| 35 Anderson’s have planted 7000 natives To date the couple have planted some 7000 natives, with at least another 1000 set to go in this year. Virginia Wright RURAL PEOPLE » Hanze Like a giant scar on the landscape, a gully runs through the spine of Scott and Larissa Anderson’s Waikato dairy farm. Another gully scars the farm’s back boundary. The gullies were caused when Taupo erupted millennia ago causing major flooding throughout the area. When the waters released all at once rushing towards the Waikato River the land was forever scoured, a reminder of earth’s violence. Scott and Larissa have spent the last seven years fencing and planting the gullies, too steep for tractors or dairy cows, in an assortment of native trees and flaxes. Past winners of the Central Plateau/Bay of Plenty Dairy Business of the Year which recognised their business direction, dedication and hard work, Scott and Larissa have worked hard giving back what nature itself took away at the dawn of time. To date the couple have planted some 7000 natives, with at least another 1000 set to go in this year - a self-imposed pact between farmer and mother nature herself. Predominantly flat to rolling farmland, the 105-hectare milking platform nestles the small rural community of Ngakuru, 20 minutes south of Rotorua, and is home to 400 cows. Last year, Scott and Larissa decided enter their farm into the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards. “We’ve done such a huge amount of improvement work on the farm, and we thought it would be good to make a submission. We’ve done virtually everything we can do to this farm to make it as environmentally resilient as we can. We also lease a fifty hectare run-off in Horohoro that we use as a support block, and have been planting it in natives over the last couple of years. We plan to complete that work this year.” While not successful in getting a place in the Ballance awards, neither were Scott and Larissa disappointed with the outcome. “We are 100% satisfied with what we’ve done over the years, and what we’re doing. Obviously, someone is doing something bigger and better than what we are so, I take my hat off to that farmer.” Last October Scott and Larissa used Ballance’s MitAgator® tools, to assess their farm for further environmental steps they could take, and also double check the work they had already completed. MitAgator® supports farmers and growers with the latest science and scenario modelling, to help make informed decisions about how, when and where to invest for greatest impact, no matter where the farm is at on its sustainability journey. “Ballance’s Farm Sustainability Services team came on farm to assess it and look for areas that could be improved. They provided some very good drone maps, assessed the contour and topography of the farm, and provided advice on how we could reduce our environmental footprint. They did a more in-depth look at our soil test results, and where we can get a better return by applying different types or less fertiliser. The cost of going through the programme was about $5000 and we have probably made savings of about $20,000, predominantly in fertiliser. We had already increased our effluent coverage area, literally doubling it on the home farm and the team confirmed that was providing good benefits.”
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