James Robbie

Hey!

I’m James, and I’m a 5th generation Sheep and Beef farmer on Otapawa Station, our family property. I grew up around farming, but it took a departure from this lifestyle to go to university in Wellington and a short, but successful, career in the corporate world for me to fully appreciate what made life on the land so special. Since my return back to agriculture, I have dove head-first into all aspects of sheep and beef farming, none less than my involvement in our Poll Hereford stud, in which I have been blessed with many amazing opportunities, including travelling to Australia, the United States and Mexico to make connections within the international beef industry and represent the best of what New Zealand has to offer. Beyond my life on the farm and in the stud breeding sector, I also leverage my degree in Political Science and International Relations to bridge the gap between government organisations and local community groups through a local charity group. This has proved to be a huge success for our local community which has been hit hard by a prominent influx of Carbon Farming into our region. I’m also the 2023 Future Beef NZ senior ambassador, a volunteer rural firefighter, a member of the Puketoi YFC and also of the Wairarapa A&P society. I have always been extremely passionate about rural communities, and it is a privilege to be able to give back where I can. 

 One policy change I’d like to see: the prospect of taxation of animal emissions seems ridiculous to me.

If I could choose one superpower: teleportation