Nick and Jo are future focused
Taumarunui farmers Nick and Jo Street are firmly focused on the future after completing a course aptly named Future Focus.
Fresh from the Agri-Women’s Development Trust’s Understanding Your Farming Business (UYFB) course, Jo’s enthusiasm prompted the couple to start the wider family’s success planning and then attend the Trust’s Future Focus course together.
The family – Nick and Jo and their three daughters, threeyear-old Rosie, two-year-old Eva and new-born baby Pearl – live and farm 20 minutes west of Taumarunui, just off the Forgotten Highway.
The 1450ha (effective) sheep and beef farm is split over two sites but run as one operation. It has been in Nick’s family since 1908 – Nick is the fifth generation.
Jo moved to the farm with Nick when she was 32 weeks pregnant with Rosie, having worked as a PA for KMPG for the previous five years and with no farming background. She heard about the UFBA course through their farm discussion group.
“It stuck in my mind so when I saw it come up at Taumarunui I wanted to do it… just to meet other farming women and to learn. It was so much better than I could have anticipated or hoped for; coming to Taumarunui,
not from a farming background, having a young baby, not having my own friends or my wider family nearby, totally different town and lifestyle, I didn’t really know where my place was. It was so empowering to realise even if I’m not out there moving stock or fixing fences that my role in the business is really important, whether that’s now or in the future; it really is a partnership.”
She says the course was three days but she felt like she had been on a learning journey for months.
“I came home and could understand key phrases Nick was saying and be able to relate to him more. Farmers carry a huge amount on their shoulders, they make a lot of major decisions on their own, and being able to come home and talk to their wife and share what it has been like for them, is important. It has definitely given me confidence. Once we’re out on our own, I will definitely be doing more in the business.”
Nick and Jo formed a limited partnership with Nick’s parents two years ago; Nick and his brother James and their wives bought 50 percent of the stock from the parents. It was part of a detailed succession plan using the farm’s natural boundary to split the farm in half to create two independent businesses. Nick says it was Jo’s enthusiasm after the UYFB course that was the catalyst for the family’s succession planning.
“Jo told me stories of a lot of the other wives and partners on the course with challenging family situations or tough communication issues. Jo drove that path for us, and for my brother and our parents. We wanted to involve everyone and find out what everyone wanted. We needed a vision and a pathway of what the future might look like.”
Nick says UYFB made a massive difference to Jo’s frame of mind about farming.
“She came home absolutely beaming each day, those three days. We would get out the folder and sit down and go through the whole thing. It was awesome. All the notes covered a lot of content; I think she probably did my three-year degree in three days. They really nailed it.
“While Jo says she’s not involved in the business, that’s not really true. We’re talking about employing a new staff member and what that could look like. We’re always talking about aspects of the farm; Jo might not be drenching sheep but she’s involved and knows what’s going on.”
“I’m a silent partner who has a lot to say,” Jo adds, laughing.
Jo’s outside view of farming has led to them considering a totally different job role and structure for that potential new employee.
“Her ideas have real merit. She doesn’t come from farming stock so she thinks way outside the square; she’s not thinking like a farmer would.”
With UYFB and succession planning done, the couple set their sights on doing the Future Focus course together. The biggest plus to come out of that course was setting their sights on the next 30 years, Nick says.
Future Focus was a one-day workshop, followed by a month of business-plan preparation, followed by another one-day workshop. Nick says it was a full-on month.
“Every night we were working away on the computer. It was relatively strenuous in some respects; we didn’t agree on some things and had to work through some roadblocks. It took a long time. On day two of the course everyone presented their plans. The plans were all different, unique to people’s situations, but there was a lot in common as well, such as plans for on-farm tourism and desire to spend more time with family.”
They loved the people they met – seven other farming couples. “It is a network of likeminded people; different personalities and different problems but at the end of the day we are all farming and all wanting to succeed and put ourselves out there. To anyone thinking about doing one of these courses, you won’t regret it. You won’t feel like you’ve lost two days of your life. There are only benefits. It’s personal, emotional and very real.”
Jo says the course has rules of engagement that quickly led to trust and respect. “It didn’t take long to know everyone was there for the same thing and for the right reason. You’re sharing sensitive information at times. When you’re forced to trust other people with that, it can be quite powerful.”