Building resilience from the ground up

Rising costs, unpredictable weather and increasing pressure on margins are making life challenging for arable and horticultural farmers. For Mike Arnold and the team at LeaderBrand South Island, the answer is to keep looking at what they can control and build a business that is as resilient as possible.

“There are always challenges. Weather is one of them and that’s totally out of our control. We had hail recently which wiped out a crop,” Mike says.

Then there are the rising costs.

“Rising costs are huge. We get incredibly big freight bills, so we’re doing everything we can to counter those pressures through reduced inputs and making sure we have sustainable, resilient systems in place.”

For LeaderBrand, that means looking at everything from soil health and nutrient management through to energy use and the people working on the farm.

The 450ha Canterbury operation (400ha effective) supplies major supermarket retailers with fresh vegetables year-round. For the past 20 years, Mike, Greg Lovett and Murray McPhail have worked in an equity partnership together to build and grow the business.

Grid sampling and variable-rate applications help ensure nutrients are used where they are needed, while cover crops and crop stacking protect soil health and build organic matter. Solar installation has also led to a big saving.

“We saved $30,000 last year on power consumption by installing solar, so we’ll likely do more of that,” Mike says.

With 23 permanent staff and up to 80 seasonal workers, people are a major part of the business.

“We’re really working on our culture and the way we do things. If you get that right, it really can help the bottom line.”

The team has built a strong family-values culture, bringing together people from different backgrounds and providing a supportive environment where they can develop and take pride in their work.

LeaderBrand’s commitment to soil management, people and innovation was recognised at the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards earlier this year, where the business collected four awards: the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award, Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, Hill Labs Agri-Science Award and Norwood Farming Efficiency Award.

Mike says entering the awards wasn’t about chasing the accolades.

“We entered the awards not for the prizes, but because I said we would the year before. It was a really positive thing to be part of. You spend so much of your working life down in the weeds, it was really nice to stick your head up and see all that has been done and how far we have come.”