From a young age I only had one ambition, farming was all I ever wanted to do. So with a Ag Comm degree from Lincoln and some time spent shepherding honing my stockmanship, I was ready to take on farm ownership. My wife Jen and I farmed sheep and beef in dry sunny Hawkes Bay for nearly 25 years. As well as this I was involved in our community, dog trial club, school board of trustees, farm discussion groups and many others.

A turn of events in 2004 took me in a very different but equally challenging direction, I did a self awareness course and have been teaching the course now for 16 years. One of many realisations to come out of this time was that I had become disillusioned with farming, the direction it was heading in just didn’t make sense to me.

During lockdown, I began reading and researching for a way forward that felt more natural and intuitive. I watched Alan Savory’s Ted Talk, I read about the Savory Institute, plus other books about regenerative farming and I began to have hope again for a better future for farming, where farmers could become ambassadors for climate change. This lead me to Ata and I began training to become an EOV verifier, under Hugh Jellie’s experienced guidance.

I want to be part of this change, as we build a prosperous and rewarding future, letting nature continuously regenerate our land again, as she has been doing very successfully for thousands of years, way before we (humans) even arrived.