A country built on agriculture is seeing the sector change as the number of farms shrinks and it becomes harder for young people to buy land
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n a farm south of Auckland, Cam Clayton breeds sheep and cattle – working alongside the dogs he’s trained since they were puppies. There, he looks out on knobbly hills and tree-filled gullies in Waikato, close to where he grew up.
“I have the best office, with the best views,” says Clayton.
The 30-year-old is part of a changing sector in New Zealand: data from the statistics agency shows the number of farms has been steadily declining: from 70,336 in 2002, to 47,250 two decades later – a drop of 33%. The land area taken up by farming has shrunk too, by 15% over the same period.
