Planning ahead for success in farming

Tom Dobson is a PGG Wrightson trainee livestock representative based in Canterbury.

Growing up in Christchurch, Tom’s links to farming are through his father’s rural sector focused service business. 

“Spending most of my school holidays working on farms, and with mates who came off farms, when I finished school a diploma in agriculture at Lincoln was an obvious path,” he says.

After Lincoln Tom headed north to Plimmerton, where he worked for a helicopter company for two years spraying, culling and spreading fertiliser on farms from Wellington up through the Central Plateau.

“I really enjoyed it. Every day was different, generally you were on a particular farm for several days, working alongside the pilot, doing your best for whoever you were working for on whatever task it was.”

In November last year Tom took up his present role.

“Compared to the helicopter job, the biggest difference at PGG Wrightson is the amount of interaction with people.

“Back then I only had myself and the pilot to deal with. In this role, on the physical and social side of it, you need to keep in constant communication with everyone to make sure you keep them happy. It’s on a bigger scale.

“You need to always put the person you are dealing with first. Our role is to achieve the best outcome possible for our clients, and give them the best result. You need to keep your communication on point, make sure everyone knows where you are going, stay focused on doing the best for the client,” he says.

As a trainee, the learning aspect keeps Tom driven. 

“How much information you are given on any day, to retain it and use it in the right way. You have so much to take in, every day is different, what we did on that day, how we did it, what the right weights are, it’s a good challenge,” he says.

Working alongside his mentor on the trainee programme and the PGG Wrightson academy, Canterbury dairy livestock representative Ben Southen, is something Tom advocates.

“It’s just excellent. How it’s structured makes it an amazing opportunity. I’m fortunate to be involved. With hybrid training, you get to do a bit of everything. While it’s different for everyone, I’m really enjoying my relationship with Ben, who is generous with his encouragement and direction. You can do what you want, and work with whoever you find you learn best from, so there’s freedom with it. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough,” he says.

Although still at the beginning of his agriculture career, Tom is in no doubt about the biggest challenge for his generation of farmers, and where they will see the greatest change.

“Changes in how we deal with the environment will have an impact on so many things, on clients in their businesses, on us as a company, on regulatory stuff at the government level. I talk to people who started as an agent 10 years ago, and they tell me it’s already massively different since then. On issues such as animal welfare, carbon footprints and environmental compliance, it’s not difficult to see things changing again. 

“Changing technology is another a big trend and growing bigger every day. Likely technology will be developed to better deal with some rules and regulations around these environmental challenges. In livestock we need to stay on top of all that, and help our clients through the changes ahead,” he says.

With his experience of agriculture to date, Tom already has a firm view of what it takes to be a successful farmer.

“It starts from being able to produce good feed. Then you need good stock. Aside from that, the key is being organised: knowing what you want and where you are going. Some people are indecisive, which is no good on the farm. To do well you need to have your mind made up and know what direction you are going, being able to plan ahead, with a three to four year plan covering breeding, crop rotation and management style, that’s the key to success in farming,” he says.

Next step for Tom is starting work in a region of his own, with his own client base.

“It doesn’t really matter whereabouts in the country I head to, I’m looking forward to it,” he says.