hopping around farms\u201d. One day, he might be milking; the next, mustering ewes for a neighbour or inseminating cows.<\/p>\n
Clayton moves sheep on his hill country lease block. Photograph: Fiona Goodall\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Clayton was a recent finalist at the Bay of Plenty-Waikato Young Farmer of the Year contest. He will now compete against other regions in challenges including identifying horse tack, grading different types of wool and demonstrating his ability to communicate with dogs. A written test includes questions about plant varieties, agricultural legislation and irrigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a broad spectrum, looking at all things rural,\u201d Clayton says.<\/p>\n
The long-term plan is to own a farm with his partner, Emma. There\u2019s lots to learn, he says but loves the variety of life on the land.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t get out of bed fast enough to see what challenges the day will throw at me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a farm south of Auckland, Cam Clayton breeds sheep and cattle \u2013 working alongside the dogs he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-318961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}