Farmers are quietly solving one of our biggest problems
OPINION: As food insecurity deepens across New Zealand, a powerful solution is quietly unfolding in our rural communities - and it starts at the farm gate.
Lyndon and Jade McNab farm between Balclutha and Owaka, running just over 6,000 ewes and 700 beef cows across 3,200 hectares.
The third generation of his family to run the farm since 1953, Lyndon says hie is well aware of the privilege and responsibility that comes with it.
His involvement with Meat the Need started in 2020 and since then, the family has donated around 6,000 mince meals to food banks across the country.
“We’re very aware of the privilege of our circumstances particularly around access to animal protein but in all sectors of life as a multi-generational farming family,” Lyndon says.
“There’s no significant challenges of being able to afford basic daily requirements and that’s absolutely not something that we take for granted,” he adds.
Looking at the life their three children lead, Lyndon says he feels an obligation to try and level that playing field through donating nutritious protein.
“We’re very, very fortunate and I’ve always felt the need to earn and repay that privilege a little bit, to pass it on to some of the wider community and kids,” he says.
As Meat the Need gears up to host its annual rural telethon, The Big Feed, on 14 December, Lyndon says he wants to encourage other farmers to get behind the cause.
“It pays to keep in mind that when we’re struggling as farmers and often land owners, people in lesser fortunate circumstances are struggling at an exponentially higher level generally,” he says. “When out income drops a bit, everyone on a minimum wage job feels the rising cost a lot more than we are.”
As a farmer, Lyndon feels donating through Meat the Need is a relevant way to help by giving the actual products that they pour their love into from dawn to dusk.
“I like the idea of being able to help out families that are struggling, I can’t imagine how horrible it must feel to have brought children into the world and then find often through no fault of your own that it’s a struggle to be able to provide something as rudimentary as sustenance and it’s nice to be able to ease that burden a little bit.”
When they took over the farm, they were looking for ways to donate their produce themselves at a much smaller scale, but were finding food safety roadblocks hard to overcome.
“When we found out about Meat the Need, we were pretty chuffed and we got involved straight away by making donations when we felt we could afford them,” Lyndon says.
Lyndon and Jade also came on board as Champions of the charity, volunteering their time to help spread the word and raise awareness of the work the charity does.
