This article is part of Famers Weekly’s annual Land Champions series. Read the full series here.
Diversification has taken on a whole new meaning for Richard and Sarah Burdon of Glen Dene Station at Lake Hawea in Central Otago.
An initial investment in a guided hunting and fishing business was designed to assist with farm succession, but when the adjacent Lake Hawea Camping Ground came up for sale in 2009, they saw it as another vehicle for greater control over their affairs.
Income from those off-farm investments disappeared with the arrival of covid in 2020, and they had to look again at what diversification meant to them. It came to describe diversity of thought and the strategy and planning needed to ensure their businesses survived.
“We lost all our income from the camping ground and hunting and it took an enormous amount of working through contracts and realigning our business,” said Richard.
The 20 staff employed at the peak of the renamed The Camp were dramatically trimmed as it was effectively transformed into an Airbnb utilising cottage accommodation.
Sarah said the shoulders of the season were especially tough and she found herself filling in wherever she was needed.
“Over the summer this would mean working seven days a week helping the cleaning team, hosting the lodge, duty manager for the food truck, reservations, after hours security, rosters, accounts or people management.
“It was crazy and exhausting swapping from one role to another.”
All the time she and Richard were looking at ways to resurrect their off-farm businesses, which relied on international travellers.
Richard and Sarah are the third generation at Glen Dene, which straddles the mountains between lakes Hawea and Wanaka, and when they took over the farm in 2001 they realised the 6000ha traditional high country property could not support two families.
At the same time the family were going through tenure review, a process to allow the freeholding of part of their pastoral lease.
Richard said that process took seven years and required them to work with the Department of Conservation, local groups and iwi, which gave them a fresh perspective on the property.
This was reinforced when at about the same time the government paid twice the then current per stock unit price for Birchwood Station near Omarama, which it turned into a conservation park.
These experiences highlighted for Richard and Sarah the value of the land other than for agriculture.
It made them start thinking about other opportunities.
Richard’s grandfather George Burdon settled the adjacent Mt Burke station in 1929 and in 1979 Glen Dene, the northern portion of the property, was split off.
Richard’s parents, Jerry and Lesley, who had taken over the property, had granted access to commercial hunting guides on Glen Dene but the real potential of diversification materialised following a conversation with neighbours Bobby and Dottie Hill, owners of the adjacent Makarora River Ranch.
Originally from Colorado, where they had a hunting lodge, the Hills spoke about the opportunities such a venture offered.
“It opened our eyes to the recreational opportunities of hunting and fishing,” said Richard.
“You can be a farmer, environmentalist, recreationist and conservationist all on the same piece of land.”
Each year they host 80 to 100 local and overseas hunters, ranging from those who have saved long and hard for the opportunity to those with enormous wealth.
They follow the principles of regenerative tourism, which for hunting means involving the wider community, hosting and dining with their guests and sharing information about the environment and history of the district.
“When they go home, they are not only part of the family or friends, but they go home knowing a lot more about New Zealand,” said Richard.
Local guides, helicopter operators and caterers provide the various services for Glen Dene’s hunting clients.
The Burdons added to their diversity strategy in 2009 when they bought The Camp.
“We had some freehold land beside the camp so it made sense,” said Sarah.
They were immediately thrust into the global financial crisis, a challenge compounded by the relative obscurity of Hawea as a tourist destination.
“We flatlined for eight 10 years as we had no marketing. It was a steep learning curve,” said Sarah.
Having survived that global financial storm, they were caught out again in 2020 with covid. The establishment of an advisory board of Ray Macleod and Mark Tavendale was crucial in traversing those difficult years, as was a structure of managers running the various elements of their business.
Before the pandemic struck in March 2020, business prospects were looking positive and they had committed to building six five-star geo domes.
The aim was to provide high-quality accommodation primarily for hunting clients.
As the country closed down, so did construction for six months.
Thinking covid would be a brief inconvenience, Sarah said they remained committed to what was an expensive and a relatively unknown building process.
“We thought when the market is ready, we’ll be ready.
“Shutting down wasn’t sitting down for us,” said Sarah.
“Staff were moved to other areas and we started doing things like reviewing health and safety, marketing and the guest experience journey.”
When restrictions on interaction started to ease, they invited food trucks into The Camp so the community could buy food and interact with each other.
The following year they added to the food truck experience by securing a liquor licence and inviting musicians.
The camping business was boosted by an exceptionally hot 2021-22 summer, which attracted strong domestic demand.
“The food truck and bar created a great vibe and meant that people had a hassle-free holiday by not having to cook.
“El Niño was great for The Camp but bad for farming.”
Sarah said lockdown made people revisit priorities, with family, friends and the environment growing in importance, for which camping grounds are ideally suited.
“We were lucky people travelled and came and stayed at The Camp, reigniting their links with the outdoors and people.”
They had a disrupted camping season for two and a half years and lost three hunting seasons, but business quickly recovered when people were free to travel.
“At the end of the day it’s about focusing on the customer, that’s the most important part,” said Sarah.
They had several other strings to their bow, which helped them weather covid.
Their Merino flock has been exchanged for crossbreds and the farm changed from fine wool production to prime lamb finishing, underpinned by leasing a 209ha irrigated property at Hawea and the purchase of a 430ha farm in South Otago.
In hand with that, they are suppliers of Lumina prime lamb to the Alliance Group.
They also had 300 hives producing Mānuka honey and 500ha of production forestry and regenerating native bush, for which they earn carbon credits, with the money used to fund the fencing of wetlands, lake margins and waterways.
Those funds were crucial in keeping the business afloat during covid.
Their two children, Georgie and Charlie, are both keen to be involved in the business.
Georgie is studying Ag Innovation at the University of Otago and Charlie, in his first year out of school, is working at the Okawa Hereford stud in Mid Canterbury.