Thirty-five years ago, New Zealand’s world-first levy-funded Monitor Farm programme was launched marking a whole new era in on-farm extension.
The programme had a profound impact on the way farmers farmed thanks to one of its main objectives - to help farmers better understand their businesses and identify ways to improve productivity and profitability.
In this three-part series, Beef + Lamb New Zealand looks back on the Monitor Farm programme, its history, its impact and the continued importance of levy-funded extension in today's farming environment through Hub Farms, Focus Groups, workshops, Farming for Profit programmes and online resources.
Designed by the Meat Research Development Council (MRDC) (research funding body within the Meat Producer Board) and initially funded through farmers’ meat levies with sponsorship from the ANZ bank, (The Wool Board became a co-funder in 1996) – the Monitor Farm programme was set up to fill the tech transfer and farm extension void left after the disestablishment of the Ministry for Agricultural and Fisheries farm advisory service.
Dr Alan Royal, along with MAF technical consultants, came up with the idea of the Monitor Farm programme as a way of demonstrating how innovation could fit into a farming business.
Alan, who had a background in business planning, came at the Monitor Farm from the top end with science, and at the bottom end by getting farmers to really understand their businesses.
The initial objective was to find typical and relevant farms in their respective areas and the MRDC paid $25,000/ year for each farm to pay for the collection and analysis of farm data, support a consultant to work with the Monitor Farmers to help them understand and monitor their businesses, and to pay for the extension programme to the wider community.
The programme challenged the farmers to be clear about what they wanted to achieve in their business and where they wanted to take it in the future.
Monitoring and measuring were a fundamental part of the Monitor Farm programme and this included pregnancy scanning, stock weighing, soil testing, feed budgets, financial monitoring and animal health testing.
Twenty-one farms throughout New Zealand made up the first tranche of Monitor Farms involving around 700 people who were part of the community groups supporting these farms.
Within the first three years, around 6,000 people attended the annual field days – that’s an average of 230 people per field day.
Image: Before new health and safety regulations came into effect, the favoured mode of transport on Monitor Farm farm tours was on the back of utes.
Mark Aspin, National Manager of the Monitor Farm programme
The Meat Research Development Council took a huge punt on the Monitor Farm programme, says former National Manager Mark Aspin.
“They put half a million dollars into a programme, and they weren’t even sure it was going to work.”
Mark was the National Manager of the Monitor Farm programme from its inception until 2004, and says the levy funded MRDC was looking for ways to get science and innovation into farmers’ hands.
“There was a lot of science being done but not much of it was being adopted by farmers.”
Getting the right farm, facilitator and community group was vital and MRDC initially appointed the facilitators and community group members until the programme gained enough traction.
Getting the community group to take ownership of the programme was vitally important.
“The Monitor Farmers, the facilitators and the community group all had a huge part to play. They all knew and respected each other’s roles. It was hugely successful.”
Mark managed the contracts for 113 Monitor Farm programmes over his 13 years at the helm, with each Monitor Farm running for three to four years.
Not all had the intended outcomes, with the first West Otago Monitor Farm converting to dairy, after a thorough examination of their business through the programme showed that dairying would offer the best return on capital.
Hawkes Bay also ran a slightly different model with four mini Monitor Farms, all with a slightly different focus, but most regions stayed with the one farm model.
As the programme evolved, there was an appetite for high performing farmers to become Monitor Farmers- but sometimes when facilitators and the number-crunchers looked under the bonnet, the farms still had plenty of potential to grow.
For Mark, one of the highlights of the year was when all the Monitor Farmers (which included wives or business partners) got together for two days annually with their facilitators to share their experiences and socialise in a pre-internet era.
“It was an opportunity to meet other people who were farming in a fishbowl and those networks are still pretty strong.”
For Mark, one of the most gratifying aspects of the Monitor Farm programme was seeing the farmers grow in confidence over the three or four years.
“Initially they were always very nervous and three years later they were confident about who they were and where they were going – and on the lookout for opportunities. Seeing that growth in them was just great, it was a real privilege to help that happen.”