Business Rural Winter 2023

Valley Views Glamping owners Amber & Patrick Tyrrell eye up expansion, with plans to host bigger retreats & weddings - Page 26 Agri tourism boom in North Otago Winter 2023 www.waterfordpress.co.nz

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Rural South accepts no responsibility for loss of photos or manuscripts. #businessrural #yourstory www.waterfordpress.co.nz   Invernia Holdings �� 03 Patoa Farms �� 04 Hokotehi Moriori Trust �� 06 Ben Annand Farm �� 07 Okuru Pastoral �� 08 Birkett Farming �� 10 Pure NZ Buckwheat �� 12 Annat Farm �� 14 Agricom �� 16 Nth Otago Pastoral �� 18 Molloy Ag �� 22 Beresford Heights �� 24 Valley Views Glamping �� 26 Makoura Lodge �� 28 Westwood Shorthorns �� 29 Ireland Cain / Station Peak Dairy �� 30 Lighthouse & Beacon Dairies �� 31 Robert and Cate Willis �� 32 Simon Roy & Reuben Christian �� 33 Cruse Deer �� 34 Cloudy Bay Vineyards �� 36 Egilshay Texels �� 38 Howden & Co �� 39 Armidale Merino Stud �� 40 Bare Hill Farming �� 41 Berriedale �� 42 Cameron Grant �� 43 Carter Farms �� 44 Colbion Downs �� 46 Glenlake Farm �� 48 Hamish Galletly �� 50 Acorn Partnership �� 52 Flagstaff Herefords �� 53 James Kenny - Dorset Downs �� 54 Kerry irvine �� 55 Mt Annan �� 56 Scott Partnership �� 57 Irrigation NZ - Dam Compliance �� 59 Skevingtons �� 60 Plains Irrigators �� 61 Brooks Spreading �� 63 Spreadmark �� 64 NZGS Awards �� 65 Agri Intel �� 66 Boags Contracting �� 67 Benalyn �� 68 CMC Contracting �� 70 CCMP �� 71 Cheviot Lime �� 72 Cheviot Ag Air �� 73 Three Rivers Contracting �� 74 Bleeker Ag Services �� 76 Hyslop Rural �� 78 Natural Performance �� 79 Kings Rural Transport �� 80 Kinsey Ag Services �� 82 Pankhurst Contracting �� 83 Wendon Creek Contracting �� 84 NZ Vet Association �� 85 Milnes Transport �� 86 Ross Bros Transport �� 88 Osgro Seed Services �� 90 Precise Fencing �� 91 Glenacardoch Belgian Blues �� 92 Switzers Valley Transport �� 93 Glenwillow Contracting �� 94 Woolover �� 95 Vet South Gore �� 96 Cressland Holsteins �� 97 The Grange Oxford �� 98 Clouston Contracting �� 100 Chris Dillon �� 101 28 | Venue provides exciting opportunities 57 | Scott’s building on an 1882 foundation 66 | Opportunities arising from change 12 | Buckwheat - the ‘pseudo cereal’ OUR PARTNERS: Christchurch Office 112 Wrights Road, Addington, Christchurch Phone 03-983 5500 PO Box 37 346 www.waterfordpress.co.nz Queenstown Office 70 Glenda Drive, Queenstown 9300 PO Box 2581, Wakatipu MANAGING DIRECTOR James Lynch james@waterfordpress.co.nz CO-MANAGING PARTNER Chris Pearce chris.pearce@waterfordpress.co.nz EDITORIAL Editor Randall Johnston randall@waterfordpress.co.nz Paul Mein paulmein@waterfordpress.co.nz Journalists Ange Davidson, Kelly Deeks, Hugh de Lacy, Tracey Edwardes, Russell Fredric, Rachel Graham, Richard Loader, Kim Newth, Karen Phelps, Sue Russell, Rosa Watson, Virginia Wright.

| 3 RURAL PEOPLE » Invernia Holdings Walnuts growth area for diverse family business Invernia Holdings embraces dairy, dairy beef, sheep and an expanding walnut plantation. Richard Loader Family owned and operated Invernia Holdings is a diverse farming business that embraces dairy, dairy beef, sheep and a growing plantation of walnut trees. Owned by Russell and Cathy Hurst, the sprawling North Otago property is located on the Waitaki River, with most of the farm nestled on the emerald plains. Encompassing approximately 2500 hectares of irrigated flats, there is also a small piece of irrigated hill country and another small piece of dryland hill. The farm has been in the Hurst family for the last fifty years, when Russell’s father moved over from the hill and put the farm into border dyke irrigation. For the last three years a major capital project has been underway replacing the border dykes with spray irrigators. That project will continue for a further five years. Russell and Cathy’s three sons, James, Henry and William are progressively returning to the family farm to support their parents, each taking responsibility for specific parts of the business. Henry returned four years ago and is now 50/50 sharemilking on one of the four connected dairy units on the farm, while James has been back for two years and looks after the dryland hill, nurse cows, sheep work and the walnuts. William will join his brothers in due course. Thirty-one year old James left school at fifteen and has been farming all his life, including eight years spent in Omarama on a couple of different farms working with sheep and beef, dairy support and dairy. Being outside, working with dogs and the constant variation are among the things that James loves most about life on the farm, and his commitment to farming extends to governance roles within the industry. “At the moment I’m the North Otago Federated Farmers Vice Chair for Meat and Wool. I’ve been involved in Feds for just a year, but I was heavily involved in Young Farmers prior to that and did three years as Regional Chair.” The dairy farming operation includes 2500 Friesian cows, with a contract milker on one of the units and a lower order sharemilker on the other two. “We don’t send any bobby calves to the works and try to fatten all dairy culls over the winter before they go to the works,” says James. “All bull calves get put onto a nurse cow and then sold as dairy/beef calves at an on-farm sale in February. Most heifer calves are kept for replacements.” The farm is home is home to 3500 ultra-fine merino sheep. All whethers, the sheep are bought in as hoggets and kept till they are about seven years old. “We were up to 5000. Their job was to graze the border dyke head races, but as we change to spray they’re losing area so we’ve reduced numbers. Now that we’re increasing our walnut size area, there will be more sheep needed to graze under the walnuts.” Currently there are approximately 500 walnut trees, covering 5 hectares, but a new irrigation system going in this winter will enable a further Dairy Systems Irrigation Domestic Security Systems Calum Reid - Registered Electrical Inspector 0800 360 063 • www.calect.co.nz www.facebook.com/calectelectrical Electrician Services - we take on anything electrical We have 10 vans & 15 electricians available to everyone in the North Otago, South Canterbury & Mackenzie Basin areas. 24-Hour Service Member Electrical Contractors Association of NZ MASTER ELECTRICIANS On Call 24/7, Calect is available day or night. We reschedule other work to PRIORITISE faults so that they are fixed as quickly as possible. FREE QUOTES NO MATTER WHAT, WE’RE ON THE JOB! A fixed price guarantee on EVERYTHING quoted. 3000 trees to be planted, bringing the total area to 26 hectares, and a larger commercial scale. “Harvesting is all mechanised, so there’s not a lot of labour content as opposed to some horticulture. It ticks all the environmental boxes because there’s not much fertiliser or spray required. You get about three tonnes per hectare at the moment, but the new variety will hopefully yield eight tonnes per hectare. The walnuts are washed and dried, and taken to a co-op in Christchurch who do all the deshelling and marketing, and we get paid by the KG.” Invernia’s diversity of operation provides valuable protection against a market downturn in any one of the income streams. Proud to support the Hurst Family INVERNIA HOLDINGS LTD

4 | Labour an issue for Hugh de Lacy With 5000 sows in its breeding herd, Patoa Farms of North Canterbury is one of the country’s biggest pig-farming operations, raising its free-farmed stock across 450ha of Hurunui River terraces inland from Rangiora. Launched in 1998 by Steve Sterne and Jens Ravn, Patoa farms produces around 100,000 animals for pork a year in an environment that’s as close to the pigs’ natural habitat as possible. These days run by Steve and his daughter Holly Sterne, it employs straw-based shelters for farrowing, and large eco-barns with deep-litter straw for finishing. Straw topped up every day in the eco-barns is a big item for Patoa Farms, which uses around 18,000 large square bales a year. All waste is composted and sent out to the arable farms that supply the straw to use as natural fertiliser. The sprawling Patoa farm employs 55 staff led by specialist managers, two for the breeding stock up until weaning, and two more for the growing stock from weaning till slaughter. “The breeding stock forage on grass, but we also feed them a palletised diet – about 500 tonnes of it a week across both the breeding and grower units – which is produced in Rangiora in nine different formulae to cover the different demands of the stock at different stages of development,” Breeding Division Manager Tjaart Grove says. Tjaart and Alby, a growing unit manager, are responsible for recruitment, a key role in an area plagued like much of the country with labour shortages. RURAL PEOPLE » Patoa Farm “We really set out to make working with us as attractive as possible, offering staff good wages, flexible work hours if needed, and a positive company culture built around events like barbecues every three months or so. “It’s an attractive working environment, outdoors in a beautiful part of the country with a great deal of diversity of work, and we also offer and pay for educational courses run by the Primary Industry Training Organisation,” he says. The ITO runs two levels of pork industry courses, and at the conclusion of the latest round eight Patoa employees qualified. Nor are those staff just looking after the animals: the company also employs a full-time engineer, a mechanic and a carpenter whose responsibilities range from repairing and maintaining the farm’s vehicles, machinery and equipment, to building new yards on a recentlydeveloped block of land. Two companies handle the processing of Patoa Farms meat, about two-thirds of the stock going to the Ashburton Abattoir, then onto the shelves of supermarket chain Countdown. The rest go to the Cheviot, North Canterbury, works of Harris Farms, recently re-branded from Harris Meats, which both markets and distributes their products to various supermarkets, retailers and hospitality outlets. Their labelling includes the Made in North Canterbury brand. Between 1600 and 1900 pigs go to the processors every week, all of them covered by the SPCA’s Blue Tick company accreditation scheme, as well as by the Pig Care quality and animal welfare system run and independently audited by New Zealand Pork, the industry’s statutory board. Patoa Farms is one of New Zealand’s biggest pig-farming operations, raising its free-farmed stock across 450ha of Hurunui River terraces. “It’s an attractive working environment, outdoors in a beautiful part of the country with a great deal of diversity of work, and we also offer and pay for educational courses run by the Primary Industry Training Organisation.” Proud to be the sole supplier of quality pig feeds to Patoa Farm. www.wan-nz.co.nz

| 5 RURAL PEOPLE » Patoa Farm large scale free-farmed pig operation All waste from Patoa is composted and sent out to the arable farms that supply the straw used in its eco-barns to use as natural fertiliser. Power Farming Canterbury | Rolleston and Amberley Phone 03 349 5975 | www.powerfarmingcanterbury.co.nz Power Farming Canterbury is pleased to support Patoa Farms who choose Merlo telehandlers and Deutz-Fahr tractors

6 | RURAL PEOPLE » Hokotehi Moriori Trust Exceptional spring a bonus on island Russell Fredric An exceptional spring on the Chatham Islands has Hokotehi Moriori Trust farm and forest manager Levi Lanauze smiling. Favourable weather and the lack of late winter storms resulted in 13% more lambs, a drop of 143% compared to 130% for the previous year in what is a very challenging farm system. Levi offers a single word answer about the significance of the result. “Outstanding.” “But you do have to look at it in two ways; as outstanding as it was, with the shipping service that we have here, if there’s too many lambs, you’ll struggle to get rid of them.” The trust’s farming operation comprises two stations; Kaingaroa Station covering 4800 hectares on the northeast of Rekohu was bought in 2004 and is supported by 1000 acres which is a fattening and finishing block at Henga. Henga is also used to hold stock before they are shipped, and it is the shipping schedule that dictates much of the farms’ system, while in the absence of the ability to use artificial fertiliser, the quality of the genetics plays a big part in both the sheep and cattle. The commercial flock of 4400 breeding ewes are pure Romney, while South Suffolk rams are put over them to produce terminal lambs which comprise about 20% of the flock. Sheep genetics are sourced from Orari Gorge Romneys and the South Suffolks from Claire Garrett, Springston. “Obviously a fertile ewe has helped us in the lambing percentage, but also by buying low dagscore rams in a high feed growing year, the ewes have managed to stay quite clean so that’s kept animal welfare costs down. “The big thing with farming here on the Chatham’s is you want a stock unit that carries its weight because you need an animal that will travel well on the boat, but also kill well at the works, a short stocky animal.” The genetics of the trust’s 190 breeding cows and six bulls are sourced from Orari Gorge Herefords and more recently Okawa Herefords genetics have been added to broaden the base. “We had a good strong calving; I think we had 2.5% empty rate; again, I think it’s just that we’ve spent the money on good quality bulls and with the right management we’re starting to reap the benefits.” The beef system is based on selling the progeny as weaners at 200kg to 250kg because these achieve the best price per kilo and are the optimum weight for shipping while steers and non-replacement heifers are typically shipped during winter. The necessity to plan so completely around the shipping schedules requires constant thought to be given to this and, with other curved balls to factor in such as the ship being taken out for three months for a survey, farming on the mainland would be a dream by comparison, Levi says. Outside the stock operation, there is a strong focus on tree and shrub planting under the government’s One Billion Trees programme. So far 280 hectares of the trust’s land has been set aside for planting, on which 210,000 seedlings will be planted over five years, comprising 42ha of macrocarpa and the balance natives. “It’s a $3.5 million project; it’s supporting the community. The island has got nine micro nurseries and the farm has also started its own nursery.” “The project is all about community growth, so part of it was to hire and train someone to run the nursery so at then end of the project we are fully set up to continue on and start another one.” The commercial flock of 4400 breeding ewes are pure Romney, while South Suffolk rams are put over them to produce terminal lambs which comprise about 20% of the flock. So far 280 hectares of the trust’s land has been set aside for planting, on which 210,000 seedlings will be planted over five years. Robert and Alex Peacock | Tel: 03 692 2893 | Email: robert@orarigorge.co.nz Graham and Rosa Peacock | Tel: 03 692 2853 | Email: rosa@orarigorge.co.nz ORARI GORGE STATION, TRIPP SETTLEMENT ROAD, GERALDINE, SOUTH CANTERBURY 7991, NEW ZEALAND SOME OF THE BEST MARBLING IN THE COUNTRY BALANCED TRAITS = MAXIMUM PROFITABILITY • FERTILITY • STRUCTURE • BREEDPLAN RECORDED • CARCASS SCANNED • TB STATUS C10 • SERVICE & SEMEN TESTED • BVD TESTED & VACCINATED • ALL BULLS HYPOTRICHOSIS FREE VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME WWW.ORARIGORGE.CO.NZ Orari Gorge Station is proud to supply the Hokotehi Moriori Trust with top Hereford and Romney genetics. Orari Gorge Station breeds high performance but low input Romney, RomTex, SufTex sheep, and Hereford cattle. Selecting for resistance and resilience to worms and less dags resulting in less work and more profit. ORARI GORGE STATION Formerly known as Nithdale Herefords • Established 1947 NZ Owned & Operated. Est 1988 Gary Batchelor - 027 489 32 65 Proudly supporting Hokotehi Moriori Trust

| 7 RURAL PEOPLE » Ben Annand Farm Skincare products showcase benefits of lanolin Ben Annand Farm in South Otago runs 4600 Perendale ewes. Selected fleeces are washed and used as packing material around Morven Road Skincare products. Karen Phelps Looking for innovative ways to promote wool has seen Amy and her sister-in-law Frances Blaikie come up with a new range of skincare products showcasing the benefits of lanolin. Morven Road Skin Care was launched about a year ago online, lovingly made on the family’s Ben Annand farm in South Otago. “We wanted to do something with wool that was different but still promotes the great attributes of wool. We’ve had really positive feedback since launching, it’s been great,” says Amy. It’s taken the women about two years to bring their product to market after trying out numerous samples on family and friends to come up with their range. They are proud to source most ingredients locally. Lanolin, which is secreted by sheep to condition wool and skin, has moisturising, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties making it a great option for those looking for a gentle and eco-friendly way to relieve the symptoms of dry skin. Other hero ingredients include hemp oil, sourced from South Island growers and infused with raspberry leaves from Ben Annand’s berry orchard and horopito leaves collected from native bush on the farm. “It’s been amazing even ourselves doing the research what lanolin can do. It can heal small cuts and wounds and it moisturises,” says Amy citing just two of the benefits. Products include body butters, body balms, body creams, lip balms and moisturiser bars with tantalising fragrances such as tea tree and sweet Covering Otago & Southland 0800 227 226 www.advance-agriculture.co.nz Proud to support Ben Annand Specialist Suppliers of Agricultural Chemical, Seed, Spray Equipment & GPS Precision Ag orange and bergamot with pineapple and mango alongside traditional favourites such as lavender. While developing the products was a challenge, selling them has been another. They are currently selling through their website morvenroad.nz and looking for selected retailers that fit with their brand. It’s a passion project for the pair utilising the skills of Frances, who grew up on Ben Annand, and had a career in science for many years in Europe. They are confidant sales will increase as they tackle the challenges of marketing their new product and getting word out. With wool being a hot topic for farmers the family has no plans to move away from producing it despite the fact that shearing costs exceeded profit this year. They are still hopeful that the public will soon catch onto the many benefits of wool over synthetic fibres. They know wool has many possible markets; for example their wool has been recently made into prayer mats. Ben Annand is a 1468ha farm with 970ha effectively grazed and the remaining 498ha being native forest/bush or exotic forestry. The farm is characterised by rolling to steep hill country with sharp gullies and natural waterways. Ben Annand has been in the Blaikie family since 1960. Amy’s husband Victor grew up on the farm and returned in 1993 and they now farm the land together. They run 4600 Perendale ewes with fleece around 37 microns. All lambs get shorn in January and their fleece is between 28-30 microns. Bales of wool get sold through a broker, selected fleeces are washed and used as packing material around Morven Road Skin Care orders and dags are used as mulch and compost. They have a small cattle operation with predominately Hereford but also some Angus cross bred. Calves are weaned from the mothers at six months of age and are either sold to other farms for them to grow or we grown them to 18 months of age before they are sent to the food processors. Around 40 replacement heifer calves are kept annually. There is also a small raspberry operation – one of Amy’s deal breakers (she grew up on a horticultural farm) for moving to Ben Annand in the first place years ago. Five different varieties are grown and all are hand picked by the family rounding out the diverse farming operation.

8 | RURAL PEOPLE » Okuru Pastoral Federated Farmers Cattle are spread out over large areas over several river valleys in South Westland. Kim Newth Stepping up as a voice for farmers on the West Coast, Haast-based cattle farmer Simon Cameron is finding no shortage of issues and challenges for rural producers in the region. Simon, who grew up on a high country station in Marlborough, was voted in as West Coast Federated Farmers Meat & Wool Chair last year and also chairs the High Country West Coast role. In today’s fast changing regulatory environment, he says it’s a busy time to be involved with Federated Farmers. “We’re making so many submissions across various issues right now. The three main ones we’re dealing with are the stewardship land review, stock exclusion, and emissions pricing.” Last year, the Department of Conservation opened up submissions on proposed reclassifications for 504 pieces of stewardship land on the West Coast. What happens to this land in future is a key issue for Federated Farmers’ members right now, particularly in Westland where there are large areas of stewardship land. The stock exclusion issue relates to the new freshwater regulations coming in from July 2025 that would see beef cattle excluded from lakes and rivers more than one-metre wide on low slope land. “Our perspective is that we can’t have a one size fits all approach. Land use, farming systems, the landscape and other environmental factors vary so much from province to province, it simply isn’t going to work. In some situations, there is room for improvement and practices need to be altered to achieve the desired outcome, but for us on the coast it is not broken. According to in depth testing by Otago University, our water is pristine so it doesn’t need fixing. We also fear any major changes to our farming systems could actually have detrimental effects on our environment and biodiversity.” Simon has had several meetings with various politicians on this matter, including Damien O’Connor, Maureen Pugh, Nicola Grigg, Jackie Dean, Barbara Kuriger and Stuart Smith. The third main issue is around emissions pricing, with Simon adamant that native bush areas on farms should be eligible for carbon credits. “Farmers have protected and looked after these areas through the generations and that should be recognised.” Simon and his partner Courtney run cattle on several river valley blocks in South Westland, in partnership with Courtney’s father and Simon also manages another block in Haast. As well, he is experienced in shooting from a helicopter for deer recovery work and currently does this part-time for a commercial deer recovery operation, enjoying the change of pace. Having had an outstanding summer and autumn, Simon and Courtney’s cattle are in great shape. “Collectively, Courtney and I manage 800 to 900 breeding cows between us. Our cattle are spread out over very large areas. Our only access is by horse, jet boat or helicopter and often requires a combination of all three over several days to complete our autumn muster.” He and Courtney do practically all the work themselves, supported by a few friends who know the ropes. As he observes, stock exclusion rules don’t make sense for their type of operation where annual average rainfalls are 6-8 metres. “I’d challenge anyone to come here and tell me where you’d put the fences up – it just wouldn’t work here.” Phone James 03 614 7080 or Donald 021 187 8186 963 Cleland Road, Pleasant Point 106 bulls sell 22 June 12.30pm Proudly Supporting the West Coast www.sternangus.co.nz Te Rae Genetics Rams are solid, high yielding, versatile sires suiting any property and ock, bred on rolling hill country in Central Southland. Coopworth • Coopworth Texel • Coopdale Texel Poll Dorset, & Suftex MATERNAL BREEDS TERMINAL BREEDS 027 444 7072 chris.terae@gmail.com www.teraegenetics.co.nz Te Rae Genetics • Tagged at birth for accurate parentage • Single Sire Mated • S.I.L. recorded • Myomax Tested • E.M.A. scanned • Hoggets mated & lambed with ease • Competitive, a ordable sires • Strong bulky eece—37 microns • i f • i l i • .I. . • • . . . • l i • Competitive, a ordable sires • Strong bulky eece—37 microns KEY TRAITS I

| 9 RURAL PEOPLE » Okuru Pastoral West Coast lobbying hard on big issues Helicopter, horses and jetboats provide farm access for Cameron and partner Courtney. Simon also works part-time for a commercial deer recovery operation, 150 Shorthorn Cows 60 Shorthorn Bulls 650mm Hill Country 3700ha

10 | New digital seed certification system David Birkett, mid-Canterbury arable farmer and Federated Farmer Vice Chair (Seeds) with wife Justine. He acknowledges that there will be a learning curve for farmers using the electronic system for the first time. Richard Loader ARABLE » Birkett Farming The New Zealand seed certification scheme is undergoing its biggest upgrade in thirty years, with the introduction of a new digital database that will go live mid-July this year. Seed certification, which was started in 1929, is a system which operates to ensure that cultivars of important agricultural plant species maintain their identity through successive generations of multiplication for the ultimate benefit of end users. Over 80 percent of all seed supplied to the New Zealand pasture industry comes from New Zealand’s certified seed. The current seed certification database is a paper based system maintained and administered by AsureQuality. In the future, 95 percent of all grass, legumes, vegetable and cereal seed production will be required to be registered in a digital Seed Certification Information System database to meet international market traceability or isolation requirements. The New Zealand Seed Authority (NZSA) is developing an up-to-date, efficient, accurate and robust digital seed certification system to protect and grow New Zealand’s $400 million seed industry. The new database will be a fit-for-purpose industry-wide Seed Certification Information System that integrates with other systems and provides high quality data from varietal selection to the farmer and seed companies. The new database will enable the New Zealand seed industry to revolutionise, protect, future-proof and enable growth. David Birkett, mid-Canterbury arable farmer and Federated Farmer Vice Chair (Seeds) is a member of the NZSA committee and involved in the project in a governance capacity. He says the initiative is being driven by MPI (Ministry of Primary Industries) to comply with international requirements. David observes that one of the big benefits of the digital database will be in the event of biosecurity issues, of which there have been several incursions in recent times. “We get a lot of seed lines coming in from overseas that we multiply and that is where a lot of our risk has been. If there is contamination in the seed line we will be able to trace that back within minutes and start monitoring very quickly. Where-as, with the paper based system it could have taken days.” Now largely complete, the new system has been built by international software company Provoke Solutions. A mid-July Go-Live date is targeted so that all Spring crops can be migrated into the new digital system and be visible to registered participants including farmers, seed companies, processors, MPI and AsureQuality. “Information held in the database will include location of the farmers paddock and history about what crops, particularly certified crops, have been grown on that paddock,” explains David. “Most seed companies hold information about the farmer’s paddock histories on their own computer systems, and farmers must give permission for their information to be migrated into the digital system. “About 200 farmers have already sent back permission forms but if farmers have not done that they need to touch base with their seed companies.” David acknowledges that there will be a learning curve for farmers using the electronic system for the first time but says most seed company reps have already had training so that they can provide one-on-one coaching for the first time after the systems goes live. ”In successive years the farmer will go into the system and enter the certification information. It’s just as important for the seed companies to get the information into the system as it is for the grower.” P SRS 03 302 8115 email: nzoffice@spsnz.co.nz Proud to be working with Birkett Family Farms SOUTH PACIFIC SEEDS (NZ) LTD Specialists in Hybrid Vegetable Seed Production

| 11 will future-proof and protect industry Birkett Farming harvesting white clover. Peas direct drilled into cover crop. ARABLE » Birkett Farming • Concrete • Fertiliser Spreading - Farm Mapping - GPS Tracking - Variable Rate Spreading • Livestock Cartage • Grain Cartage • Shingle Supplies • Daily Freight Leeston: 03 3248 070 Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz Outstanding success removing weeds, seeds such as dock, field madder, and fathen

12 | Buckwheat - the Nick and Kath with kids Tom and Sophie. Products: Groats, flour and honey, Russell Fredric ARABLE » Pure NZ Buckwheat A ‘hare-brained’ idea to plant buckwheat turned out to be a rabbit pulled out of the hat for South Canterbury farmer Nick Walters. The result is Pure New Zealand Buckwheat, a growing, harvesting and processing operation that incorporates a booming bulk sales and boutique online business. While operating his tractor on autosteer five years ago, Nick was inspired to Google buckwheat which at the time he knew nothing about. Today, 60 hectares of the 250 hectare property that he and his partner Kath Bruce farm is seasonally sown in buckwheat, which is actually not a wheat variety but a seed that comes from a flowering plant related to rhubarb and sorrel. “It’s essentially a pseudo cereal, even though it’s a seed, in fact it can be used as a replacement for most cereals. Like wheat, it’s got the same characteristics in terms of milling abilities and those sorts of qualities with the advantage that it doesn’t contain gluten,” Nick says. Buckwheat fits well into the farm’s system which includes carrying trading stock according to the season. It is a fast maturing crop, is harvested about 100 days after it is sown, and yields at about two tonnes per hectare. “This leads back into (sowing) milling wheat so it’s a great break crop. It’s a low cost option for us as well; it doesn’t need any inputs.” When buckwheat is planted, phosphorus that is bound in the soil can be released and it also attracts beneficial insects to the area sown including bees, resulting in high pollination. Because of Nick’s experience with arable crops, growing buckwheat was not difficult to work out, but the biggest challenge was in processing the crop, including through to the packaging and marketing stage for retail product being sold online through Pure New Zealand Buckwheat’s website. “That was a steep learning curve for us, taking that crop and doing the processing of it through to the packaging and end market so we are owning the entire process.” This involved a significant investment, purchasing a processing plant from overseas which is located off-farm12 kilometres towards the coast on State Highway 1 at St Andrews. Once harvested, the seed is processed by a seed dresser then transported to St Andrews to be further processed for sale and transport, or to be packaged on-site for sale on the website. The online shop sells groats, the hulled kernels of the buckwheat that includes the cereal germ and bran portion of the grain, as well as the endosperm, the core product of the seed, plus buckwheat flour, hulls, buckwheat honey and hull (bean) bags that are filled with hulls instead of synthetic material. Buckwheat’s gluten free status and its ability to be substituted in everyday cooking means it is great for those who have sensitivities to wheat or other grains that contain gluten. It is also cholesterol free and sugar free, a great source of natural fibre, low in both fat and sodium and it a great source of vitamins and trace minerals. Pure New Zealand Buckwheat has recently imported a flour mill and expects to produce about 100 tonnes of buckwheat flour a year. “We will be branching out into some other products as well.” The business was given a huge boost recently when it was featured on an episode of Country Calendar on April 23. “A prime time half and hour slot, it’s pretty impressive really.” Also impressive is the 3,500% “I kid you not” increase in traffic to the Pure New Zealand Buckwheat website. Nick says the business’ story of provenance, almost total ownership of the processing, the purity of the product which includes using dedicated equipment, and the inclusion of brand New Zealand are all part of the equation. The week after Country Calendar aired, a Japanese crew also did a story about the operation which was shown the first week of May. “It’s essentially a pseudo cereal, even though it’s a seed, in fact it can be used as a replacement for most cereals. Like wheat, it’s got the same characteristics in terms of milling abilities and those sorts of qualities with the advantage that it doesn’t contain gluten.” Industrial Controls are proud to support Pure NZ Buckwheat Main Road, St. Andrews PO Box 137, Timaru Cell: 027432 9555 Phone: 03 612 6605 Email: www.standrewstransport .co.nz satrans@xtra.co.nz Proud to be associated with Pure New Zealand Buckwheat

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