WHENUA MAGAZINE | ISSUE 33
PKW FARMS RESPONSE TO COVID-19 Farmers all over New Zealand kept the wheels of the industry turning throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, and PKW’s kaimahi were no different.
The pandemic came on top of a major drought, making already challenging farming conditions harder.
“Resilience is a very necessary quality “The dedication and commitment
While the day-to-day running of each
business and their animals was
lockdown, the fast-changing situation
our people showed towards the evident in their response to the
pandemic,” says Shane Miles, General Manager Ahuwhenua. “I really want to
acknowledge the effort that each and
every person put into their mahi during this time.”
Farming was designated an essential business during the Alert Level 4 restrictions, meaning that PKW
managers and their staff were on farm each day.
“Our top priority during this time was the care of our animals and keeping
farm was not overly affected by the
meant there was some doubt of the accessibility of support services. “The biggest challenge we faced
was dealing with the probability that
there could be restrictions on some
of our key support services, such as plumbers, vets, electricians and so on,” explained Shane. “We worked
with these on-farm service partners
to identify what our farms would need
and what solutions were available and it became an issue.”
“These preparations began before the
all the protocols laid down about
made a huge difference in the way our
social distancing and made sure that
sanitisation of equipment and people was effective.”
on with the job in hand,” says Shane. “Their contribution to the business should not be underestimated as
production stayed on track and on
budget throughout the whole crisis.” “Covid-19 helped people realise
just how important farming is to the economic success of the country
because it doesn’t stop, regardless of what is going on in the world. There
was a lot of talk about the ‘new normal’
but for our kaimahi it was just business as usual.”
found solutions to the problem before
our staff safe when they came to
work,” says Shane. “So we followed
to being a farmer, and our team just got
Prime Minister’s announcement and farms were able to keep the wheels
turning in a time when everything else ground to a halt.”
" Resilience is a very necessary quality to being a farmer, and our team just got on with the job in hand." Shane Miles HE WHENUA | 11