66 | nzdairy BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS » Four Oaks Mindshift start of huge transformation Karen Phelps Jonathan Boyle admits he was initially pretty negative about the idea of planting native trees on his family’s Four Oaks farm at Pongakawa after hearing a young worker from Bay of Plenty Regional Council pitching the idea to local farmers. “Like many farmers I didn’t like change. But when I had a think about it I decided he was probably right. My partner Debbie Porter played an important part in that and gave the council a call, got the process started and has liaised with them ever since.” It marked the start of a huge transformation for the property, which has seen the farm win two accolades at the 2024 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards: the DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Farming for the Future Award. Jonathan manages the dairy farm at Four Oaks alongside parents Keith and Caroline who run the farm’s kiwifruit and avocado orchards. The 270ha property has been in the family for 125 years and now around 120,000 trees have been planted over 30ha of steep land and riparian margins plus a 2ha wetland has been developed since 2021. And the project hasn’t quite yet reached completion with another 5ha to go. “It’s a big job and we probably bit off more than we could chew. But when I come around to an idea I go like a bull at a gate and want it done yesterday. I’d like to see the natives grow too and I don’t want to be in a box by the time it’s all done,” Jonathan says with a smile. He says sourcing enough trees has been a challenge, which was part of the reason Debbie started her own eco-sourced nursery business on the farm. Last year it produced 50,000 native trees with some purchased by council to support the farm’s planting project and others sold locally. He admits the native trees look good on the farm but says the project has not come without sacrifices in terms of time and money. Over 120,000 trees have been planted. The eco-sourced nursery business on the farm produced 50,000 native trees last year. 01 BFEA Compact Brand Guidelines V1.0 FEB 2022 Accurate, Timely Fertiliser Application Product placement tailored to fit in with the business operation. BAY OF PLENTY Solar Power Pumps Think Solar. Think Sustainability. Call 07 573 8747 1 Boucher Ave, Te Puke Design Supply Install Service “You can’t just stick trees in the ground and that’s it. There’s spraying and pest control. In fact the pests are worse now because of all the trees, which provide food to hares, possums and wallabies. We also now have to graze calves off farm due to retiring the land so there are costs to it.” But he says the positives outweigh the negatives: “It does look good and we have 1800 trees going in in the next couple of weeks then just a final five hectare block to do and we’re done. Because we’re not part of a catchment group we’ve been able to do things quicker on our own but it is also a lot more work.” Four Oaks is primarily a dairy farm and milks 550 Friesian cows through a 44-aside herringbone built five years ago about the time the family started the tree project. “So it was a mad house,” says Jonathan. They have also put in two new water systems and a new effluent and irrigation system at the same as it made sense to upgrade everything at once. A 12.5ha orchard that is split between kiwifruit and avocado makes up the rest of the farm business. Now that the tree project is coming to its conclusion Jonathan has one thing on his mind: “Going fishing.”
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