Eric Fa'anoi has gone from helping farmers protect the environment to being a farmer himself. A visit to his ancestral village in Samoa also helped this young man from Porirua unearth his interest in agriculture.

Eric Fa'anoi has gone from helping farmers protect the environment to being a farmer himself.

A visit to his ancestral village in Samoa also helped this young man from Porirua unearth his interest in agriculture.

Until fairly recently he was an advisor and researcher with Horizons Regional Council, helping farmers plant their waterways and protect native fish.

Now you can find him in the pit of a herringbone dairy shed, milking twice a day, working for contract milker Matthew O'Connell in Taranaki.

He recently won Taranaki Dairy Trainee of the Year in the New Zealand Dairy Awards and spoke to Country Life.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details