Call for activating mentorships

Farm business sophistication encourages call for activating mentorships.

Farm Source stores, Director, Jason Minkhorst, suggests that young farmers may wish to now take a more active role in approaching and interacting with potential industry mentors.

“If you were taught farming by your parents, you got lucky,” says Minkhorst, taking part as one of this year’s invited leaders in the Leaders Review Focus Points public service series for business. “Regardless,” he says, with the rising size and sophistication of dairy and other farms, it was more important than ever to, “find that outside mentor to help ‘create’ more luck.”

While pointing out there is a plethora of online information, Minkhorst particularly advocates attending the various manner of farming discussion groups.
“Those discussion groups attract really successful farmers, still turning up to learn themselves,” he says.

“And they’ll genuinely want to help - as long as you’re able to genuinely give back.” – a reference to not simply using willing and experienced mentors’ time to sound-board ideas, only then to stick to one’s own prior paths.

“If those mentors are still successful in the field, they’ll still know why.”

What: Leaders Review Focus Points, a short-form series of public service videos for business by invited New Zealand business leaders (televised and online).
Where: TVNZ1 regular TVC signature spots and on-demand at LeadersReview.co.nz
When: TVNZ1 this and next week, regular signature spots, leading the breaks just before Breakfast ‘s 7AM News bulletins.

© Scoop Media