In this week’s episode, we catch up with Sonja Vreugdenhil - A Farm Systems Technician at Leaft Foods. 

Sonja grew up about an hour south of Dunedin and originally headed to university to study PE. After a couple of years, she decided this wasn't the exact direction she wanted to go in and changed her direction to study agriculture at Lincoln University. 

After university, Sonja joined the Foundation of Arable Research in their graduate programme where she was involved in numerous small seed and cereal trials. Last year she joined the Leaft Foods team and she hasn’t looked back. 

Leaft Foods have recognised that hidden in the leaves of lucerne is an abundant source of high quality natural protein. Extracting protein from lucerne leaves using their paddock to product process will be low impact and efficient, making it a great option for protecting our environment. 

It’s a real watch this space story, and I hope you are as captivated by it as I am. Sonja is an incredibly passionate individual in both her career and life outside of work. She is one of those people who gives everything their absolute all! 

I hope you enjoying to such an enthusiastic young women in our agricultural industry!

If you would like to chat to Sonja about anything we talk about on todays episode, you can find her on Instagram @sonja_renee_v or flick her an email at sonja.vreugdenhil@leaftfoods.com.

Enjoy!
Mel x

In this weeks episode, we catch up with Richard Konzag - The Owner of Konzag Grains alongside wife Trish.  

Konzag Grains is a 2500ha cropping operation based about an hour north of Adelaide, in the small country town of Mallala.

With an annual average rainfall of only 395mm, the Konzags' have had to look at ways to implement farming systems to help conserve soil moisture. By implementing a new row spacing of 7.5inches by using a John Deere single disk seeder, Richard was not only able to have total stubble retention which gives complete soil cover, but it also dramatically increased competition between crops and the weeds - thereby reducing the pressure placed on herbicides. But like everything, it hasn't always been smooth sailing.  

Richard is incredibly modest and humble about his achievements and like most farmers you meet, just wants to produce the best possible product with the smallest environmental footprint for the modern day consumer.  

Richards' story is one that will help motivate you to add value to your own products, no matter what walk of life you are from. 

If you would like to chat to Richard about anything we talk about on todays episode, you can find him on Facebook @konzaggrains or their information will be on our instagram @breadandbutterpodcast_ . 

Enjoy!
Mel x

In this weeks episode, we catch up with Angus Woods - The Owner of Left Field Foods.  Left Field products are grown and manufactured in the town of Goondiwindi, which is located 350 km south-west of Brisbane.  

Angus' family started farming at Billa Billa in the 1950s.  What started off as a grain and live stock farming operation has now evolved into a diversified vertically integrated agribusiness from ‘Farm to Bag’. The Woods family business is now into its 3rd generation with the 4th generation not far away.  The business is now comprised of  five properties spanning approximately 14,000 hectares.

Join us as we talk about the up's and down's of value added products and how Angus has built the brand to be the way it is today.

Angus' story is one that will help motivate you to add value to your own products, no matter what walk of life you are from. 

If you would like to chat to Angus about anything we talk about on todays episode, you can find him at hello@woodsfoods.com.au, on instagram @leftfieldaus or his information will be on our instagram @breadandbutterpodcast_ . 

Thank you for listening in today, your support doesn't go unnoticed.

Until next time, 
Mel x

In this weeks episode, we catch up with James Robertson. 

James is one of those people who is always on the go. He's driven, ambitious, and has a sense of drive like no other. James works as a Technical Assistant in the Co-operative Affairs of Fonterra and is heavily involved with many different projects. 

In 2019, James was crowned as the 51st FMG Young Farmer of the Year at an age of just 22, making him the competitions youngest ever winner. 

This year, James has had to hang up his rugby boots due to a concussion, an event that made him change the way he looked at his life. 

James is one to watch in the future, he's incredibly humble about his achievements and truely believes we need to share the the agricultural story as far and wide as we can. 

If you would like to chat to James about anything we talk about on todays episode, you can find him on Instagram @jimmy_robertson_ or his information will be on our instagram @breadandbutterpodcast_ . 

Thank you for listening in today, your support doesn't go unnoticed.

Until next time, 
Mel x

Sam Tipping is a man with many strings to his bow. 

His career began with a gap year to Canada, starting his own fencing contracting business, and breeding a Hereford Stud to now working as an Agribusiness Partner with BNZ.

Sam is another young rural professional, passionate about the way people view agriculture. No matter what career channel you are in, I think you can learn a lot from Sams' story.

If you would like to chat to Sam about anything we talk about on todays episode, you can find him on Instagram @sam_tipping_ or his information will be on our instagram @breadandbutterpodcast_ . 

Thank you for listening in today, your support doesn't go unnoticed.

Until next time, 
Mel x

This episode contains content that may be hard for some people to listen to. It covers topics around mental health and depression. 

In 1999 Doug Avery was in a bad way. 

The Marlborough sheep and beef farmer was barely coping, personally and financially, after his local area encountered eight years of straight drought. It wasn't a case of overnight success with Doug, but fast forward to today and he will tell you the last 20 years have made all of the challenges worth it. 

Heading to a lucerne field day in Canterbury back in the late 1990's, Doug thought he knew everything there was to know about lucerne management. He left that field day not only with new ideas surrounding lucerne management, but with reborn hope. Doug headed home to his wife that night where he began to rebuild their dream.

What Doug found inside himself was a true resilience. An attitude and approach to life everyone needs to hear.  

In 2017, Doug wrote his first book 'The Resilient Farmer' as a way to reach out to fellow farmers who were going through tough times. Book #2 is due out July 2022 -  so watch this space!

If you would like to contact Doug about anything we talked about on todays episode, you can email him on doug@resilientfarmer.co.nz or find him on Facebook @dougavery.resilientfarmer or you'll be able to find Dougs information on our instagram @breadandbutterpodcast.  I also highly recommend reading Doug's book 'The Resilient Farmer' - available at most leading bookstores or online. 

Thank you again for listening in today, your support doesn't go unnoticed. 

Until next time, 
Mel x

When Daisy Higgs was younger, she never thought she'd end up falling in love with farming.

Fast forward a few years and the 26-year-old admits she couldn't imagine another way of life.

Daisy developed a love of animals while growing up with her family on a lifestyle block in Taranaki. She completed a Bachelor of Science Majoring in Agricultural Science at Massey University, but it was only by chance she ended up working on a farm.

She found a position advertised by the relative of a university friend and not ever considering dairy farming as a long-term option, she thought it might give her something to do for the short term. After the first season, Daisy loved it and now claims that she will probably be a dairy farmer for the rest of her life.

Since then Daisy has been a busy lady! She is now the manager of a 180-cow dairy operation, has numerous Dairy Industry award titles and competes in many triathlons, but only when she has spare time.. 

If you would like to chat to Daisy about anything we talk about on todays episode, you can find her on Instagram @daisyjanehiggs or her information will be on our instagram @breadandbutterpodcast_ 

Thank you for listening in today, your support doesn't go unnoticed.

Until next time, 
Mel x