36 | A variety of farming types over the years Jenny and Ian at the sports awards in Blenheim. Sue Russell New Zealand Century Farm and Station Awards » Twin Creeks Farm Its been 20 years since Ian and Jenny Woolley, first established their vineyard on their historic farm, a stone’s throw north of Blenheim. As contract grape growers, the couple supply their mainly sauvignon blanc grapes to major wine producers Matua. “We started off pretty slowly, putting in 8ha in grapes of the 26ha we have. Jenny and I did it all ourselves. We did it all in 12 months and vowed and declared we wouldn’t do it again. It was a really steep learning curve,” Ian recalls. The history of the farm extends back 100 years and over the course of those generations a variety of farming types took place, from dairying to cropping and now grape production. “When my father was dairying prior to cropping, he also ran a few pigs. He found that when the market was down on one product it would be up in the other, supporting a steady income and keeping the farm ticking along.” At 25ha then, the farm wasn’t really big enough to be milking cow and irrigation wasn’t introduced until near the end. It was always a struggle with Marlborough’s dry summers though and eventually the farm transitioned from milking cows to growing pigs. Growing grapes, while initially challenging to establish was a positive experience. “As long as you kept up with the grapes growth pattern then you were set, so we went on and planted more by getting contractors in to do post driving and the tedious job of training vines. We bought the neighbours 5ha in 2008 to expand our vineyard and structure the business better.” With the ups and downs that came with experiencing the crash of 2008-2009, these days Richard Cooke | Mob 027 497 5395 Tyrone Park, Jacks Rd, Renwick | E: rosco.hydraulics@xtra.co.nz 03 572 8670 24 HRS Total Hydraulic & Fluid Power Hose & Fitting Specialists 100% Family owned business Proudly Supporting Twin Creeks Farm 10/48 The Forum, Market St, Blenheim | 021 668477 steve@wilkesrm.co.nz | sam@wilkesrm.co.nz Ian says there’s a glut of grape production with reduced demand impacting contract growers across the region. “Only half our grapes these days are contracted so the industry isn’t in the best space. We have in total 23ha in sauvignon blanc and 5.5ha in chardonnay.” Ian and Jenny are very proud of the fact that part of the farm has reached the ripe old age of 100 years old and still being farmed in the family. “My grandfather bought the first block of land in 1921 and added to it in 1933 and then Jen and I added to it again in 2007. He was a bit of an entrpreneur for his time, doing a bit of this, a bit of that.” As such, the Woolley’s Twin Creeks Farm will this year be recognised for its outstanding longevity in the form of receiving a New Zealand Century Farm & Station Award, however to prove original ownership extended back to 1921 was not a simple process as Ian explains. “We had to go right back to the lawyer who granddad used to lodge the purchase with, however the actual title wasn’t issued on the property at the time he bought it. We were lucky that the lawyer in Petone, found a record of the purchase in a ledger.” Today, these precious records are framed and hanging on a wall in the Woolley’s home, erected on the site of the original home built by his grand- parents. Come mid-May, Ian and Jenny will attend this year’s Century Farm Awards gala event, held annually in Lawrence, Central Otago. “All my uncles have passed on so it wasn’t a case that we could go and ask any of them about how the first purchase happened, so its been a bit of a journey.” And along with farming, another land-based activity has occupied a big chunk of Ian’s life. He’s recognised as one of this country’s best-ever conventional plougher, having won New Zealand’s top conventional plougher eight times and competed in the World Ploughing competition seven. “I was third in the world in 2018, but I no longer compete. Here in Marlborough its getting harder and harder to find a good area of land to hold competitions, given every bit of flat land is now growing grapes.” To plough competitively at the highest levels requires dedication, patience, practice and a fine eye Ian says. For Ian, having invested so much of his life into the sport, its sad to see the lack of available space on which to compete these days. “We certainly want to encourage the younger generations to take up the sport. You get a lot out of it. It’s wonderful to look over an area of land expertly ploughed.” Meanwhile, most days will find Ian on his tractor, tending to the farm that’s been proudly in the family 100 years and counting. “We’re so looking forward to meeting other Century Farm award families in May and its gratifying to think that we still have these farms in existence today. Its something certainly worth celebrating.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=