Farming with a future focus

Taking part in a trial that independently verified sustainable beef production across the supply chain held a number of benefits for farmer Sam Spiers.

“The trial provided an opportunity for our farm to be part of an internationally recognised group of farmers, processors and customers who are looking to the future of the beef industry,” says Sam of Alpine Pastures in Canterbury and Tarras.

“From a farm perspective it’s about having a production system that improves the environment that we farm including all things land, water, animals and people.

“We are generational farmers and we want to ensure our children have the opportunity to continue to farm in the future,” Sam says.

As part of the trial Sam’s family farm was audited using the NZFAP+ programme. NZFAP+ complements and builds on New Zealand’s existing Farm Assurance Programme with three additional components: Farm Environment, People and Biosecurity. It is being designed to protect and enhance all resources, create better and more sustainable farming businesses and incorporate socially responsible and ethical practices.

“Having an independent form of measuring our sustainability performance against a high standard that is understood by customers is critical. We need to ensure we stay relevant and proud beef producers. 

“In addition, talking to an independent qualified person about your farm is very worthwhile – they challenged our thinking and offered guidance on how to manage various parts of our operation. It was an enjoyable day and something we all often refer to in our management meetings.” 

It wasn’t a typical audit, says Sam. “The auditor was there to understand the farm and offer some ideas. It was also good to see some reference to future compliance issues like carbon budgeting as this provided us with confidence that a group such as this will support each other in understanding how to meet these goals in the future.

“A key takeout for us was the need to move to a 100% digital system for record keeping and this work is now underway.”

Sam says anyone completing an NZFAP+ audit needs to have an open mind and have confidence that the process will support your farm move towards the future and stay relevant to the customer – something all farmers should be thinking about!