YOUNG FARMER OF YEAR FINALIST

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33904, 25 July 1975, Page 7

YOUNG FARMER OF YEAR FINALIST

This year's Canterbury’ region finalist in the Skellerup Young Farmer of the Year contest, which will be decided in Wellington on August 15, is Mr P. K. (Paul) Jarman, who shares with his father in the management of an 800-acre mixed cropping and stock farm five miles from Darfield and a 1000-acre light land block about eight miles away.

Paul, who is 24 years old, is the son of Mr and Mrs K. H. Jarman, of Essendon, Darfield.

Bom in Christchurch he attended Christ’s College for four years and then went to Lincoln College, where he completed a bachelor of agricultural science degree in 1972. then after a year and a quarter as a farm advisory officer with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at Timaru he returned home.

Part of Essendon has been in the family for more than 100 years, ft was taken up in the 1860 s by

Thomas Jarman, who was Paul’s great grandfather. Thomas was originally manager for James Gough, of Kirwee, a pioneer settler who was one of the founders of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company. The pioneer Jarman married a daughter of Goughs.

In the last two or three years there has been an intensification of cropping on Essendon, accompanied by a reduction in the size of the flock. In the next season it is planned to harvest about 160 acres of wheat, 110 acres of white clover. 60 acres of peas, including about 20 of vining peas and 40 of garden peas, 30 acres of barley for seed and about 36 acres of Manawa ryegrass.

The flock now includes about 1500 Corriedale ewes and replacements. There is a Corriedale stud on the property and about 500 ewes go to the Corriedale ram. The balance go to a prime lamb sire—it used to be mainly the Southdown, but a change is now being made to the Dorset Down and the Suffolk is also being tried to produce a leaner and heavier type of lamb carcase.

Mr Jartnan, senior, observes that one of the main worries associated with the intensification of cropping has been the increase in the cost of machinery, such as tractors and harvesters. “What happens when the present harvester wears out I do not know,” he says. With old established properties like theirs there also comes a time when buildings and fences, even including gorse fences, come to the end of their useful life and need replacement. Last year a new implement shed and workshop was erected and currently an old workshop is being removed to make

way for a drying and seed cleaning plant.

Wloile it is hoped to make savings in doing seed cleaning on the property, it is also hoped that yields of grass seed will be increased as a result of their ability to harvest crops two or three days earlier with a drying plant available, so obviating the losses of seed that occur with field drying.

Paul’s father is interested in farm forestry, but says that he has not been able do to as much in this direction as he would have liked, but his father, Mr J. H. Jarman, made some very good shelter plantings which he has maintained, and he has also sought to extend plantings along the boundary'- of nearly two miles on the Waireka river. It has been a matter of great satisfaction to him that earlier plantings on the property have provided fence posts and timber for building, including al! of the timber for the new shed project, which could amount to several hundred dollars worth. There is a small plant for treating fence posts on the farm.

The first 600 acres of the light land block was acquired 10 years ago and the balance eight to nine months ago. The main tasks here have been expansion of the area under lucerne—now 140 acres and still to be expanded—and fencing, but this year under present economic conditions fencing and provision Of new facilities like yards is at a standstill. This area is run in conjunction with the home farm with ryegrass straw from Essendon, for instance, being used for wintering cattle. This country is now carrying about 2000 sheep and 150 cattle. Paul is currently secretary' of the Darfield Young Farmers’ Club and it is the second year in succession that a member of the club has been in the final of the Young Farmer of the Year contest. He was a member of the club team that reached the South island final of the Young Farmers’ debating competition this year. They were defeated by an allfemale team representing the Herbert club in North Otago. From September to

December last year he spent three months in Vic-: toria under a Young 1 Farmers’ Club exchange sponsored by the Bank of. New Zealand and while he, was away his place in the debating team was taken by his fiancee. Miss Ann McSweeney. who is a schoolteacher.

Paul is chairman of the; radio committee for the Canterbury region of the Young Farmers’ Club movement. This involves organising a Young Farmers’ radio programme once a month.

For the last year and a half he has been a member of the Christchurch Toastmasters’ Club, and while he was in Timaru he belonged to the club there. With its aim of cultivating the art of effective communication and public speaking, he says he owes it a great debt. He is also a member of the Canterbury-Westland section of the Institute of Agricultural Science. His main hobby or past-; time is flying. He became interested in flying while at Lincoln having an Australian friend who had a licence and who subsequently became an instructor with the Canterbury Aero Club. Paul has a licence.

In Wellington on August 15 he will be up against two young men from the North Island and another from the South Island in the final.

What is the main problem facing farming today? Paul suspects that it is inflation ' within the country and the cost increases in recent years that have made it extremely hard for farmers to compete in international markets. “It has hit us hard as mixed farmers,” he says. Stabilisation of farmers’ incomes w'ould be a help, but he could not see any point in stabilising incomes if any money set. aside was being eroded by inflation running at the rate of about] 13 per cent a year.

“I think we need an incomes policy that will relate wage increases throughout the community to increases tn production,” he said when asked what the answer to the situation was. “That has got to be done I think.”