Tash White loves seeing people engaging in agriculture and learning about the values and innovations involved in the sector.
As her nominator says, "Tash’s passion for farming shines through in everything she does" — whether it was supporting and teaching the AgriKids teams at her local school, donating and co-ordinating the sale of pea straw for the senior class to sell to raise money for school camp, or welcoming visiting groups wanting to learn about agriculture on their farm, including pre-schoolers.
She was also raising three very passionate young farmers with her husband Dan — Tabitha, 15, Edward, 12, and Harriet, 9, — and she supported them in their AgriKids and TeenAg study.
Tash felt privileged to be the third generation on her family farm, just south of Ashburton, which is arable, along with lamb and beef fattening. She and Dan came back in 2005 to manage the property. Since then, they moved to leasing and then went into a business partnership with her parents before purchasing the 380ha property last year.
The couple were there for the flexibility and lifestyle that farming afforded and to build a future for their children — "to look after the land for the next generation and to carry on a legacy my grandparents started", Tash said.
When Tash first returned to the farm, she was invited to join the Foundation for Arable Research’s newly formed Women in Arable group and that sowed the seed for the couple’s involvement in FAR.
It encouraged her to have the confidence to take things on and speak up in what was once a very male-dominated industry and she had managed to upskill a lot through things they had offered.
She was also involved with getting Arable Ys off the ground, the group providing an opportunity for younger arable farmers, staff and industry personnel to upskill in a comfortable environment while also having the opportunity to socialise with their industry counterparts.
She is also joint vice-chair of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers' Arable section and, while the policy and advocacy side of the industry was not really her strength, it had been a good learning experience stepping into the role, she said.
For the past six years, Tash has gone to Longbeach School to help the pupils do some rural study and also having children come on to the farm.
She was passionate about getting children involved in the industry and to see there was so much involved in the sector — not just driving a tractor or milking cows. A dress-up day saw some come dressed as scientists, which was great.
Tash, who is also show secretary for Tinwald Pony Club, said she and her husband definitely worked as a team.
"Nothing much gets decided without the both of us."
— Sally Rae
