Leaving a Legacy

I'm an avid podcast listener myself. With a farm, a business, and three young kids, I don't have a lot of time to sit down and read content. I was also finding it was hard to get away to some of the field days and workshops in our area, or there'd be something outside of our area on a topic I was really interested in, but there was just no way of making it happen. With farmers we're often quite time poor, but a lot of the jobs that we do are actually quite highly repetitive, mundane tasks where we can be doing something and listening at the same time. There’s quite a lot of research that shows that some people absorb information and retain and process it better while they're doing something at the same time, so if you're out driving a tractor or shifting a break fence, could you be exposed to something where you might learn something new or you might be able to reflect on how something could fit into your farming situation, while doing the practical task and allowing your brain to absorb and apply what you're listening to. We thought, while their hands and eyes are busy, could we occupy their ears? 

Sustainability was becoming very narrowly focused with just an environmental lens being put on it, and it was also becoming quite a negative space for farmers. I saw the opportunity to change the narrative around sustainability, to be more holistic and strategic with our approach, and also to support farmers to be able to clarify something as complex as sustainability and make it achievable. Sustainability as a word has become very much synonymous with environmental compliance, but that tick-box exercise approach to sustainability is not going to result in true authentic sustainability in the long-term. I think once you start viewing sustainability where the environmental component, although a very important component, is just one piece of a very complex puzzle, then you're making sure that you’re taking a balanced approach. For example, if you don't look after the finances of a business, it doesn't matter how environmentally sustainable you are, you won't be around to be able to have that positive impact.   

One of our criteria for our podcast guests is that there has to be something practical that farmers can take away to action in the sustainability space. Season one used the sustainable development goals as a framework and each episode highlighted a guest making progress within each those goals within agriculture. The second season showcased a variety of farmers and how they were integrating multiple sustainable development goals within their farm businesses. That was a nod to the complexity and the interaction between different facets of sustainability – you can't just solely focus on one lane when you are operating a farming business, it definitely is a multifaceted beast. Guests on the podcast have included Amanda Hasselman from Temple Peak Station, Annabelle Subtil from Growing Future Farmers, Nick Gill from Greystone Wines and The Food Farm, Gerard Vaughan from Farmstrong, and Myfanwy Alexander from Penmark Farms. Season three is about sustainable solutions and those practical things that farmers can grab onto today that are tangible that they can then enact to shift the dial on sustainability within their farm gate.  

I always ask in the podcast “what does sustainability mean to you?” If we just look at breaking down the word, sustainability, it's the ability to sustain something into the long term. It’s working out what do we have to do today, and how do we look at our farming businesses, our industry, our sector, to be able to carry it on in the long term. My personal view, and this is broader than farming, but actually, sustainability to me is about pride and legacy. It's trying to balance operating in a way that gives us our own sense of pride, but also in a way that would make our grandparents proud and in a way that will make our future grandchildren and generations proud. So, there's a lot to balance in there, and I think that's where the legacy comes from. And then from a holistic point of view, what are all the different facets that we have to consider to get that outcome of pride and legacy?   

One of our core values at The Whole Story is around prioritising collaboration. FMG came on board in 2022 as a partner to help us deliver The Whole Story podcast. The partnership extends far beyond the podcast; FMG have supported our mahi in numerous ways and are always there as a sounding board and to collaborate on projects where our values are aligned. We’ve been a B Corp now since 2021 and they've come on as New Zealand’s first and only B Corp General Insurer in 2023. So it's really cool to see a real values alignment with FMG as an organisation. As we celebrate B Corp Month this March, it’s a perfect time to highlight and appreciate these meaningful collaborations that drive us forward. 

We have phrase within The Whole Story called “hop-timism.” Something we aim to do is to bring a bit more hope and optimism back to the conversation of sustainability and agriculture. We need some shining lights. I think taking a much more aspirational and holistic approach to sustainability brings back autonomy. It gives farmers back the power, and then that brings hope and optimism to a conversation, which before was quite negative and defensive. It important to us to use the framework and wrap evidence around each of these aspects of sustainability. I’m encouraging farmers to stop capturing data or evidence as a tick-box exercise for someone else's benefit and start looking at the opportunities to use evidence that to benefit your own internal decision making and progress. Because that's the key. How does capturing that stuff add value to us behind the farm gate? It just takes farming out of that reactionary space and into a much more proactive and strategic space where you are at the helm of your own business and that everybody else gets to come along for the ride. 

Glossary. Mahi, work.