FARMER COLUMNS

Dani Darke lives and farms with her husband Anthony and their three daughters on their sheep and beef farm in Aria, the King Country.

Kate McBride is a fifth-generation farmer from Western NSW. She is a vocal advocate for rural Australia and continues this while working on her partner’s sheep station.

I joined our family seed business, Arthur Yates and Co, as a shy teenager in 1949, eventually becoming chief executive and managing director in 1973.

Nigel Woodhead runs a sheep, beef and production forestry farm near Milton in Otago with his wife Leanne and children Sienna, six and Finn, four. 

Roger Barton, Carterton, Wairarapa, with his wife Barbie, farms a glorified lifestyle block (480ha total) amongst the rocks at Woodside, west of Greytown. They have four adult children, two of which are farming on their own blocks.

Gavin Tait is a cattle fertility vet who also runs a beef and sheep farm in the Eastern Scottish Borders, United Kingdom, with his wife Julia and sons Archie, 7, and Rory, 6.

Charlotte Rietveld manages Middle Rock, the family’s intergenerational sheep farm in mid-Canterbury’s Rakaia Gorge, where she lives with husband Vince and their three young children

Sandra Matthews, Rere, Gisborne, sheep and beef farmer, and winner of the FMG Rural Champion award at the 2022 B+LNZ Awards.

Anna Munro is a mum, farmer and rural photographer based in Mt Somers, Mid Canterbury.

Ben Dooley, Mimihau, Southland is a fourth-generation farmer, farming in Mimihau, Southland with his wife, Sarah, and two boys.