South Africans flock Down Under

Pieter Ackerman says his townie friends in South Africa would find the idea of being a farmer inconceivable. 

"Farming can be so dangerous in South Africa,'' the 38-year-old Tirau contract milker says.

"We lost family in South Africa living on farms. A cousin was killed just outside the farm house and his wife was followed into the house and shot dead, leaving two baby girls.''

Pieter, who moved here six years ago with wife Beth, is one of a growing number of South Africans making the  change  to a farming life in New Zealand.

This year alone Waikato-based recruitment company Greenstone Recruitment has placed 45 families from South Africa on farms in the Waikato.

Pieter says he loves New Zealand, but the contract milker confesses he still hasn't switched allegiances where rugby is concerned.

"I am a New Zealander now. We  became citizens earlier this year, this is our home.  The only difficulty I have had till now is putting my support behind the All Blacks,'' he laughs.

A total newcomer to the rural lifestyle when he came to New Zealand, Pieter says: ``I was an admin man in Pretoria, a manager.''

Wanting to move away from the violent crime and unstable political situation in South Africa, Pieter says  he and his wife looked to New Zealand, where his wife has distant family living.

Initially settling in Auckland, Pieter says they saw publicity about the dairy industry and "how you can progress through it''.

"My wife and I have family who farm in South Africa. "But in South Africa you don't have the same structure you have in New Zealand so you cannot work yourself into the industry.''

Starting off at a farm on the  Coromandel Peninsula, he says they knew the Waikato was New Zealand's top dairy producing area. "We knew if we wanted to do the best production  it made sense to come to the Waikato   if you want to be the best you have to be in the Waikato.''

Theona and Johan Blom have been in the country just two months.  Johan is an assistant manager on a dairy farm in Tokoroa.

"We were part time farmers, more hobby farm, on 800ha in the middle of the Karoo,'' Theona says. "It was Johan's father's farm.'' She says  even though 800ha was a lot of land by New Zealand standards, farmers needed a minimum of 3000ha to make a viable income in South Africa.

Johan was employed by the Government as an agricultural adviser. The couple came to New Zealand last year to see what opportunities there were and to visit Johan's brother, who is a dentist here.

"We came to have a look and saw a lot of potential if you work hard here,'' Theona says.

"Johan would love a farm himself, but we did not have enough capital to start a farm. In South Africa you don't have the very same opportunities like what you have here.  The political climate is a bit unstable at the moment there.''

Greenstone Recruitment's director Graydon Sharratt and his wife Vanessa started the company in 2006. Immigrating to New Zealand  in 2002 from South Africa Graydon worked as an agribusiness manager for the BNZ. Working in the rural community, he says he could see there was a shortage of skilled labour.

Their business is aimed predominantly at the dairy industry and recruiting workers from South Africa.
Vanessa says the workers coming from South Africa are often middle-aged people with families who may have owned their own farms in South Africa.

"But due to the violence on farms and the uncertainty of farming rights, given land claims and the new expropriation bill, they are streaming into this country.''

Mike and Sue Visser, who milk year round at Te Awamutu, used Greenstone Recruitment to source staff and had a young couple working on their farm from South Africa.

Sue says  it is  difficult to get New Zealand farm staff. "It is at the entry level as well as higher up,'' she says. "The really good people generally move on up the ladder very quickly and there's not the people coming in behind that they used to be.''  

Steven and Jane Miers from Gordonton agree it is hard to find staff.

"We find it very hard to get New Zealand workers, a lot are not willing to work the farming lifestyle,''  Jane says.

"We have sourced people from the unemployment levels and they last about a month.  We have found farming not a good transition into the work force for them.''

Jane says  the job they usually offered on the farm was a lower level entry job. "We are looking for people wanting to get started in the industry, so perhaps in that situation it makes it doubly hard.''
DairyNZ's acting programme leader for human capability, Geoff Taylor, says the dairy industry is experiencing a shortage of labour, but it is  a similar situation to other industries in New Zealand.

"I guess as dairy farmers we need to look at who the target market is and maybe address the job we are offering to a certain extent to fit the target market better,''  he says.  "Young people today have different needs than they did 20 years ago.''

Mr Taylor says  immigrant labour is  definitely part of the solution for the dairy industry as it is across most of New Zealand.  The GoDairy campaign run by DairyNZ to attract workers into the industry as  received 4100 calls with 2500 of those from people genuinely interested in the industry, Geoff says. 

"That was an increase of about 35 per cent on last year.''

DairyNZ Ceo Tim Mackle says he recognises  there are  issues in some areas of farm employment and attracting staff. ``Certainly our aim is to make farmers be more competitive as employers with other industries, not just financially but in terms of work and quality of work.''

Tim says the industry welcomes overseas workers. "We are a nation of immigrants;  if you look at the dairy industry there has been some innovative ideas come from different cultures all the way through.
 "But we still want to do what we can to show the opportunities available in the industry to people born in this country.``

Pieter Ackerman started his first farming job in New Zealand at age 32. "I worked my way up from the bottom,'' he says.

"I came over and started in December, did the first 18 months as a farm assistant then went on to a full season as herd manager, one season as manager and then came into contract milking.''   He says his ultimate aim is farm ownership. "I know they are saying that no one will be able to buy a farm but I think the go-getters will be able to get there.  If you push hard enough you can get there.''

Theona says  her husband has yet to decide what direction he will  take.

"When we came last year we visited places like Dexcel  (now DairyNZ) to sort out what opportunities were there.  They were impressed with his qualifications, but he had no Kiwi experience, which is understandable

"If you come in here from a totally different environment trying to assist farmers and you have no clue about dairy farming, you might not be a very successful adviser.''

She says  they will reassess their goals in two or three years and decide whether to go sharemilking or for her husband to go back to an advisory role. 
 

- © Fairfax NZ News