| 15 Pair ‘blown away’ by awards haul Richard Loader Northland crop and beef farmers David and Adrienne Wordsworth thought they might have been in the running to pick up an award at the regional Ballance Environmental Awards, but say they were ‘blown away’ to have picked up five awards on the night. The couple received the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award; Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm Award; Hill Laboratories Agri-Science Award; Norwood Farming Efficiency Award; and the NZFET Innovation Award. David and Adrienne farm 158ha, along with a 28ha lease block in Dargaville. All flat with the Northern Wairoa River on its boundary at the bottom end, the farm’s soils range from lighter peat to clay, and all present different challenges. Born and bred on the family farm, David did his time as a mechanic before settling back on the farm with Adrienne 35 years ago, and buying it off his parents a number of years ago. “Nowadays, the farm involves a mix of cropping, beef cattle ” says David. “We predominantly buy in weaners and finish most of them at 18-20 months at 250kg carcass weight. On average we would do about 200 animals each year.” Cropping is predominantly maize grain with 70 hectares grown last year, along with 30 hectares of barley for grain. “We also run another business as grain merchants and stock feed manufacturers/suppliers. While some of the maize grain is sold to other stock food manufacturers, some along with the barley grain and other ingredients is used in the manufacture of our own stock food. We grow cover crops after the grain crops to keep living roots in the soil, soak up excess nutrients, and build up organic soil matter.” David acknowledges that going through the awards and judging process required a review of the overall farming business, providing clarity about why things were being done, benchmarked the agri-business, and showcased the farming operation to others. “Two lots of judges came on farm, and they have a timeframe, which they exceeded on both occasions. They were pretty excited about what we’re doing. I think our success at the awards was largely due to the crop establishment, especially with No-till maize, monitoring our crops, growing cover crops. “It was also about what we’re doing to manage and understand our soils, and applying technology to achieve our goals. RURAL PEOPLE » David and Adrienne Wordsworth Proud to support Dave & Adi The whole soil thing is just amazing. In the last four or five years we’ve done a lot of work with soil fertility and understanding our soil better. That has been a massive eye opener in how soil varies, and applying best management practices and technology to correct or improve the soil.” But David feels their success can also be attributed to the passion he and Adrienne have for farming and their farming business. “With our mixed cropping and livestock operation, I think the judges were impressed with our desire to go forward, not accept the status quo and be prepared to try something new when others might have doubted our wisdom for doing so. When people tell me I can’t do something, that’s like waving a red flag. The challenge of making things work and leaving them better than when we started, is probably a good summary about understanding why we do things.” Northland crop and beef farmers David and Adrienne Wordsworth.
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