Farming background a big help in new role

Like many others who work in agriculture, Jess Davies grew up on a farm. She always knew she wanted to work in agriculture. In her case however, where she is now is 18,000 kilometres from home.

Jess is from Shropshire, western England, near the border with Wales.

“Our family has a three generation tenancy on a 200 hectare home farm. Dad mainly does store lambs, buying 12,000 to 17,000 lambs each year, mostly grazing them on leased dairy land when the farmers have cows inside for the winter, and selling them on to the works, as well as lambing about 2000 ewes inside each year.

“We lease pockets of land everywhere and can travel for over an hour to tend the blocks that are furthest from home. It’s a system called ‘sheep keep’ in England. A few farmers do something similar here, though not at such a large scale,” she says.

When Jess was 18 she went to university, taking a four year degree in agri-food marketing and economics. After graduation she won a farming scholarship, which brought her to New Zealand, working for three months from January 2018 on a big Port Waikato sheep, beef and dairy farm.

“I absolutely loved it. It was summer, so nice weather compared to what I was used to. I also spent a month traveling the whole country, which made me realise I hadn’t finished with New Zealand,” she says.

Meeting the boy on the farm next door was an extra reason to stick around.

On a working holiday visa so unable to take up permanent employment, Jess reared calves and shepherded for a year, then an opportunity on PGG Wrightson’s trainee programme arose, which led into working for bidr as Upper North Island Territory Manager. She recently made another change, becoming Go-Stock Business Development Manager.

Adding value for farmers is what motivates her.

“I really enjoy that part of the job. Although farming receives a lot of criticism, it is a great industry to be in, with some highly innovative new products and technology to develop and improve all sorts of things.

“As a company our role is to help farmers to be the best they can. bidr is a perfect example of that, so is Go-Stock. Farmers need all the capital they can raise to make the most of their land. Cash flow tends to hold that back. Go-Stock is designed to make cash flow easier, particularly in times of the season when farmers might otherwise struggle,” says Jess.

Under Go-Stock, PGG Wrightson buys the stock and retains ownership, meaning no initial cash outlay for farmers. Farmers then graze and grow the stock before deciding, in conjunction with the company, when and where PGG Wrightson will sell them. PGG Wrightson pays any resulting positive trading margin to the farmer, less fees and selling costs.

For Jess, promoting Go-Stock to farmers fits well with her background.

“With bidr, getting people on board, showing them its value, and changing mindsets has been the big challenge. I really like seeing our team and our clients having success using the product. If they have a good experience, I find that really rewarding, particularly if they have been hesitant or unsure at the beginning. Afterwards, when they say ‘that went way better than I thought it would,’ I get a big kick out of that. Sometimes it takes several small steps to get a farmer over the line to commit, then when you prove to them that it works, that is a real thrill.

“Often I base those relationships on what I saw and heard growing up. Because I’ve been around farming all my life, if I have to explain how something works, I think back to how I would talk to my dad about it.

“A big part of the job is earning their respect. You need that before you can make any headway, though once you have that, then you are in a position to have a good discussion and a debate. With bidr, and now with Go-Stock, you want to be part of their team, and you want the product to be part of the toolbox that they can rely on to be the best they can,” she says.

Jess started her new Go-Stock role in mid-October. Outside work Jess and fiancé Rob are heavily involved in his family’s 700 hectare Port Waikato sheep and beef breeding property, where she can often be found helping in the yards, unless the two of them are off hunting and fishing.