| 29 Walnut expansion for North Otago farm The farm, owned by James’ parents Russel and Cathy, remains a family-run operation. Rosa Watson “With so many greenies and vegans against farming animals, you might as well feed them too with walnuts.” MEAT & WOOL » Invernia Holdings Ltd Don and Jo Murray ‘ R I V E R S I DE ’ R.D.3 Waitahuna Otago Phone 03 4859 186 | 027 410 7774 joanddon@xtra.co.nz “Our focus is survival and early nishing on Hill country”. Family-owned and operated Invernia Holdings in North Otago is continuing to expand its walnut plantation to meet the sizeable domestic market, as well as strengthening its agricultural operations. The 2500 property, located on the Waitaki River, has 500 established trees over five hectares and a further 450 were planted last spring. This spring, 700 more trees are arriving to be planted. A new micro sprinkler irrigation system that has replaced the border dyke system, has given the orchard huge scope for development. James Hurst, who runs the orchard, told Rural South another 30-hectares would be planted in the coming years. A mix of clover, lucerne and tall fescue has been planted under the trees. There are up to 10 varieties of trees, including the original New Zealand varieties and recently introduced American varieties. Currently they yield is around three tonne a hectare, but James said the new American variety have produced 12-tonne per hectare in the States and he is hopeful for a similar amount when they start producing. “If we can get somewhere in the middle, we’ll be pretty happy and doing pretty well.” Walnuts are washed and dried and sent to growers co-op Trickett’s Grove in Christchurch where they are processed and sold to market. Once the new trees start producing, James hopes to install a wash plant on site. The plant, which would be imported, is mechanical and requires little labour. The local market for walnuts was large, with some going into museli bars and cereals, and others going to restaurants as table nuts, James said. A large amount is used for walnut oil and there are developments underway to produce walnut flour. Walnuts have a history in the family, with James’ grandfather planting the first trees, followed by his father. James added that walnut trees “tick all the boxes” environmentally, which was important nowadays with farmers under pressure to move towards more sustainable practices. “With so many greenies and vegans against farming animals, you might as well feed them too with walnuts.” On top of walnuts, quince from a quince orchard on the property are sent to Cardrona Distillery for quince liqueur. Meanwhile, the farm’s agricultural operations continue to grow and develop alongside the walnut operation. Over the past four years, a major capital project on the property has been replacing border dyke irrigation with a micro sprinkler and pivot systems. Fifteen hectares of the walnut farm has been completed and a further 15ha would be completed over spring, James said. Across the property they have replaced 250ha of border dyke irrigation with pivot irrigation each year. The project is expected to take another four years. A new 80-bale cow shed has replaced a now demolished, ageing 40-bale shed. They are decreasing their nursing cow numbers and increasing their dairy cow numbers, which is now at around 3000 cows. “There’s still about 300 nurse cows this year, with three calves on each cow.” They have also reduced the ultra-fine merino numbers from 3500 to 1500 with the change in irrigation to spray leaving less grazing area. But as the walnut plantation grows, more sheep will be needed for grazing. The farm, owned by James’ parents Russel and Cathy, remains a firmly family-run operation with James’ brothers both contract milk on two of the property’s four dairy operations. ARTIN W W AKEFIELD LTD Level 1, 26 Canon Street, Timaru • 03 687 7122 • Fax: 03 684 8558 • reception@martinwakefield.co.nz • www.martinwakefield.co.nz WE WORK WITH ACCOUNTING SERVICES RURAL BUSINESS SERVICES Benchmarking • Bookkeeping / accounting • Budgeting • Business Start-up • Financing • Cash Flow Forecasting • Financial Planning • Monitored Business Performance • Office Duties • Payroll Services • Portfolio Management • Software Solutions • Strategic Planning Proud to support Invernia Holdings Ltd Proudly supporting Invernia Holdings Ltd 3 Usk St, Oamaru 9400 | www.nops.co.nz | 03 434 7766 James remains active in the local Federated Farmers branch as meat and wool chair. He said he enjoyed the local work and working with the local council to try and bring about change can help the industry thrive.
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