Helping farming women to thrive
Winton dairy farmer Loshni Manikam features in a new book celebrating the lives of rural families, Maddisyn Jeffares writes.
Tim Fulton has just released his first book, Kiwi Farmers’ Guide to Life, which tells the stories of 25 farmers and their families celebrating rural life. Fulton comes from a farming background in north Canterbury and has been a journalist for the past 20 years writing about farming and agribusiness.
He has also been an editor of various farming publications.
‘‘I really enjoyed some of the stories I got to do close to home, and actually I didn’t state in the book but actually three of the couples and even in South Canterbury, the shearers were actually my extended family, and that was really special for me to interview.’’
He loved the freedom of selecting a variety of people and places for the book.
‘‘There are some shearers in there, there is some agriculture scientists and a whole lot of people, really,’’ Fulton said.
One of the stories featured in the book is that of Winton farmer Loshni Manikam, who speaks candidly about the importance of wellbeing on the farm for women and families.
‘‘Loshni was one of the really enjoyable ones because she came at everything from a very refreshing perspective about personal growth of people and their wellbeing and I think that’s really important as we know in farming,’’ Fulton said.
Fulton said he really wanted to capture New Zealand farming and all its diversity.