Shannon Munro of Ngāti Whātua, an Eastern Bay of Plenty dairy farmer, is the face of DairyNZ's latest media campaign called 'Join us'.
It aims to give Kiwis across the motu a better understanding of what it means to be a dairy farmer while encouraging more wāhine to join the sector.
“We wanted to show the positive side of farming and that it is an awesome and amazing sector to be a part of and that’s something I was very passionate about,” Munro says.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says the sector is between 4000 to 6000 workers short for the coming dairy season.
“Welcoming and supporting new farming talent is vital to the sector’s long game, so we're excited to launch a new campaign encouraging young Kiwis to get into the dairy sector,” he said.
The mother of three was approached by Dairy NZ to front the campaign after some of her Tik Tok videos went viral.
“Dairy NZ came to me and said 'we found you online and we love your energy and we want you to have a go at applying this', so we got involved, and I'm so glad I did it.”
Munro leases the farm where she works and lives but says owning her own farmland is the end goal.
When we finish this lease, we will look at different options. And, hopefully, we would like to own our own bit of land and farm.