Potatoes New Zealand is showcasing various young people in our industry to show the diversity of the people and roles they do. We connect with Emily Horck from Redmond Ag Farming Ltd in Kirwee, Canterbury.
Emily has lived in Kirwee her whole life having been brought up on the family mixed cropping and potato farm. Her brother and her are 4th generation to farm the family farm, which is quite a special achievement. Younger brother Scott and Emily have had a lot to do with the farm during their childhood – always helping ‘Dad’ on the farm. Sadly her father passed away in early 2020, after a five year battle with MND. So, it is extra special to be farming her Dad’s farm and continuing building on his legacy – he would be very proud. Emily has previously worked for Farmlands for 9 years based at Darfield, doing a mixture of roles from Salesperson to inventory control to being a field rep. After which her husband and her had their son, George, who is now 2.5 years.
Emily with her brother, Scott are both managing the family farm alongside mum, Kathy, who oversees everything and takes care of all the financial tasks. They have allocated different areas of the business that Scott and Emily each manage, which is working well. They are quite new to this role, as they started in May this year after their farm manager of 9 years resigned. They have two full time staff members who are real superstars and they are grateful for their help. Emily says she has taken on the majority of the potato side of the business, which she is enjoying and looking forward to growing their potato business as well as seeking new opportunities. Day to day, she is working with the team doing whatever needs to be done on the farm. She also enjoys pulling apart some of the financial side, analysing their spending and finding solutions to be more efficient.
Emily says that they have had a lot of support from industry leaders and other growers. Especially with having only been involved in the industry for a short while, the years of knowledge of passionate people has been invaluable and she has met some awesome people.
In her free time, Emily loves being outside doing adventures with family and friends. In the summertime its either days at the lake water skiing, or jet boating up the rivers. She quite likes gardening and became a little obsessed with it after having George, since she was able to spend time at home and being outside in the garden. Emily also does quite a bit of mountain biking and is lucky as there’s a huge choice of tracks in close proximity.
Emily’s friends would describe her as an approachable, driven, generous, fun and loves a laugh type of person. And that she is passionate about farming and growing plants as well as being a loving mother and wife.
The biggest challenge Emily has had to face would be becoming a manager of the family farm with only working on the farm for a few months. She had to learn A LOT! She wouldn’t say that she has it sorted yet and says to ask her in a couple of years, she reckons… However, the amazing support network of people around her has been awesome. Also, she finds it challenging farming their land without her father, as she is always thinking… ”what would Dad do?”. But just the drive to make him proud and to continue building on his legacy makes all that better.
Emily says that she is most proud of becoming a parent and really enjoys being a mother.
Her goals for the next five years include getting her class 4 truck license as well as growing the farming business and seek opportunities to diversify.