8 | ARABLE » Peter Hewson Careful water management required Peter Hewson’s use of tillage practices, particularly in response to local rainfall, was highlighted. Bernadette Cooney Esk Valley farmer Peter Hewson has been named Cereal Grower of the Year at the 2024 Arable Awards, recognising his exceptional management of a 475-hectare mixed cropping and beef operation in South Canterbury, inland from St. Andrews. Peter oversees 360 hectares of autumn-sown crops, including wheat, barley, forage rape, turnips, cocksfoot, fescue, maize, ryegrass, and, for the first time, winter linseed. His yields are impressive, with winter wheat averaging 9.5 tonne, but being dryland can range from 8–11 tonnes per hectare, and barley around 8–9 tonnes. Additionally, 80 hectares of his farm remain as permanent pasture. Judges praised Peter’s outstanding farming practices, especially his strategic crop establishment and careful water management in his dryland system. His use of tillage practices, particularly in response to local rainfall, was highlighted. Peter explains that the absence of north-west winds, common in mid-Canterbury, coupled with the heavier, moisture-retaining soils, means his farm requires less irrigation, though the land can become difficult to traverse when wet. “We don’t get the north-west winds like they do in mid Canterbury, so we don’t dry out as much and we’ve got a lot of heavier soils that hold the moisture. We can get very wet and hard to travel on, so doesn’t need as much irrigation,” says Peter Hewson adapts his cultivation and drilling techniques to the conditions, using a mix of minimum tillage, direct drilling, and strip tilling. “We’re flexible in how we establish crops,” says Peter, “We have direct drilled certain paddocks for the last three years and we strip till maize and everything for winter is direct drilled so we’re not losing soil when we get heavy rain.” He manages nitrogen to optimise yields and maps paddocks for variable rate fertiliser and lime for good soil fertility. Peter and his wife Nicole are the fourth generation of Hewson’s on the dryland farm where they live with their three daughters, having returned to the farm in 2016 to lease the farm from Peter’s parents David and Robyn. “The plan was to lease for five years and if it wasn’t for us, we could sell machinery and leave. In March 2023 we purchased the farm outright from mum and dad.” Beyond cropping operations, Esk Valley Farming bring in 150 Friesian bulls for fattening for sale before the winter and around 3000 store lambs annually, fattening them to a target kill weight of 22 kgs. Up to 1500 hogget’s are grazed in spring also and are all gone by Christmas. “I like fattening stock,” says Peter, “don’t hold them back on the feed. I get great satisfaction looking at the finishing weight and knowing we’ve got the most potential out of that animal.” Hewson is also active in the farming community, serving as vice arable chair for Federated Farmers in South Canterbury and president of the Sutherlands Discussion Group, a part of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR). This group brings together 15 local farmers monthly to discuss sector challenges such as herbicide resistant grasses, soil management, and crop allocation. QUALITY & SERVICE FOCUSED Check us out at www.indeng.co.nz Corner North & Latter Streets, Timaru Phone: 03 684 4888 Email: sales@indeng.co.nz Proud to Support Peter Hewson www.standrewstransport.co.nz Cell: 027 329 555 Phone: 03 612 6605 Main Road, St. Andrews PO Box 137, Timaru Email: satrans@xtra.co.nz Proudly supporting Peter Hewson
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