Country Life

Former ag scientist, Ian Knowles, likes to lead from the front when it comes to sheep and plant trials and comparative experiments on his diverse hill country farm.

Former AgResearch scientist, Ian Knowles, likes to lead from the front when it comes to sheep and plant trials and comparative experiments on his diverse hill country farm.

He farms about 4000 ewes and 1000 hoggets at Glenmark Springs and most of the genetics have come out of trial mobs he still runs to find out what works and what doesn't.

"Also with the plant genetics, if there's anything new or novel, I'm pretty keen to get a couple of hectares in to see what it looks like on the farm," he says.

Find out the results of Ian trials

The 2023 Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards supreme winner has done extensive fertiliser trials too.

"For four or five years I ran fertiliser trials on two different sites on the property with all the conventional fertilisers and also comparing them with more natural type products, like seaweed-based fertilisers."

He found natural fertilisers to be a lot more unpredictable than chemical products.

"You're seeing some results you weren't expecting and then often you weren't getting the results that you were hoping for. Sometimes it would take maybe 18 months or two years to see a result," he says.

Environmental stewardship is a key part of Ian's land management plan.

To stop soil erosion, 35 hectares of steep or uncultivable land has been planted in poplar poles, and at the back of the farm, he's even planted a fruit orchard around a drafting yard.

There are some scenic surprises dotted around the dryland property that Ian's parents purchased 20 years ago.

Native gullies that have never been developed divide the steep hills, and large outcrops of limestone rocks jut out of summer-parched land.

Some of the outcrops are archaeological sites as they contain examples of Māori rock drawings.

"There's 26 individual drawings that have been noted and reported on and there may be more but some of the areas are not that easy to get to," he says.

An iwi covenant or kawenata ensures they stay the way they are.

Not far away in a paddock are a herd of lanky ostriches.

Ian has about 40 on his farm and the two breeding groups have started laying eggs.

"They tend just to find a bit of dirt and start laying, but on the hill country the eggs do tend to roll around a bit!"

Last year's chicks, which are now as big as their parents are sharing the grazing duties with the sheep…

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Geoff Mansell is growing bananas and many other subtropical fruits to supply local supermarkets and he hopes others will do the same.

Geoff Mansell is growing bananas and many other subtropical fruits to supply to local supermarkets and he hopes others will do the same.

Take a tour of Kotare Subtropicals with Country Life

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People in Raglan have access to a community seed bank so they can plant their own vegetables and ensure local cultivars thrive.

An old vault in the Raglan town hall has found a new purpose, keeping seeds fresh for sharing among the local community.

The seed bank is part of community efforts to ensure cultivars suitable for the local climate keep growing, people-to-people connections thrive and there's food security for all.

Listen here to find out more about Raglan's seed bank

From the vault, the seeds are put onto a specially-made stand built out of scrap wood which is wheeled out on to the front steps of the town hall.

From there passers-by can grab a handful of seed-raising mix from the bag nearby, pop it into a recycled seed punnet and take their pick from the seeds collected and packaged up by local volunteers.

The seed bank has been going for 25 years and is among projects co-ordinated by Jasmine Hunter and Tania Ashman of the Whāingaroa Environment Centre.

"We're keen on saving seeds and distributing seeds, because it's part of food sovereignty. So the idea is that people have control and access to growing their own food," Ashman explained.

The pandemic brought a new lease of life to the seed bank and people can now get the seeds for free.

Heritage plants and vegetables suited to local conditions are also being given the chance to thrive through the seed collecting.

"Some of them are starting to become really associated with Raglan, so we're getting our own range and cultivars that really suit."

"I've had teary moments actually," Hunter said.

"I've seen teenage boys after school, stopping at the seed bank, filling up one of their punnets, and then a little grandma will come along and they'll have this beautiful interaction and connection.

"The grandma will be teaching the teenage boy about the seed.

"This is exactly why it exists. It's not just for food security. It's also for that personal connection between generations."

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Country Life goes bananas, meets an award-winning Waipara farmer and checks in on Raglan's seed bank.

This week the Country Life team is at a Northland banana farm and Cosmo visits a Waipara scientist-turned-hill country farmer who has won a stack of awards for the improvements he has made on farm. They're also in Raglan finding out about guerilla fruit trees and the community seed bank.

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A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Susan Murray.

RNZ rural news reporter Susan Murray has a round up of news of the primary sector.

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Country Life checks in on a paddock-to-plate free range egg venture and a Canterbury lamb sale as well as consitions on farms and orchards around Aotearoa.

Country Life speaks to a Manawatū farmer who's taken lessons from the car trade to selling eggs direct to his customers and the team are at an on-farm lamb sale in Canterbury where prices achieved were well down on last year.

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All stock are doing very well in Waikato and the maize crop is outstanding. In Canterbury grass growth is slow and even farms with irrigation have been battling to keep enough water going on.

Find our more about conditions on farms and orchards around the motu.

In Northland the biggest issue is the huge soil moisture deficit. Readings are well below historical levels for January, and the region's approaching a drought if no more rain falls. Some did mid-January but not enough. However if there is a drought it will be a short one, people say, which is better than earlier forecasts. Meanwhile the region's kumara crop is looking good. Early harvesting starts in a couple of weeks, with volumes ramping up from late February.

In the Pukekohe area there have been light falls of rain since December but irrigators are still being well used. Onion growers are working seven days a week to transport their dry, mature onions into the packing sheds. Crop yields are said to be good. As container ships aren't going through the Red Sea, growers are paying an extra $1500 a container or $2 per bag of onions to get the crop to Europe.

Maize on a Waikato farm

In Waikato, it's been hot and humid with grass growth rates significantly better than expected. All stock are doing very well and milk production is holding. Maize is outstanding - a perfect summer for it. It's been hot and humid with good spring rain. Yields could be 24 tonnes to the hectare, compared to the more normal 20 tonnes. It's also been a cracker season so far for blueberry growers and they've still got plenty of picking to do.

Bay of Plenty farmers and kiwifruit orchardists are having a whale of a time with rain every four days or so. It's not too dry and not too wet. Gold kiwifruit looks to be nine out of 10, green - six out of 10. Milk production's holding here too. But for avocado growers it's been a disaster of a season. Returns from the crop will barely cover picking, according to one grower. He says there are real structural issues in the sector - too much fruit, and the once good Australian market isn't so anymore.

There's been a good volume of rain in King Country. Grass has been growing like crazy. Sheep are looking good, but lambs need a bit more heat. The region's bucking the nationwide very low ewe price last week. Five-year-old ewes in super condition sold for $170 a head at the Te Kuiti sale, and $150 at Ongarue. Most ewes have been fetching at least half that.

Our farmer contact in Taranaki says nature has been doing its part all summer so grass growth's good. He had just had a helicopter in to spray a top-looking maize crop for Northern Leaf Blight, a disease that's appeared in the past two seasons…

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Scott Jimmieson sold cars to upskill for his paddock-to-plate free range egg business. It was tough-going but good training for understanding his customers. Country Life hops in the delivery van taking eggs to the people.

If you want to sell eggs, have a crack at selling cars, is the advice from free range egg farmer Scott Jimmieson.

He spent several years in the vehicle trade as a way of upskilling for his first farming venture.

In 2016, wanting to be his own boss after returning from overseas, Jimmieson decided to buy 500 laying hens and farm them on his parents land near Halcombe in Manawatū.

Listen to Scott and Emma Jimmieson's farming story

He was milking cows at the same time but decided, in order to scale up the egg business, he needed some extra knowledge.

The car sales job in Feilding was tough going alongside building his farm but meant a fast-track to understanding his future customers.

"I think a lot of my mates thought I was crazy and a bit weird at the time."

But there was method to the madness.

"When I was dairy farming, I wasn't getting any exposure to any of the actual core business stuff, just cupping cows."

But negotiating car sales and setting up financing deals changed all that.

"I learned a lot of the power in people. People really want to deal with people that they know and they trust."

His egg business, which started out in a former deer shed, has grown to 40,000 laying hens, 5000 of them housed in a purpose-built fully automated shed with access to outdoor pasture on the family land.

Scott recently wed radiographer Emma Poole and together they want to help people understand where their food comes from under the couple's Local Food NZ brand, set up in 2019 and kickstarted by the pandemic.

They were run off their feet when people were stuck at home and habits changed.

The eggs are sold via an online farm shop which offers other locally sourced produce, including asparagus, honey and olive oil, all delivered direct to customers as far south as Wellington.

Scott's father Craig enjoys having a yarn to some of them as he drops the produce off on his delivery round.

"It's amazing ... all sorts of people get the eggs and you can go through the flash areas and the not so flash areas," he told Country Life on a hot afternoon in the delivery van.

"You have the odd whoopsie, you know, like if you brake suddenly or someone pulls out in front of you.

"You've got to be very careful how they're stacked in the back. There was one day, there was a sea of eggs in the back and I had to go to the supermarket and buy copious amounts of paper towels and what-not. …

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"It's going to be a tough year. Do you want to talk to the bank manager or me?" Sheffield farmer Tom Ferguson tells Cosmo Kentish-Barnes after his on-farm lamb sale.

"It's going to be a tough year. Do you want to talk to the bank manager or me?" Sheffield farmer Tom Ferguson told Cosmo Kentish-Barnes after his on-farm lamb sale.

The sale took place in the yards at Baldoon Farm, a scenic 860-hectare hill country property at the end of a gravel road.

"Anyone who comes up here is an idiot or lost!" jokes Tom's dad Gary, who was helping out in the yards before the sale.

Gary's father settled on the farm after returning from World War II, then he took over and now Tom and his wife, Rachel, farm the land.

"He was a stock agent, then he came home and I had all the accounts in a sugar bag, so I handed them over to him," Gary says.

Tom's been holding the summer lamb sale at the farm for 14 years.

"We've got no irrigation up here, so if it gets dry I like to put more of my grass into my ewe lambs for next year, and my ewes for the following year," he says.

This year about 3000 plump, Romney cross-bred lambs were put up for auction.

Several pens separated them by size.

"There are some whoppers that'll kill out at 22 or 23 kilos. They weigh about 50 now, and then we go down to the smaller ones that weigh about 23 kilos," Tom says.

"Some lambs will be killable and some lambs will be stores," adds Gary.

Hazlett auctioneer Phil Manera used his skills to eke out as much as he could from the small crowd of farmers and stock agents who turned up.

After 20 minutes all the lambs were sold.

Not long after, a lingering dust cloud was all that was left as the convoy of utes headed to another on-farm sale near Springfield.

The average price per animal at the sale was $86. Tom was hoping for $90. Last year it was $110 and the year before that $130, a worrying downward trend for the farmer, who has started working a day a week off-farm at the local saleyards.

"I knew it was going to be bad. The schedule's low and there's a lot of uncertainty out there, especially if it doesn't rain again, but at least we had a full clearance."

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Are farmers around the world telling their story well enough? Scottish ag journo and Nuffield Scholar Claire Taylor has been visiting New Zealand and spoke to Country Life

Are farmers around the world telling their story well enough?

Scottish agricultural journalist and Nuffield Scholar, Claire Taylor, has been visiting New Zealand and spoke to Country Life.

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