He was elected to the role during the annual meeting in May.
He and wife Jolene moved south from the Waikato eight years ago as lower-order sharemilkers on the 197ha effective Aparima farm.
They are also equity partners in the property.
They winter 560 cows and have a 245,000kgMS target, employ two fulltimers and some relief milkers.
Mrs Germann is a consultant with Agribusiness Consultants, Invercargill, and they have a seven-month-old son, Harry.
Mr Germann said his career had taken the traditional route, apart from skipping the 50-50 sharemilking bit.
''I grew up on a dairy farm in Te Awamutu, and went to university before returning to the dairy farm,'' he said.
He was involved with Young Farmers in his 20s and was a delegate to Waikato Federated Farmers before moving to Southland.
He has been vice-chairman of the Southland dairy group for a couple of years, ''learning the ropes''.
He said part of the learning process included developing an understanding of Environment Southland's water and land plan, and how environmental issues affected the region, as well as the mechanisms of local politics.
He has learned how to make submissions, and about the appeal process for contentious points.
''Federated Farmers Southland has put in a lot of time and effort for the water and land plan.''
He said Federated Farmers was a voluntary organisation with limited time and resources, and he was keen to see an increase in membership, especially as the organisation worked hard to represent all farmers in the region.
''We need more engagement and more involvement from farmers.
''Federated Farmers can sometimes be taken for granted.''
He said one of key issues was getting enough workers into the dairy sector as there was a shortage of skilled labour available.
''Recent changes have made it harder for migrants to fill the vacuum.
''We are a nation of migrants.
''Until we get the right people with the right skills and enough of them, it will be very hard to continue to move our businesses forward with positive outcomes.''
He said issues such as sediment and nutrient loss were also key areas of concern, and while farmers generally were great caretakers of the land, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars improving their farming practices, some urban areas also impacted on water quality.
''Is farming the problem or are people the problem?
''We all have a responsibility for water quality,'' he said.
