September 11, 2025 • 7 mins
Today’s farmer panel features the 2017 and 2022 Young Farmers of the Year. We discuss calving and lambing, removing agriculture from the school curriculum, right tree - right place, and 9/11.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Farmer panel with the Iszuzu Dmax the Kiwi ute
built off with truck DNA. Today's farm up panel is
a Young Farmer panel. One of them was the Young
Farmer of the Year in twenty seventeen, a South Otago
sheep and beef farmer nige or Wardhead. The other one,
Tim Dangen, was the Young Farmer of the Air in
(00:21):
twenty twenty two. He's originally from up north, but he's
gone to the rivi Era of the South Riverton to
milk cows. For another Young Farmer of the Year, Simon Hopcroft,
Tim Danjon, I'm going to start with you. Are you
regretting moving south? It's a bit nippy down there here.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You get a Jamie. We've had an interesting month in September.
I've learned a lot and it's in chalk and cheese
to August. August was fantastic, some great weather. But he
is still getting tested now. But one day the big
yellow will come out, mate. And we're about eighty percent
through calving now, so I sort of feel like we've
gotten over the hump there and not really enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
It's great up the road and Otago nigera woodhead. As
I said twenty seventeen, young farmer of the air, you're
flat out on the lambing beat. She'd be a bit
nippy out this morning, was it?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Afternoon, Jamie, Yes, it was very nippy. She's bit of
breaking the weather at the moment, which is which is
quite pleasant. But yeah, we are a long way off
double digits for temperature. But it hasn't been too bad
as far as lemming goes. Like. It's been cold, but
there hasn't been too much rain and too much wind,
so the lambs are hammling it pretty well.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Tim Dangin, the word you used was furious. I know
that you're very passionate when you're not farming about getting
our best and brightest young people to have a look
or take on agriculture. So you want to get stuck
into the government over removing agribusiness courses and agg and
hought science courses from the new curriculum and schools. Why
(01:49):
have they done this?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I honestly don't know, Jamie. It's as kind of unbelievable,
to be honest, and I want to make sure it
gets as much profile as possible. I'm sure that our
industry good bodies will be picking it up pretty smartly.
But there are six and a half thousand students in
New Zealand that take these subjects Shamie, and although vocational
pathways will still be available in the new curriculum that
(02:12):
the government's announced, it's taking away these really academic focused papers.
And a lot of kids that come off farm of
it obviously have a pretty good vocational background, so they're
often looking for more technical expertise or education, and by
removing these subjects, we're denying them that opportunity. It also
(02:33):
means that there are no sort of tosh well, there
are no tertiary recognized papers around agriculture available for students
to take. So it's real checking the guts and I
just can't really understand the reasoning behind it. Obviously, we've
got a National League government here at the moment which
is supposedly making farmers in trying to double exports in
the next ten years, and I can't see how we're
(02:55):
going to do that if we're just closing doors on
young people that are wanting to learn more and be
more educated, and from a farmer's background as well. I
think that the skill set that's required for farmers these
days is becoming increasingly more difficult, and so to match
that we have to make sure that we're getting as
well educated as possible and both by shutting this down
it's just another avenue and th real checking the gap matter. Yeah,
(03:17):
I'm just just bewildered by it, to be honest, Nigel.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
What We're heading back to South Otago. We've had on
the show already doctor Elizabeth Haigue who's the chief executive
of the Forest Owners Association, and we were discussing carbon farming.
I know you haven't heard the interview, but you're in
heartland carbon farming sort of area, South Otago. She's trying
to tell me that largely carbon farming is a bit
(03:41):
of a thing of the past. I don't agree with her.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I think that's the thing I like and I'll put
my hand up straight away. We're plannd a eighty odd
hectbyearism in the last three years and the pine trees
and this is all ground on our farm that we
couldn't get a track there on. It was all excurse
ground to farm, so you know, on crop pine tree.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
But Nigel, that's right tree, right place.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
One hundred percent. That's what I was going to say.
It really pisses me off that these very good farms
and I'm standing on top of a hill and i
can look at one now that have been well found
for generations, and the easiest thing to do was to
sell them into trees and fantastic farm land, a lot
of it flat or close to flats in trees. I
(04:28):
think that's just an absolute waste as far you know,
like around here. A lot of the purchases, some of
them were carbon farmers or carbon people, but a lot
of it's big corporates who have big forest holdings. At
the moment, the carbon thing is allowing them to cash
flow those forests. So it's just changed the game from
(04:52):
forest who was a high return but you had to
wait a long time for your money. Now you've got
cash flow for the first sixteen years to get you through.
And it's it's just a real shame that instead of
thinking about pieces parcels of land at the farm scale
and thinking well this this small area can go to
trees and that twenty hectores and but here and but there,
(05:13):
we're looking at looking at countryside at at a regional
level and thinking in whole parcels of land to go
into trees instead of more nuanced at a farm level,
if that makes sense. So it's a real shame and
it's you go from here in Milton through to Lawrence
through to Beaumont. It's ripped hard out of a lot
(05:35):
of that really good quality breeding finishing land around Lawrence.
He has been some very good farms to go to
trees and it's going to have a significant impact over
the next few years on some awesome little communities. So
I'm getting the balance right. It's really hard, but the
incentive has been whole farm planting instead of integrating trees
(05:59):
into to get the best of both world.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Nigel, that's one of the best summations I've heard about. Right,
tree in the right place. Well done. Just before I
let the paeriod, you go nine to eleven American time today,
Where were you? What were you doing? You're both young
farmers of the year. You're relatively young men, Tim. Were
you still in nappies? No, surely not.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
No, I was not nine years old, Jamie. I remember
going into primary school and seeing my school teacher in tears,
and yeah, I remember her being very upset, and I'm
sort of wondering what was going on, and then she
told us about what had happened, so I remember it
very vividly, mate.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Nigel, what about you? Just quickly to finish on, I
was a.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Wee bit older than that. I don't actually have any
memory of it at all, but I don't remember much
at school, so no memories of me.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
That's a real knowledge gap. How the hell did you
ever win the Young Farmer of the Year with such
a knowledge gap? What happened if a nine to eleven
question came up?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Oh, well that's when I'd get when I'd get wrong.
I've got plenty of questions wrong, don't worry about that,
but I obviously managed to get a few right.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You got enough right to win the title in twenty seventeen,
Well done, Nige or wardhead Tim Dangel of course Young
Farmer of the Year and twenty twenty two. I know
you're both farming at the bottom of the country. Hope
the weather improves.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Thanks Tomy Aman
The Farmer panel with the Iszuzu Dmax the Kiwi ute
built off with truck DNA. Today's farm up panel is
a Young Farmer panel. One of them was the Young
Farmer of the Year in twenty seventeen, a South Otago
sheep and beef farmer nige or Wardhead. The other one,
Tim Dangen, was the Young Farmer of the Air in
(00:21):
twenty twenty two. He's originally from up north, but he's
gone to the rivi Era of the South Riverton to
milk cows. For another Young Farmer of the Year, Simon Hopcroft,
Tim Danjon, I'm going to start with you. Are you
regretting moving south? It's a bit nippy down there here.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You get a Jamie. We've had an interesting month in September.
I've learned a lot and it's in chalk and cheese
to August. August was fantastic, some great weather. But he
is still getting tested now. But one day the big
yellow will come out, mate. And we're about eighty percent
through calving now, so I sort of feel like we've
gotten over the hump there and not really enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
It's great up the road and Otago nigera woodhead. As
I said twenty seventeen, young farmer of the air, you're
flat out on the lambing beat. She'd be a bit
nippy out this morning, was it?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Afternoon, Jamie, Yes, it was very nippy. She's bit of
breaking the weather at the moment, which is which is
quite pleasant. But yeah, we are a long way off
double digits for temperature. But it hasn't been too bad
as far as lemming goes. Like. It's been cold, but
there hasn't been too much rain and too much wind,
so the lambs are hammling it pretty well.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Tim Dangin, the word you used was furious. I know
that you're very passionate when you're not farming about getting
our best and brightest young people to have a look
or take on agriculture. So you want to get stuck
into the government over removing agribusiness courses and agg and
hought science courses from the new curriculum and schools. Why
(01:49):
have they done this?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I honestly don't know, Jamie. It's as kind of unbelievable,
to be honest, and I want to make sure it
gets as much profile as possible. I'm sure that our
industry good bodies will be picking it up pretty smartly.
But there are six and a half thousand students in
New Zealand that take these subjects Shamie, and although vocational
pathways will still be available in the new curriculum that
(02:12):
the government's announced, it's taking away these really academic focused papers.
And a lot of kids that come off farm of
it obviously have a pretty good vocational background, so they're
often looking for more technical expertise or education, and by
removing these subjects, we're denying them that opportunity. It also
(02:33):
means that there are no sort of tosh well, there
are no tertiary recognized papers around agriculture available for students
to take. So it's real checking the guts and I
just can't really understand the reasoning behind it. Obviously, we've
got a National League government here at the moment which
is supposedly making farmers in trying to double exports in
the next ten years, and I can't see how we're
(02:55):
going to do that if we're just closing doors on
young people that are wanting to learn more and be
more educated, and from a farmer's background as well. I
think that the skill set that's required for farmers these
days is becoming increasingly more difficult, and so to match
that we have to make sure that we're getting as
well educated as possible and both by shutting this down
it's just another avenue and th real checking the gap matter. Yeah,
(03:17):
I'm just just bewildered by it, to be honest, Nigel.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
What We're heading back to South Otago. We've had on
the show already doctor Elizabeth Haigue who's the chief executive
of the Forest Owners Association, and we were discussing carbon farming.
I know you haven't heard the interview, but you're in
heartland carbon farming sort of area, South Otago. She's trying
to tell me that largely carbon farming is a bit
(03:41):
of a thing of the past. I don't agree with her.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I think that's the thing I like and I'll put
my hand up straight away. We're plannd a eighty odd
hectbyearism in the last three years and the pine trees
and this is all ground on our farm that we
couldn't get a track there on. It was all excurse
ground to farm, so you know, on crop pine tree.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
But Nigel, that's right tree, right place.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
One hundred percent. That's what I was going to say.
It really pisses me off that these very good farms
and I'm standing on top of a hill and i
can look at one now that have been well found
for generations, and the easiest thing to do was to
sell them into trees and fantastic farm land, a lot
of it flat or close to flats in trees. I
(04:28):
think that's just an absolute waste as far you know,
like around here. A lot of the purchases, some of
them were carbon farmers or carbon people, but a lot
of it's big corporates who have big forest holdings. At
the moment, the carbon thing is allowing them to cash
flow those forests. So it's just changed the game from
(04:52):
forest who was a high return but you had to
wait a long time for your money. Now you've got
cash flow for the first sixteen years to get you through.
And it's it's just a real shame that instead of
thinking about pieces parcels of land at the farm scale
and thinking well this this small area can go to
trees and that twenty hectores and but here and but there,
(05:13):
we're looking at looking at countryside at at a regional
level and thinking in whole parcels of land to go
into trees instead of more nuanced at a farm level,
if that makes sense. So it's a real shame and
it's you go from here in Milton through to Lawrence
through to Beaumont. It's ripped hard out of a lot
(05:35):
of that really good quality breeding finishing land around Lawrence.
He has been some very good farms to go to
trees and it's going to have a significant impact over
the next few years on some awesome little communities. So
I'm getting the balance right. It's really hard, but the
incentive has been whole farm planting instead of integrating trees
(05:59):
into to get the best of both world.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Nigel, that's one of the best summations I've heard about. Right,
tree in the right place. Well done. Just before I
let the paeriod, you go nine to eleven American time today,
Where were you? What were you doing? You're both young
farmers of the year. You're relatively young men, Tim. Were
you still in nappies? No, surely not.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
No, I was not nine years old, Jamie. I remember
going into primary school and seeing my school teacher in tears,
and yeah, I remember her being very upset, and I'm
sort of wondering what was going on, and then she
told us about what had happened, so I remember it
very vividly, mate.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Nigel, what about you? Just quickly to finish on, I
was a.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Wee bit older than that. I don't actually have any
memory of it at all, but I don't remember much
at school, so no memories of me.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
That's a real knowledge gap. How the hell did you
ever win the Young Farmer of the Year with such
a knowledge gap? What happened if a nine to eleven
question came up?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Oh, well that's when I'd get when I'd get wrong.
I've got plenty of questions wrong, don't worry about that,
but I obviously managed to get a few right.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You got enough right to win the title in twenty seventeen,
Well done, Nige or wardhead Tim Dangel of course Young
Farmer of the Year and twenty twenty two. I know
you're both farming at the bottom of the country. Hope
the weather improves.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Thanks Tomy Aman
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