The NZ Farm Environment Trust is an independent entity whose mission is to champion farming and growing practices that protect and enhance the environment for all. To this end, the trust runs these environmental awards.
The East Coast region is the only one that encompasses two territorial authorities: the Gisborne District Council and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
I live at the southern end of the region near Takapau, and the northern end is up at Hicks Bay (Wharekahika) on the East Cape.
That’s 500km and a nearly seven-hour drive from one end of the region to the other. A bit tricky logistically, but we manage well.
The region encompasses a huge range of farming and growing operations with fantastic environmental initiatives and demonstrations of wise and sustainable land-use.
A year ago, we gathered in Gisborne for our annual awards evening. We were fortunate to be early as only Canterbury were also able to have an awards event before the covid-19 lockdown meant the other regions had to run theirs as virtual events. Several of them subsequently travelled around and personally delivered the awards to their category winners, which was a very nice touch.
But it meant that we couldn’t run the field day on the Supreme Winners Field Day as planned that April, so we postponed it until February this year. And then the recent community transmission cases in Auckland that put them into Level 3 and us into Level 2 meant we had to again postpone and set March 30 as our hopefully third time lucky date.
This date was now to be five days after the National Showcase, which this year was held at Te Papa where all the regional winners gathered to be sized up by the judges and one is awarded the Gordon Stephenson Trophy and have the task of being ambassadors for the year for sustainable farming and growing.
Those of us from the East Coast were delighted when our region’s supreme winners Evan and Linda Potter were announced as the recipients of this award.
And it meant that our region’s field day was also an opportunity to view the efforts of the national ambassadors, which we haven’t had the opportunity before as they have been distant.
We have just had that field day and the 130 of us there had a real treat.
The Potters hadn’t just done well with the Ballance awards, but had also won in 2019 the Elworthy Environmental Award, so we co-hosted the day with the Deer Industry NZ and NZ Deer Farmers Association.
The property is a challenging hill country one, so we were only able to travel around on motorbikes and side-by-sides, but everyone got a seat, just.
The Potters farm in the Elsthorpe district has an effective area of 570ha, with another 125ha having been put into a QEII Trust covenants. These areas are steep gullies unfit for farming and are now regenerating back into natives and the jewel in the crown of their property.
Their operation is made up of deer, sheep and cattle, and all stock we saw were in great condition in what is proving to be another challenging autumn here in Hawke’s Bay.
Properties like this one and many more around the country doing similar environmental work are great examples that you can run a successful farming business while improving the land, waterways and biodiversity values.
