Lyndon and Jade McNab farm run more than 6000 ewes and 700 beef cows on 3200ha between Balclutha and Owaka.
The McNab family have donated nearly 6000 mince meals to foodbanks in New Zealand through the Meat the Need initiative.
Mr McNab was the third generation of his family to run the farm since 1953 and he had been involved with Meat the Need since it started in 2020.
"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.
"There’s no significant challenges of being able to afford basic daily requirements and that’s absolutely not something that we take for granted."
Looking at the life their three children lead, he feels an obligation to try to 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."
Mr McNab wants other farmers to get behind the cause.
"It pays to keep in mind that when we’re struggling as farmers and often landowners, people in lesser fortunate circumstances are struggling at an exponentially higher level generally. When our income drops a bit, everyone on a minimum wage job feels the rising cost a lot more than we are."
As a farmer, he felt donating through Meat the Need was a relevant way to help.
"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."
