New Zealand – DairyNZ, the industry organisation that represents all dairy farmers in New Zealand, has launched a new campaign with the aim to give Kiwis a better understanding of what it means to be a dairy farmer.
The new campaign, which was created in collaboration with creative agency Proximity New Zealand, looks into the daily life on a farm, from working with machinery and technology to caring for animals and the land.
Titled ‘Join Us’, the campaign is fronted by Eastern Bay of Plenty dairy farmer Shannon Munro, who has been dairy farming for about 10 years. With her husband and three children, Munro moved away from urban city life to provide a different upbringing for her young family. They moved from Te Puke to Ngakuru, a rural community in Rotorua Lakes, where her husband found a job as a farm assistant, and over the next decade, as their family expanded, they progressed into farm manager and 2IC roles, and then into contract milking, moving around the country as opportunities came up which include farming in Canterbury and the Waikato.
Munro said that as a young Māori woman, she is proud to be presenting a different face to dairy farming and to be associated with the campaign to show people what dairy farming has to offer as a career.
“Dairy farming offers really great opportunities and a great lifestyle. There are lots of opportunities for people to progress quickly and it’s very rewarding,” said Munro.
Meanwhile, Tim Mackle, DairyNZ’s CEO, shared that the ‘Join Us’ campaign is part of a wider project – ‘Here for the Long Game’ – aiming to help communities understand what drives dairy farmers, and how they are working to provide a better future for their farms, the land, their families, and their communities, as well as New Zealand.
“Our wider ‘Here For the Long Game’ campaign is a platform for dairy farmers to share with other Kiwis who they are and what they do in a way that’s open and fun. It’s about showing young Kiwis that, for those keen to get stuck in, dairying offers a truly rewarding career and lifestyle. By joining us, you’re not only securing your own future but becoming part of creating a better one for all New Zealanders,” said Mackle.
