Some 450 farmers attended the annual SIDE, in Invercargill on June 20-22, themed 'Bounce Forward'.
Chairman Rob Wilson applauds their turnout, saying "despite the difficult environment people are engaged and actively trying to work their way through this. We're not sure when, but things will get better".
He says SIDE gave farmers "a couple more tools in the toolbox" to position them well for the expected upturn. Event highlights he notes were the "incredibly inspiring" keynote speakers and the level of engagement and determination of attendees to farm responsibly.
SIDE committee member and DairyNZ brand marketing manager Andrew Fraser says turnout was down slightly on 2014, when the event was last held in Invercargill, but not to the extent feared given the dairy downturn.
"If you walked in here and you didn't know it was tough out there, you wouldn't get a sense of that."
Attendees came with a "pretty positive mindset," looking for ways to improve their businesses.
Fraser says farmers may be feeling doom and gloom, "but certainly if you walk around and talk to farmers here you'll have good conversations with positive people".
Fraser singled out environmental workshops as showing a positive change of attitude among farmers over the past few years; a workshop on 'Planting Plans Made Easy' by DairyNZ senior developer Matt Highway ran over time as attendees asked how to improve and protect waterways on their farms. – Nigel Malthus
