Resilient farmers

The Hill Country Futures Partnership programme actively involved more than 300 community members, primarily in the sheep and beef farming sector. These interactions led to the creation of resources like the Farmer Perspective series and FarmSalus, a farmer-centric resource package aimed at facilitating better conversations between rural professionals and farmers.

image of farmers in yard infront of hills

Building resilience in hill country farming starts with knowing how to measure it and how to monitor progress toward the goal of “future-proofing” the sector.

Farmer interviews

What matters the most to New Zealand sheep and beef farmers? We listened and talked to around 300 New Zealanders, primarily sheep and beef farmers, to find out what is happening in hill country farming, what matters most to them and what their vision.

Farmers told us that people are at the centre of their vision for the future of sheep and beef farming in hill country. 

Farmer Perspective Series

After we evaluated and analysed all the conversations, we identified the key issues for our farmers and their vision for the future:

This work became known as the Farmer Perspective Series (PDF, 3.4 MB)

FarmSalus

Developed with farmers, FarmSalus is a practical resource package that helps rural professionals support farmer wellbeing. 

It includes a resilience evaluation tool focused on the health of the farm system, and the wellbeing of the farmer at its centre. FarmSalus is designed to spark better conversations and provide a framework for long-term support. 

Explore these resources

FarmSalus: An overview

FarmSalus: The resource package and assessment tool that was designed with our farmers to support resilience