Young farmers are the future of New Zealand agriculture, so each issue we shine a spotlight on a Young Farmers Club member. Today we talk to Eskview Young Farmer Emma Ractliffe

What is the name of your club, and how long have you been a member?

I’ve been a member of the Eskview Young Farmers Club since November 2024.

Prior to that I was a part of Massey Young Farmers Club for four years between 2018 and 2021, Vice Chair 2020 and Chair 2021 - absolutely loved the keenness of the members, so that started and cemented my love for Young Farmers.

What has been the highlight for you of joining Young Farmers? What are the benefits and experiences that you feel have helped you most?

When I first joined Eskview, we had a modest total of five members signed up.

Since then, the club has massively grown to 32, and hopefully still growing!

I just really enjoy connecting people, getting like-minded people together, talking about things they enjoy, the industry and lifestyle we enjoy and holding events that everybody is keen to get behind. It’s been great getting the club going again in a region that so many young people flock to.

How did you become involved in agriculture?

I grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Kimbolton, Manawatu, and absolutely adored the work, the rural lifestyle and spending time with good genuine country people.

I studied Agricultural Science at Massey following school, and became involved in the red meat industry following that.

What is your job now? Tell us about your role, and what your journey has been like so far?

I am currently the Regulatory Manager at Progressive Meats in Hastings. In the role, I am responsible for all things regulatory, or anything with legislation behind it, so food safety, market access and export compliance, health and safety, environment and sustainability, also things like building warrant of fitness, trade waste and resource consents.

I started off in a medium sized lamb and bobby site in Invercargill, Blue Sky Meats, on the management intern programme there.

It was fantastic being able to learn all functions of a red meat processor, from the farm gate through to export markets and consumers, and to be able to see and develop understanding of the whole process start to finish.

I came into a Compliance role there, and valued the opportunity to understand and develop skills in balancing compliance demands in a commercial environment.

An incredible opportunity then came up at Finegand in Balclutha, with Silver Fern Farms, which with its significant beef operation allowed me to apply the smaller site knowledge to one of the largest sites in the country by lamb equivalents.

I’ve been very fortunate to have incredible role models and teachers within the industry, and especially lucky to be surrounded and supported by strong female leaders.

What do you think the future of farming will look like, and what would like to see happening in New Zealand agriculture going forward?

The continuation of the farming industry I believe will depend strongly on innovation, taking the best of what we’ve learnt but reimagining the way we do things.

I think farming will begin to look more heavily to precision tools and technology to drive efficiency, and I believe there will be an increased need to diversify and drive sustainable practices for our continued success.

What are your future plans?

I’d love to get back on the farm eventually, but I am loving what I’m doing at the moment.

There’s an incredible vision for the next 30 years developing currently within our industry, all around adapting around current constraints in the procurement game, increasing efficiency within processing and continuing to develop our markets, all while meeting our regulatory and ethical requirements. I’m excited to be a part of it.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in agriculture, and why?

My grandfather is an enormous inspiration to me. He was the one who shared his love of the land with me when I was young and really grew my passion for the lifestyle. He taught me that hard work will get you places and I owe a lot to him.