For 20 years, Neil Bateup has been synonymous with the Rural Support Trust.
The trust, run by farmers to provide assistance to farmers during adverse events or other times of stress has grown from a handful of farmers based in Waikato to a nationwide organisation of around 350.
Bateup says it will be the people he has worked with over the years to make the trust what it is who he will miss when he steps down as its national chair.
“There’s been some fantastic, like-minded people that are out there to help and they’re not there for what they can get out of it.
He will remain as trustee on the national trust and continue as trustee and chair of the Waikato Hauraki Coromandel trust.
The Rural Support Trust is staffed by farmers who are not trained counsellors or farm advisers and 20 years later that has not changed, he says.
“We provide support mentally for people and work alongside them and help them and help them develop a plan to go forward.”
When dealing with a farmer needing help, listening and not judging is key. The trust’s members are also farmers themselves, many of whom have experienced the highs and low of the industry, he says.
“The advantage we had is that we are farmers talking to farmers. We weren’t selling them anything, we weren’t charging them anything. It was free, confidential support.”
This allowed them to quickly establish a rapport over the kitchen table and a cup of tea, work out what the issues are and establish a plan, he says.
Bateup firmly believes it’s that approach that has enabled the trust to grow into the institution that it is today where it can respond to all types of farmers across the primary sector.
If a farmer requires professional help such as a counsellor or a farm adviser, the trust uses its network of contacts to help connect them with that person.
The trust then steps back but makes sure the farmer goes to the appointment and will check in if required.
That nationwide network is critical to the trust being able to make a difference in farmers’ lives.
It also works closely with other organisations in the primary sector and local or central government when required to coordinate a response to an adverse event.
Its response to Cyclone Gabrielle highlighted to Bateup the strength of having a national council because it allowed them to properly coordinate its resources to the regional trusts that needed it most.
“When Gabrielle first hit, the phone started going crazy and with one coordinator in each district answering the phone, the workload was too great so we got a number of the trusts that weren’t affected and got the phones diverted to the ones not affected by the cyclone and they triaged a lot of the calls that came in.”
The trust was created in 2004 after Bateup along with a few other farmers had attended a financial presentation in Hamilton.
At the time, Bateup and wife Eileen were full-time dairy farming at their 240 hectare 670 cow farm near Tahuna in Waikato.
They started talking about how there was nowhere for farmers to turn to when pressure came on them – whether it be mental, financial, employment or marital.
“There was nothing there to help people. It was the fact that when people come under pressure, it’s good to have someone to talk to and share their issues with.”
A meeting of local farming leaders was organised and from that, another meeting was held where the Rural Support Trust was formed with Bateup elected as chair.
They also secured funding from Federated Farmers and the DV Bryant Trust, a philanthropic trust based in Raglan.
“That’s how it started in Waikato. We kicked the trust off with very small beginnings and a small number of people.”
They also created the trust’s 0800 number that exists to this day and sent out fridge magnets to every rural mailbox in Waikato to spread word of their services.
Bateup along with fellow trustee Peter Buckley met with then agriculture minister Jim Anderton to try to get government funding to pay for an office person and someone to answer the phone.
They were told they could get some funding if trusts were set up across the country so there was an organisation in place when an adverse event happened.
“That was the start of government funding and the start of the RST around the whole country.”
That funding came through in 2006 and two years later Waikato had one of its worst droughts in history, costing the country $2.8 billion.
It lifted the trust’s profile after the government gave them funding and promoted their 0800 number and proved to Bateup of its necessity as the calls from farmers needing help mounted.
The next big change came in 2017 when the National Trust was formed and Bateup elected as its chair.
It split management and governance of the RST into separate entities. It enhanced the professionalism of the organisation, allowing it to better coordinate issues such as funding by having organisations having to deal with a national body instead of each trust at a regional level.
Bateup says he never envisioned the trust growing into the institution that it is today.
“We thought it would be a small group of half a dozen people and we thought we would be able to help a few people if they ran into trouble.”
Bateup had also spent time on the Fonterra Shareholders Council, was a member of Federated Farmers and was involved with LIC Shareholder Council.
Getting involved in the trust was his way of giving back to an industry that had given him plenty, he says.
Attitudes to mental health have changed since the trust started and Bateup credits the work of Sir John Kirwan, Mike King and Doug Avery for helping to normalise reaching out.
“In the early days, you would never get a guy ringing up, saying that he’s got mental health problems or that he’s stressed. Now, guys do ring up saying that they’re not tracking too well.”
The Ministry for Primary Industries has been the trust’s base funder, allowing it to keep operating. But funding for the trust has always been an issue and as a registered charity, it runs a very lean organisation. A huge amount of work that the trust does is free.
The most rewarding part of Bateup’s involvement with the trust has always been the gratitude from those who needed help and have bounced back.
“A lot of them we don’t hear from – which is fine – but it’s just the gratitude and the knowing that you’ve helped somebody out of a dark and difficult place and got them on track again.”
He’s also confident the trust is in a great position for the next generation of leaders to run it and maintain its core function.
Northland Rural Support Trust chair Michelle Ruddell will take over from Bateup and Mid Canterbury Rural Support Trust chair Josh Dondertman will act as deputy.
“We need it to keep developing and it needs energy and new ideas, and I’m really pleased with who’s coming into the role.”
“We have a great team of enthusiastic, empathetic and dedicated people across the country, and it has been and will continue to be a pleasure to work with them. That said, I’m looking forward to having more spare time for fishing.”
