The North Canterbury couple have always employed younger junior shepherds on their 1400ha property, near Scargill, and historically taken them through to stock manager level or manager level in many situations.
While treating them as part of their own family and sharing meals with them, the couple also encouraged their young workers to get off-farm, join sports groups and become part of the community.
Both enjoyed helping people develop their skills and, in recent years, that has extended to Growing Future Farmers, a farmer-led vocational workforce training programme.
With their own children having left home, the timing seemed right to become involved with the programme and they now had their second GFF student.
The Fosters, who were the Silver Fern Farms 2023 Plate to Pasture winners, run a sheep breeding and finishing operation, and also finish cattle.
Jock left school and went fencing before studying at Lincoln and then going shepherding. He had a manager’s job at Hawarden when his father died from cancer and he and Pip came home to the family farm in 1996.
Jock never had a strong desire to come home just because it was the family farm but, from a family point of view, it was nice to be there. He simply enjoyed farming and it was a real privilege to be on the land; whether he was farming in North Canterbury or elsewhere, it would not worry him.
Pip, who grew up on a farm at Hororata and met Jock in her last year of school, trained as a nurse. Their three children, aged between 22 and 26, were all involved in farming.
The couple felt very fortunate that their children shared the interest in agriculture and it led to some great conversations with them about the sector.
"We have three farm advisers that don’t live here; it’s really lovely," she said.
Jock described the property as a "pretty typical" North Canterbury farm, with a balance of hill country and mix of downs and flats. Irrigation development had been a "game-changer" and had given them the ability to be in control of selling decisions. It also gave them access to contracts they would not have previously have access to and meant they could commit to supply.
The farming philosophy was fairly simple — "eat the grass when it’s growing". All areas had climatic challenges and their challenge was the dry and they endeavoured to have a stocking policy that allowed flexibility.
Jock felt positive about the long-term future of farming. While there would always be "tough bits", there were already some green shoots during what had been a challenging time.
While their Plate to Pasture award included the quality of their stock and meeting their contracts, it also covered their philosophy around their staff, and their environmental commitments and community commitments.
Jock is chairman of the local community board and Pip organises the local Anzac Day service each year. Pip described it as "just a typical small community where everybody has a crack at everything", including at the school and sports.
The Foster farm has a 6km boundary with the Hurunui River while the Waikari River also runs through the middle of the farm. Protecting waterways had been a strong focus for the couple.
