No regrets choosing cows over boardroom
Winning the 2025 New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year still hasn't sunk in for Thomas and Fiona Langford.
At that time, they were sharemilking at a 780-cow property at Eketahuna. Last year, the brothers, originally from India, took up a new sharemilking role on a 530ha farm near Ashburton, mid-Canterbury, where they milk 2,000 cows and employ 13 staff.
Winning the national title has opened many doors for Kamboj and Kumar. Not only have they progressed as sharemilkers, they have also hosted delegations from Indian state governments and dairy companies and have been invited to travel to Uttarakhand state in northern India to talk about their success in the NZ dairy industry.
Kamboj says it's been a great journey since they won the award.
"We entered the awards to benchmark ourselves with other great farmers in the country," he told Dairy News.
"It has given us a great platform to progress. As migrants we did not have many contacts and a big network in the dairy industry but after winning the award, it has opened many doors to network within the dairy industry."
Kamboj says the award has been "a very powerful source of motivation for them".
"It has been a very important part of our journey as it has given us lots of great opportunities/options to grow our dairy business.
"Networking with NZ farmers and rural professionals has also been invaluable."
The brothers' win has also been noticed in their home country, which is the largest producer of milk in the world.
In December last year, Uttarakhand State Minister of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Saurabh Bahuguna and senior government official Dr Avinash Anand visted their farm.
Kamboj says the delegation from their home state was keen to learn about NZ dairying and the practices and technology they employed on farm.
"During their visit, we took them for a farm tour and showed our dairy farming systems and practices."
Last month, the brothers hosted a high-level delegation from Amul, India's largest dairy brand. The Amul delegation was led by interim chief executive Jayan Mehta and included board members of the farmer-owned co-operative. Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor and parliamentary undersecretary for agriculture Jo Luxton also joined the farm tour.
Kamboj says they shared their story of dairy farming in NZ and took them on a tour of the farm.
He says their progress through the NZ dairy industry is being noticed in India and is attracting more young Indian dairy farmers to the country.
"Both of the visits have been very positive, and we shared a lot of information about dairy farming," says Kamboj.
"The Minister from Uttarakhand has planned to invite us for an interactive conclave with farmers of Uttarakhand to showcase our best practices and technolog in the sector."
Kamboj says a few years ago, there weren't too many Indian dairy farmers in NZ.
"Nowadays, a lot of young Indians are in dairy farming in NZ and definitely hearing our success story gives them motivation to do well in the industry."
Kamboj says like other dairy farmers, they are facing challenges around rising input costs and weather.
But they are determined to carry on and hope for things to improve.
"It has been a challenging season so far with all the costs going up. Hopefully going forward these costs will ease up and we hope for a strong payout."
