Country Life: Ag student's dreams come true 15 years on

Hamish Best says his younger self would be proud of what's he's achieved in the last 15 years.

Country Life first spoke to the sixth generation Wellington sheep and beef farmer in 2011 - he was finishing his honours in Agricultural Science at Massey University and the 21-year-old had big dreams for his future in the ag sector.

Best always knew he wanted to be a farmer but was told by his parents to learn a skill or trade first. This was good advice, which saw him spend 10 years advising farmers how to grow crops in Hawke's Bay and Australia, before returning to the family farm in Ōhāriu Valley, north of Wellington.

"Now that I'm doing it, I couldn't think of anything else really," he told Country Life. "Being your own boss and running a farm, I live the dream every day."

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Best took over the 420-hectare steep sheep and beef property from his father two years ago and has been providing Wellingtonians with red meat through his brand Conscious Valley.

The idea for Conscious Valley came about during the Covid-19 pandemic. Then living in Melbourne, Best said despite being in "one of the most locked down cities" at the time, he saw that meat was regularly cleared off shelves.

This told him there was strong demand for red meat. The Mākara-Ōhāriu farming community is too small for them to export, so Best thought why not "have local people eating local meat".

"Being where we are, 8km from where the kākā flies from our farm to the city, we're the closest red meat farm to the city."

He sells his meat via Wellington's Harbourside Market on Sundays and said he counts himself as "a very lucky farmer" to be able to engage with the end users of his products.

"I underestimated how motivating and how joyful it would be selling meat at the markets. Every week you're getting a thank you from your regular customers.

"It's rewarding and it's fun. A lot of people in the urban world don't appreciate the work that goes into the food they eat or where it actually comes from. So to be able to educate, feed people on where their meal's coming from and the work that goes into it is cool, but also to be able to tell them about the ethos behind the farm."

Though it was a beautiful summer day when Country Life paid a visit to the farm - the farm's paddocks a golden brown against the deep aquamarine of the Cook Strait beyond - Best assured us it isn't always so, saying we had caught him on a "good day in the office".

Coastal-based and exposed to strong salt spray, he believes it gives Conscious Valley's meat a "unique, quite sweet tasting flavour".

Running his own farm is a dream come true for the now 34-year-old, who has also recently been named as a finalist for the trans-Tasman Zanda McDonald Award - alongside Maegen Blom who helps run Mills Bay Mussels in Marlborough; and Sarah How from South Canterbury, who co-founded Landify Ltd.

Zanda McDonald was a prominent identity in the Australian beef and livestock industry, who founded a trans-Tasman agricultural networking group. The award recognises young people working in primary industry sectors in New Zealand and Australia. It also supports their development as future industry leaders, with the winners receiving $10,000 for further education.

"It's such a unique group of people, and to have made it to this stage where we're now alumni and I guess part of the Zanda McDonald family is really cool," Best said. "All the [finalists] that are involved in the Zanda McDonald award are incredible people, so it's really cool to be considered in that group of people with them."

Best said he had been lucky in having good mentors throughout his career. He said there was a huge array of career opportunities in the primary sector and encouraged people to "identify what you want to do and just go for it".

"Food is always gonna be in demand and there's always gonna be careers for people willing to have a crack."

Learn more:

• Find out more about the Zanda McDonald Awards here
• And you can learn more about Conscious Valley's ethos here

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