ENVIRONMENT MIRAKA TREADING LIGHTLY
Treading lightly: Kinleith farmers Mark Newton and Sarah Manders.
W
inners of the new Miraka Award ‘Treading Lightly’ insist they have never done or changed anything about their farming system with the aim of winning awards. Kinleith farmers Mark Newton and Sarah Manders farm the way they believe works best for them and for the land, rather than the way others think it should be done. Miraka is often recognised as a milk company that is always a few steps ahead of others, and Mark says this is more what it has always been about for them. “Miraka want to be leaders and so do we. Our main aims in farming are to look after our soil and our cows, and they are the reasons we have taken the steps to get to where we are today.” Miraka Milk is a small dairy company based in Mokai, near Taupo, who supply to more than 23 countries around the world from their 104 dairy farms, all within an 85km radius. Their Farming Excellence Programme allows farmers to increase their farmgate milk price with an annual assessment that awards points to farms that excel in each of five categories: People, Environment, Prosperity, Cows and Milk, with these points eventually contributing to the final milk price. Each year, the Te Ara Miraka (the Miraka way) Farming Excellence Awards highlights the companies’ top suppliers in areas such as animal welfare, staff management
and sustainable land practices. This year they introduced the ‘Treading Lightly’ award for farms and Warren Landles, Miraka’s Farm Sustainability Manager describes the winners of this new award as achieving a good balance between inputs and outputs. “It’s about focusing on efficiency - making sure that you are using the right amount of nutrients in your system, so they convert into quality milk solids, reducing losses to groundwater and atmosphere. As efficiency increases, the overall farm environmental footprint decreases. This also often leads to increased profitability.” Winners were selected from a range of farm and production sizes, showing that it’s possible to increase efficiencies and reduce environmental impact regardless of production intensity. Mark and Sarah won the category for farms that produce between 801 and 1250kg milksolids (MS) per hectare. “We had no idea that we would even be in the running to win this award. When they announced our name on stage, we were in complete shock,” Mark says. With heads for business, hearts for nature and eyes for the future, Mark and Sarah are trying different farming techniques. It all started with them changing their method of fertiliser application eight years ago, after a bad year for milk prices prompted them to look at more efficient options. At the time, the method 65
