In the second of our Young Farmer series, we chatted with Josh Wilkinson, dairy farmer and vice chair of the Dannevirke Young Farmers club.
Josh started his dairy farming career in 2019 after finishing his Agricultural Science degree at Massey University. He grew up in town and now he works on a 160ha dairy farm with 400 cross breed cows.
Being part of the Dannevirke Young Farmers club gives Josh a chance to get off the farm and meet likeminded people who also have a passion for ag. The Dannevirke club has 26 members and has helped organize a number of great events.
These include an FMG Young Farmer of the Year event, a mental health/wellbeing chat with social influencer Farm 4 Life and the club has done fundraiser events that donated to the East Coast Rural Support Trust, which included auctions and a Norsewear sock fundraiser.
On top of this, he keeps himself busy in the outdoors going hunting and tramping while also enjoying things like gardening and going to the speedway.
Work is different day to day on the farm for Josh and he enjoys all parts of the job.
“I enjoy the variety of work on the farm, you never get bored,” Josh says.
With so much variety at work, it’s important to stay up to date with the latest legislation changes and policy work not only at a regional level but also at a national level as well. This is what helped Josh decide to join the Federated Farmers Young Farmer membership.
“I joined Feds to learn and to become more aware of what is going on in the agricultural industry, as one day I’ll need to know this stuff.”
Josh’s boss is the vice president of the Feds Tararua province, Tom Read, who has also encouraged him to get involved in what is happening with Feds.
Josh has long-term goals to carry on in the dairy sector and either go contract milking or become a sharemilker and then go on to buy his own cattle and farm. His message for other young farmers in the industry is, “don’t stop following your dreams and aspirations, the opportunities will come to you.”
Pretty wise words for a young fella!
If you would like to become a Feds Young Farmer member go to bit.ly/NZYFFedFarmers. You will need to be a NZ Young Farmers member, so if you aren’t already go to https://my.youngfarmers.co.nz/node/44.