Ashburton Courier: October 29, 2020

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NEWS 14 Ashburton Courier, October 29, 2020 www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz Satisfaction in helping, caring for others Volunteer of the month Alison Donald. Fromanearly ageAlison Donald, theVolunteering Mid & South Canterbury and the Hotel Ashburton Volunteer of the Month, has wanted to helpand carefor others. It brings her alot of satisfaction. ‘‘I like helping othersand I guess it’s always been like that,’’ she said. Alison's daysare busy whetheritisthrough formal volunteeringwith avariety of organisations, serving through her involvement with the St Stephen’sAnglicanChurch or helping in amoreinformal way like helping aneighbour. Alison's various voluntary roles included one she started through the suggestion of a friend who said to her one day that district nurses had Red Cross volunteers accompany them on their evening rounds. Her friendsuggested this might be agood volunteering role for Alison. Alison,who wantedtobe a nurse, thought it would indeed be agood rolefor her so signed up. She did it foreightyears beforethe hospital decided to discontinue the programme earlierthis year. Alison's firstvolunteer role wasasadriver forwhat is now Elizabeth St DayCare. It's a volunteer role shereally enjoys, and she says she has metsome lovely people through thisvolunteering. In her informal volunteering she also takes awoman to Hearing Association meetings andatanannual meetingtwo years ago, her name was put forward to join thecommittee, which she agreed to do. Alison also has apassionfor dahliasand her gardenis testament to this. She is the secretaryand treasurer forthe localdahlia group. And volunteers as adeliverer forMeals on Wheels. She is also thesecretary and treasurer forInner Wheel. It’sa groupthat helps balances her life as she says it is something she does for herself. She also gets immense satisfactionvolunteering with St John, and just acouple of weeksago was making and bagging hundredsoftruffles for theStJohn gardenparty. But she wearstwo hats with theorganisation; as the local St John coordinator forcaring caller and as avolunteer on the health shuttle. Caring caller is atelephone friendship programme. This matches acallerandaperson who needs social contact. They arelookingfor more people with abitoftimeand a friendly manner to give someoneelse acall and brighten theirday. If there are folks who do not have many visitors or family locally thenSt John caring callerscould be a service to help them. Alison took up the health shuttle role about seven years and thoroughly enjoys her regularstint.Inpairs, the volunteers transportpatients to medical appointmentsin Christchurch. The volunteers provide support, companionship, a smile and oftenalistening ear for folk at what can be an anxious time. Alison does not just drop her passenger at the door but ensures they arein the right place, feel safeand connects them with the facility. Alison gets as much out of her volunteeringasthe people she helps. For Alison volunteering isn't about be rewarded for doing her work,but she is gratefuland thankful for the nomination to be volunteer of the month. ‘‘So many peopledosomuch; the community justcouldn't operate unlessthere were people volunteering,’’ shesaid. Organisations andgroups are encouraged to get nominations in for the Volunteering Mid & South Canterbury &the Hotel Ashburton Volunteer of the Month. Nomination forms are available by contacting VolunteeringMid &South Canterbury, Community House, 44 Cass Street Ashburton, ph 3081237 ext 240 or email coordinatormc@vmsc.org.nz or pick up acopy at Four Squarein Rakaia. Day and Boarding places now open to both boys and girls from years 4to8 Waihi Open Day Sunday 1st November 1.30pm An Education for Life Providing inspirational learning, cultural, sporting andoutdoor educational opportunities for your child, with small class sizes and specialist teachers. 611 Temuka-Orari Highway, SouthCanterbury. Formore information or to register your interest: Phone Wendy03687 8071 or email: executive@waihi.school.nz Find out how we can provide your child with an education for life - www.waihi.school.nz or ph 03 687 8071
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz RURAL Ashburton Courier, October 29, 2020 15 Left: Ascreenshot of the Hyperfarm programme in action. Farmers can see the impactoftheir practices over 15 years, in 10 seconds. ANDREWDUNNE FARM SERVICES FARM SERVICES BY THE HOUR 20+ years’experienceinthe sheep, beef, venison, and dairysupport industry • Highly skilled and experienced farmlabour • On-farmfirewood processing • Agricultural welding repairs and maintenance • Farmminding -staff support • Agricultural explosives –land operations • Jobs of all sizes,casual or ongoing • Available forfarmorlifestyle block Call me anytime forafriendly ‘NO OBLIGATION’ chat. COMPETITIVE RATES/EXCELLENT SERVICE Call Andrew on 0272 475 577 2325871 Animation helping farmers adopt change LINDA.CLARKE @ashburtoncourier.co.nz The Dunedin animation company that brought thrillingcomputer graphics to America’s Cup racing and other major world sports is helping Mid Canterbury farmers see how their changing land management practices are impacting the environment longterm. Animation Research founderIan Taylor says farmers will be able to use the technology to easily see the effects of different crops and stocking rates on thesoil and waterways and how it impacts farm budgets. Mr Taylor was in Ashburton recently to talkto farmers about how they could make best useofthe digital highway. He usedhis own company as an example. Animation Research started in 1989, usingdigital data off the back of the America’s Cup boats to create images for spectators. It expanded to produce graphics for other sports, like golf and American football, but those contracts were cancelled whencovid hit andthe company’s crews came home to Dunedin. There, over acouple of months, theyfigured out how they could do those same jobs remotely,saving money on international travel and accommodation. Mr Taylor said the idea had beendiscussed prior to the pandemic butcustomersdid not see acompelling reason to change.‘‘It took Covid19 to make people realise you could do it, andnow everyone wants to do it.’’ The company has been workingonavisualisation project with AgResearch for overayear: Hyperfarm was previewed to farmers at last year’sFieldays but is not yet ready forcommercial use. It uses data collected from farms, science and regulators like Environment Canterbury, to model changes. Mr Taylor said Animation Research turned the data into pictures so farmers could see the effects of their decisions over 15 years in just10seconds. While 15 years was ashort timeframe to dealwith farmingissues like nitrate leaching and water quality, the animation technology was atool that could give themapositive start to change. He said food producers like farmers were important for thecountry. ‘‘This is a hugeopportunity that covid has given us. Food willbethe verylast thing people stop buying and the lockdown provedthat.’’ He said it wasasmart move to combine sustainable practices and technology. ‘‘We needtostop fighting, look after the landand be the best at high value food production.’’ AgResearch senior scientist Seth Laurenson said Hyperfarmhadbeen progressed steadily since last year. ‘‘Central to this is achieving the best integration between the science platform andthe visual technologies on offer. We’ve also beenlooking further afield to new partnerships to growand share the potential of this tool, including with iwi around the country.’’ Aprototype version could be available to aselectgroup of userstotrial in June 2021. He said humans were visual creatures and that presented an opportunity to show in visual form what decisionmaking would mean for their land,the environment and their bank balances. ‘‘We thinkthis is atool that will make our science more accessible to peoplewho want to improve their practices and environmental footprint, but are unsure about best to do that. Carefully balancing the visual representation and the right level of scientific information to enable decisionmaking is acentral focus for our team.’’ Purpose.Environment. Partnership.Innovation. Excellence. • DairyNZ accreditedEffluent Pond Design andConstruction • Pond Constructionand Irrigation Development • Hedgeand StumpRemoval • Farm Conversions Lawn &Garden Mowing Pruning Weeding Nga Manu Property Maintenance Planting Spraying Hedges cutting Garden design and landscaping • DairyTracks– Lime or Gravel • PumpHire • Wellsand Galleries • Bulk Earthworks • Subdivisions Oneofftidy ups or regular visits Pre sale tidy/rentals WaterBlasting Houses Sheds Roofs Driveways/decks/pathways Dairysheds • Site Works • Tree Shear • Transportation 2318256 Glass back on DairyNZ Colin Glass and Jim van der Poelhave been reelectedon to the board of DairyNZ for anotherthreeyears. Mr Glass, and wifePaula, own a670cow dairy farm and two other irrigated properties rearingand finishing bull beef at Methven. He is the chiefexecutive of Dairy Holdings Limited, which has extensive operationsthrough the South Island. He is alsoadirectorof severalagribusiness companiesand is chairman of Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Limited. Mr van derPoel is adairy farmer who, withwife Sue, has farming interestsin Waikato, Southland, Canterbury and in the United States. He hasalongassociation withDairyNZ, includingasa farmerelected director and chair of DairyNZ’s board. He wasonthe Fonterra board,and was an inaugural directoronthe Fonterra Shareholders Fund,aswell as servingonthe board of NewZealandcooperative Dairies and hasalso received numerous industry awards. Thepair werereelected at lastweek’s annual general meetinginAshburtonand will be two of five farmerelected directorsand three boardappointeddirectors who contribute to DairyNZ’s strategy andpriorities on behalf of dairy farmers. The AGMfocusedon DairyNZ’s highlights and key activitiesduringthe 2019/20 dairy season. As DairyNZchair, Mr van derPoel said it hadbeen a busy and challenging year for thesector, with Covid19 an unexpectedeventwhich affectedmanyKiwis. ‘‘This alsoprovided the opportunity to highlight the value and importance of our sector to New Zealand’s future,” said Mr van der Poel. 2322610 MatthewBird 033083226308 3226 l 0276083226083 226 ngamanufuture@gmail.com •Locally owned and operated •WINZ registered
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