increase font size
Tasman sharemilkers Warric and Rachel Johnson haven’t let the 2006 milk payout crash put them out of business.
Tasman sharemilkers Warric and Rachel Johnson haven't let the 2006 milk payout crash put them out of business.
Despite being forced to sell cows to survive, the Johnsons bounced back and were this month crowned 2025 West Coast/Top of the South share farmers of the year. They won $7,600 and five merit awards.
The Johnsons were runners-up in the same category last year and say the awards programme enabled them to learn more about their business and fine tune it.
Warric and Rachel are contract milkers for Phil and Jocelyn Riley on their 375ha,1100-cow Tapawera property. They employ four staff and a tractor driver. Most of the Johnsons' farming career has been in mid-Canterbury, but the last six years have been spent in Tasman.
Warric recalls that they were lower order sharemilkers buying in-calf heifers to build their herd when the payout crashed.
"Sometimes things happen outside our control, there is nothing wrong with having to start over again. You will be wiser for it," Warric told Dairy News.
He says that they still enjoy what they do, even in the tougher times.
"That's when you build character and learn the most," he says.
"I'm very much a numbers man and am constantly diving into the financial side of the business," he says.
"I have an endless curiosity for analysing which I'm passionate about and like to find out meanings and answers for any problem presented."
The Johnsons supply Synlait and are proud to achieve the processor's Lead with Pride certification while running two large scale dairy farms.
Future farming goals include farm ownership.
Warric thanked current farm owners Phil and Jocelyn Riley, mentors Gary Ashton and Murray Johnson and previous employers Stuart Brander and Hans Fikken for their support.
The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors ASB, CowManager, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda, LIC, and Trelleborg, along with industry partner DairyNZ.
The runners-up in the share farmer category are Kaisa Sadowska and Sam Riley who are 50/50 sharemilkers on Brent Riley's 200ha, 500-cow Collingwood property. They won $4,300 in prizes.
As the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards night unfolded, it became evident that Waikato’s Thomas and Fiona Langford were the frontrunners for the biggest prize of the night – the 2025 Share Farmers of the Year award.
OPINION: Results of regional New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) are trickling in but there's a worrying trend emerging.
The winner of the 2025 Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Industry Awards enjoys the variety of work farming offers and the ability to improve each season.
Coronet Peak, Queenstown, was the venue for the 2024 NZ Dairy Industry Awards.
Manawatu farmers Will Hinton and Kali Rangiawha have scooped the 2024 New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.
A tiny organism from the arid mountains of mainland Greece is facilitating a new way of growing healthier animals on farms across New Zealand.
OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…
OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…
