Late Feds leader Rural Hero of Year finalist
The late Federated Farmers leader Chris Allen is a finalist, along with Waikato-Hauraki-Coromandel Rural Support Trust co-founder Neil Bateup and Taranaki rescue helicopter fundraiser Ian Jury, for the Rural Hero of the Year award.
Mr Allen, 62, died after he was electrocuted while fixing a garage door last December.
His sheep and beef property in Ashburton Forks was one of several farms badly damaged in the floods which hit the region in 2021.
A Federated Farmers board member for eight years, he hosted then prime minister Jacinda Ardern at his property to show the damage and appeal for government support.
His balanced approach on environmental and water issues earned the respect of farmers and those with opposing views.
Mr Bateup became founding chairman of the NZ Rural Support Trust in 2017 and has given many hours supporting farmers and rural families facing hard times, while 85-year-old Mr Jury has collected batteries for recycling for 20 years in his fundraising for the rescue helicopter service.
The awards are part of the two-day PINZ Summit taking place at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre from June 24 to 25.
Another widely known central South Island farmer — Molesworth Station manager Jim Ward — is a finalist with senior AgResearch scientists Dr Robyn Dynes and David Wheeler for the Champion Award.
For nearly 20 years he has been on the Federated Farmers high-country committee and served the Wilding Pine Network New Zealand.
Often behind the scenes, he has worked for change, shaped policies and driven improvements for high-country farmers.
Since taking on the Molesworth farm manager role in 2001, he has faced many challenges to ensure the station remains economically viable.
For more than two decades he has balanced pastoral farming, conservation and recreation values under the scrutiny of the public eye.
Mr Wheeler has helped shape and improve the farm management tool Overseer, while Dr Dynes is a principal scientist and farmer engagement specialist at AgResearch focusing on farming systems between forage science and animal science.
Federated Farmers chief executive Terry Copeland said the awards celebrated primary leaders at a time when leadership was needed during an international tariff "tit-for-tat" sparking disruption and uncertainty in export markets. PRIMARY INDUSTRIES NEW ZEALAND AWARD FINALISTS
• Emerging Leader Award:
Bridie Virbickas, Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty sharemilker chairwoman.
Imogen Brankin, Silver Fern Farms on-farm sustainability adviser.
Kazi Talaska, Onions NZ general manager.
Lucy Brown, The Whole Story agricultural sustainability coach.
• Champion Award:
David Wheeler, AgResearch senior scientist.
James (Jim) Ward, Molesworth Station manager.
Dr Robyn Dynes, AgResearch principal scientist and farmer engagement specialist.
• Team and Collaboration Award
nProve for Beef — online genetics tool, Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Food system integrity team, AgResearch, led by Dr Gale Brightwell.
An open data-sharing ecosystem: Fonterra, Ballance, Ravensdown and LIC.
• Technology Innovation Award
TEO for Ovitage, the world's most complete collagen.
FAR for Combine Workshops — increasing productivity on arable farms.
Alliance Group for Meat Eating Quality (MEQ) technology.
• Food, Beverage and Fibre Producer Award
Chia Sisters.
Kiwi Econet, Grant Lightfoot founder.
New Image International.
• Guardianship & Conservation/Kaitiakitanga Award
Pāua Dashboard — Pāua Industry Council.
The eDNA for water quality team led by Dr Adrian Cookson.
Pacificvet, co-founder Kent Deitemeyer.
• Rural Hero of the Year
Chris Allen (posthumous), farmer and Federated Farmers leader.
Neil Bateup, Rural Support Trust founder.
Ian Jury, Taranaki grassroots good sort.
•Outstanding Contribution to Primary Industries NZ Award
Winner to be announced on the night.
tim.cronshaw@alliedpress.co.nz
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NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Derelict farm to premium Angus beef: Danbri Farm's regenerative journey
Then he phoned his wife. 'I said to her, 'I'm going to sign the documents'. And she used some rather expressive language!' Eb is married to Deborah Pead, the public relations powerhouse whose recent pro bono claims to fame include wresting the record for the world's largest haka from the French. She remembers that phone call from her husband. 'The thing you were trying to convince me was that it had potential. It wasn't finished. It was raw. You could see all the stuff that we needed to do. I remember it clearly, because I was like 'I want a finished farm!'' Last month, the 121ha property hit a milestone. Naturally, there was a PR-approved statement: 'Danbri Farm, a family-run regenerative property, has launched its premium Angus beef brand, the result of thoughtful innovation, deep respect for animals, and a belief that New Zealand's best meat can also be its most humane.' 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The abattoir on wheels, developed by Waikato-based Earth First Foods, is currently the only one of its kind in the country (its prototype went to Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie's Royalburn Station where it contributed to the proof of concept needed to establish a permanent on-farm micro-abattoir and butchery that processes several thousand lambs a year). The meat industry acknowledges transport can cause animals significant distress. Science says stress can affect beef quality, altering pH levels and causing meat to discolour, firm up, hold fluid and become more prone to spoilage. Advocates of the paddock-to-plate approach say meat killed on-farm tastes better – and it allows farmers to keep more profit on their properties. New Zealand's beef herd comprises about 3.6 million animals. At Danbri, they run 152 head (including two bulls). Last year, the country's meat producers sent 2.2 million cattle to slaughter. Danbri's first public offering comprised just two beasts. This is not meat-to-the-masses – but for consumers with the financial means to know exactly where and how their slow-cooked brisket lived (and died), it is another option. James Birch shifts in-calf Angus cows on to fresh pasture at Danbri Farm. Photo / Michael Craig 'Hup-hup-hup! Way you go, way you go!' On a sunny Wednesday in rural Paparoa, Eb and his son-in-law James Birch are shifting a mixed-age breeding herd to greener pastures. The cows loop their tongues around the grass, enthusiastically scything it clear of the paddock. Every one of these animals is in-calf and the sound of them tearing into fresh feed en masse is, to this city-based observer, slightly unnerving. 'They'll finish this in a day,' says Birch, a 36-year-old former business development manager for Blunt Umbrellas who came to Paparoa for an extended stay during an early Covid lockdown. 'I made good money and I loved what I was doing. I didn't realise I'd love this more. Carl and Deb were looking for someone to help out and I was like 's***, I'll give it a go'.' He married their daughter Brittany on this farm. Their 3-year-old son Henry hunts for dinosaurs in its regenerating bush blocks. And, last year, he was out fencing with Eb when he noticed the now 70-year-old was not in his customary lead position. Eb: 'At first I thought, 'I must stop eating that Colman's hot english mustard'.' He self-diagnosed heartburn but, back at the house, picked up a weedeater and realised he couldn't breathe properly. 'They cut you open from here,' he says, gesturing to the top of his chest. 'And then they stitch you with steel wire.' For eight weeks after his triple heart bypass, Eb recuperated in Auckland. Farmers, he was warned, are in too much of a hurry to get back to work – jumping a fence had sent one impatient soul back to ICU for three weeks and hospital for a further six. 'I said, 'I promise you, I am not going to mess this one up. I'm not going through this kerfuffle again'.' When Carl Eb fenced this Danbri Farm paddock, he left two of its original gate posts as a tribute to the hard work of early farmers. Photo / Michael Craig Full disclosure. I've known Pead and Eb socially for more than a decade. But this is my first visit to the farm; the first time I've witnessed Eb truly in his element. 'I actually enjoy working,' he says. 'I've seen too many people retire and go mad.' Also: 'If you stay in Auckland too long, you think, 'oh, I'll just go and look at Rodd & Gunn' and you end up buying something you really don't need.' In June, Rabobank released a paper called Changing of the Guard. It revealed that over the next decade, more than half of the country's farm and orchard owners would hit retirement age. Their businesses were, conservatively, valued at more than $150 billion, but only one in three was likely to have a formal succession plan. Other research shows that while one-third of local farmers intend to pass land to their children, almost 40% of those children have no serious interest in becoming farmers. Eb and Pead's kids are in Danbri's DNA. The property is named for their children; a portmanteau of Daniel and Brittany ('we do hear a few Donburis,' says the latter, wryly). And it's that next generation driving a change to regenerative farming practices. 'We want to show more farmers, especially in Kaipara, that this is possible,' says Birch. 'If more of us move in this direction, we can elevate the reputation of meat from this region and lift the entire rural community.' The Herald's visit traverses bee hives, flocks of free-range chickens and seven long rows of newly planted fruit and nut trees. Waikopikopiko Stream has been fenced and banks replanted with funding help from Kaipara Moana Remediation. Existing bush blocks have also been fenced to keep cattle out, stabilise the land, and reduce sediment run-off into the nearby harbour (visiting kererū and tūī are a bonus). Stream fencing and replanting at Danbri Farm has been completed with funding assistance from Kaipara Moana Remediation. Photo / Michael Craig Paddocks once sown with traditional clover and rye now grow up to 24 different types of seed. Cover crops (such as oats and fava beans) send roots that fix nitrogen in the soil. A Biosea product has replaced urea. Success is measured by the depth of the topsoil; inspiration is the neighbour who grew his paddocks 30cm in 10 years with no fertiliser. Eb: 'If you keep your soil healthy and don't overgraze it, don't pug it, don't damage it, it will reward you. The most important worker in this world is the earthworm.' He nudges a cowpat with his foot. 'If that goes within two weeks, you must know there's activity underneath. Somebody is doing something and taking it for its dinner.' Birch adds: 'Daniel is a big advocate of the regenerative stuff. And the more we do, the more Carl sees how successful it is, he's becoming even more forward-thinking. He definitely needed us to push in that direction, but Carl is the man on the farm. He has been here the longest, he knows the land better than anyone, so we've also got to listen to him. We need the new ideas, but we also need a bit of guidance on the land.' Eb and Pead met in South Africa. The children of immigrant parents would, in turn, become immigrants themselves, moving to New Zealand 30 years ago. For them, the farm was a chance to put down serious roots. They relocated an 1885 Parnell worker's cottage to the property – and then they built the forever home. 'You go to Europe and you see families living in these 300-year-old farms, passed down from one generation to the next,' says Pead. 'When you build a family home that is going to be intergenerational, it's going to be built to last. So we went all out. It was absolutely beautiful. You know, new homes sit on the land, but after a while, they become part of the land. And she was just starting to become part of the land...' Her Instagram grid is blue and green and bright. Sunshine, swimming pools and verdant landscapes. Two beautiful grandchildren, friends and fabulous holidays. In October, 2022, there was an outlier. Twisted metal and broken glass – the dream house burned almost to the ground. The extended Danbri family was on holiday in Fiji. Back home, says Pead, a power surge had caused wiring to short in a utilities room. 'It's hard to comprehend losing everything in a fire,' she wrote. 'The things that can be replaced are easy to deal with. It's those treasures collected over a lifetime and the precious family mementos that tell the story of where we started in life and the journey along the way that we grieve over the most.' Deborah Pead, founder and chairwoman of Pead, the PR company that has financially supported Danbri's growth. Photo / Michael Craig She pulls a lunchtime brisket out of the tiny kitchen in the temporary living quarters that were created in a shed that used to house a tractor and kennels. The Danbri dogs are a small and energetic mass of Jack Russells and their matriarch was the formidably named Tilly Tuppence Piddles Pisspot. When the rest of the pack went out for the night, Tilly would slink behind the couch; a grande dame with special indoor privileges. 'Large and in charge,' says Pead. 'We used to say she was big boned, but a lot of other people said no, she was just overweight. She was a strong girl.' Tilly initially escaped the fire but, at some point, returned to the house. 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Kim Knight is a senior journalist on the New Zealand Herald's lifestyle desk. She holds a Master's in Gastronomy from AUT and was the 2025 recipient of the Gordon McLauchlan Journalism Award at the Voyager Media Awards.
NZ Herald
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RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
Desperate plea from struggling grain sector
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He said these days, there was huge diversity among arable farms, as farmers looked to other crops or activities to generate revenue, and warned there would likely be some loss of arable. The forage seed industry was also considering the impact of low profitability in the arable sector. Dr Derek Woodfield, who had just retired as general manager of PGG Wrightson Seeds spoke at the Plant Breeders Forum in Ōtautahi Christchurch last week. He said since farmers farmed for either capital gains or profit, challenges in arable were expected to flow down to the seed sector. "Where I see a real risk for us is actually the viability of the arable sector in New Zealand," Woodfield said at the industry event. "There have been close to zero capital gain on those properties per hectare in the last 10-15 years. That is a risk for arable farmers. "So as the moratorium or whatever on dairy conversions comes off, are we going to see a lot of our arable industry transition into dairy?" 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