Paul Walker runs a 300 cow, 90-hectare dairy farm in heartland Te Puke. Photo / Farmstrong
Content brought to you by Farmstrong
Paul Walker runs a 300-cow, 90-hectare dairy farm in the Bay of Plenty.
He suffered burnout a few years back and credits a Farmstrong workshop as his turning point.
"The penny just dropped that I had to learn to manage what was under my feet better and slow down and enjoy life, otherwise before I knew it, it'd be gone."
First, Walker watched a Farmstrong video that taught him how stress works.
"They used the example of a one-litre bottle," he said.
"Every time something goes wrong on-farm, it fills up your bottle until there's no space left and it blows.
"That's how stress works – there's no space left in your bottle to cope anymore. That explained how I felt."
Listen below:
"A lot of people don't find out their capacity to cope with setbacks until something hits them. But if you can recognise the signs, you can do something about it."
Next, Walker adopted the Farmstrong idea of regularly investing in his "wellbeing bank account".
"You make regular 'investments' by doing things that increase your wellbeing and that helps you to deal with the 'withdrawals' when life gets demanding on-farm."
Here, Walker speaks to The Country's Rowena Duncum about coping with the challenges currently being thrown at farmers.
About Farmstrong:
Farming is a job with a unique set of challenges.
Many are hard to predict or control. They range from climate events like drought and flood to fluctuations in commodity prices, changing government legislation and new technology.
Along with these external factors, come the demands of running any business – financial and production planning, managing cash flow, hiring and managing staff, succession planning etc.
These pressures aren't going to disappear so it's vital that farmers develop the skills and resilience to cope.
Research shows many farmers are great at looking after their equipment and stock, but, like other New Zealanders, they can neglect their own wellbeing.
As an industry, we can't afford to let these pressures reach the point where they damage productivity and affect the lives of families.
Farmstrong is an initiative to help farmers, growers and their families to cope with the ups and downs of farming by sharing things they can do to look after themselves and the people in their business.
Find out more about Farmstrong here.
Read more about Paul Walker's story here.
Landscape architect Brittany Smith took out the senior title.