People at heart of award winning orchard

Representing Whiritoa Orchards, supreme winner in the 2022 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards, are from left: Shayne Joyce, business mentor; Ray Hiki, Whiritoa Orchards supervisor; Kiriwaitingi Rei, CEO of Māori Investments Ltd (MIL); Alex Wilson, director of MIL; Helen Scott, Whiritoa Orchards manager; and Rex Anderson, Whiritoa property manager

Whiritoa Orchards at Te Teko has been named the 2022 Regional Supreme Winner in the Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The judges of the awards were impressed by the way in which traditional Māori knowledge provided a foundation to the team’s approach to management of the Māori Investments Ltd (MIL) owned orchard.

The orchard, which featured in the July 2022 issue of The Orchardist, has experienced dramatically improved production and quality, while retaining a strong focus on creating long-term career pathways. Elaine Fisher

“People are at the heart of this operation, with a holistic approach to sustainability that means profitability is not compromised. There’s meticulous attention to detail and careful thought on all management practices, with a generational lens,” the judges’ report said. Whiritoa Orchards also won the Bayleys People in Primary Sector, Norwood Agri-

Business Management and Zespri Kiwifruit

Orchard awards.

WHIRITOA ORCHARDS

Focuses on a holistic approach to sustainability, founded in traditional Māori knowledge. OCEANVIEW ORCHARD

8 hectares out of 30ha are planted in kiwifruit, sustainable in terms of both profit and environment. PROJECT PARORE

Implemented catchment management plans and work to assess the health of the estuary and waterways.

Dell, Ross and Roger Bawden of Oceanview Orchard Limited won the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award. Over the past 30 years, the Bawden family has turned an uneconomical Te Puke property into a thriving, profitable kiwifruit orchard.

Since buying the property, the family has explored forestry, sheep and cattle but all the while had dreams of growing kiwifruit. In 2003, after researching international food production trends, they made this dream a reality and planted their first four hectares of kiwifruit. Oceanview Orchard is now a thriving a kiwifruit venture that is sustainable in terms of both profit and the environment. About eight hectares of the 30ha property is now in kiwifruit, taking up most of the flatland.

People are at the heart of this operation, with a holistic approach to sustainability that means profitability is not compromised

Project Parore also wins

Conservation activities, supporting recreation and enhancing biodiversity, has earned the Uretara Estuary Managers Inc the inaugural New Zealand Landcare Trust Catchment Group Award for the Bay of Plenty region. Known as Project Parore, their work focuses on all nine stream catchments that enter the northern Tauranga Harbour. Their biggest achievements include implementing catchment management plans and working to assess the health of the estuary and waterways. They have remediated fish passages, partnered with landowners to carry out extensive riparian planting, and helped develop wetlands. The judges said they were an experienced team that is comfortable trying new approaches as they encourage land use change and good management practices. They have an integrated, community-led approach to sustainable land use and environmental protection.

www.precisede.co.nz Angus Clarke 027 498 3146 Allan Crouch 021 909 463