Deep Roots

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Family farming in New Zealand

Mark G. Ross, General Manager, Policy and Advocacy, Federated Farmers of New Zealand

amily farming in New Zealand has a proud history

that can be traced back to the first European

emigrants in the late 1840s. The country’s early

pioneers were important in the development of its

economy, often leaving their families behind in the United

Kingdom and other countries to make a new life in a

faraway land.

When the early settlers arrived on New Zealand’s shores

they often found out the hard way that the country’s climate

and terrain can be harsh at the best of times. The isolation,

landscapes and weather created many challenges to the first

farmers as they adapted to the new environment. Given this,

many of the early settlers were preserved by buying land,

clearing forests and establishing farms as a means to make

a living. The work was hard and the farming immigrants

had to be self-sufficient as there was no outside help from

a wider community. Many of the large sheep farms on the

eastern coasts were farmed by single men who could survive

the elements, and farming families were initially very sparse.

As time progressed and farms became more produc-

tive, family farms took on more importance. Men, women

and children all worked in unison to ensure that food was

produced to feed their families. Even small children had

their farm tasks like feeding hens or picking vegetables,

with men doing the hard farm labour such as ploughing and

shearing. Men also had to work off the farm to bring in addi-

tional income as there was often not enough money coming

off the land to support a growing family. In the nineteenth

century families often had six or more children, and it was

hard work to feed and clothe them all when relying only on

what was produced from the family farm.

At first the majority of the New Zealand farms were

focused on producing wool from sheep and milk from cattle.

It wasn’t until refrigerated ships were invented at the end

of the nineteenth century that the farmers could sell meat

and dairy products (like butter) overseas. The creation of

these new markets changed the family farming make-up as

it enabled surplus money to be made, thus allowing for the

purchase of machines like tractors. Work was not so hard

and people had time to develop communities and go to local

dances or play sports.

A golden period followed for the farming sector, with the

creation of large and buoyant communities throughout New

Image: Federated Farmers of New Zealand

Rounding up sheep on a coastal New Zealand farm

eep

oots