Today is World Environment Day, the biggest international day for the environment.
In celebration of this important day, and the farmers and growers doing great things for Aotearoa’s unique environment, we’ve collated some of our On Farm Stories to highlight some of the champions of our industry doing their bit to protect our most important asset.
Adam Thompson, Bringing Native Bush Back to NZ Farmland
Adam Thompson, a Cambridge farmer and native tree nursery owner who’s built his nursery’s business model around lowering the barriers for farmers to plant more native trees.
Overall, farmers want to enhance biodiversity and protect the environment through their farming practices, although this comes at a cost. Adam’s mission is to make it as easy and as inexpensive as possible to plant and grow native trees on farmland not suited for livestock.
Watch his feature in On Farm Story below.
Read the article here.
Lake Hawea Station, David O’Sullivan
David O’Sullivan currently manages what’s believed to be New Zealand’s first carbon negative farm, Lake Hawea station in Central Otago.
The 6505ha sheep and beef station, owned by Kiwi entrepreneur Geoff Ross, is currently emitting just under 2500 tonnes of carbon, and through native plantings, existing native bush and other plants on the farm, they are sequestering around twice as much as that.
A mixture of skills from the staff, input from consultants and the business background of Geoff and Justine Ross have helped the team at Lake Hawea Station reach this milestone, and they believe the branding and marketing opportunities for other Kiwi farmers in this space are immense.
Watch his On Farm Story below.
Read more about their journey here.
Adam and Laura Cullen, Regenerative dairy farmers in Northland
After becoming concerned about the soil structure on their farm, they began implementing regenerative farming practices such as multi-species cover crops and direct drilling, and in the process rediscovered their enthusiasm for farming.
Their change in mindset prioritises improving the environment and the farm resources rather than constantly driving for production, and they say they are already beginning to reap the benefits of this approach to farming.
Watch Adam and Laura’s On Farm Story feature below.
Read more about their journey here.
