Greg & Rachel Hart

RD2 Otane ghart [at] xtra [dot] co [dot] nz

"We have made a commitment to manage our farm as sustainably as possible, as well as becoming involved in educating our community on environmental issues etc."

Greg and Rachel farm 3,000 sheep and 500 cattle on 610ha of drought-prone hill country south of Hastings. Their innovations are wide-ranging, including trees, soil health, protection of a lake as a wildlife sanctuary, and a planned eco-lodge for workshops on eco-building and for school and corporate visits.

An agreement with Air NZ will see 40ha of poorly-performing gullies planted in 60,000 native trees to create a conservation reserve with public access. Air NZ is contributing $450,000 over 3 years for the trees, fencing, and planting.

This is the first "environmental good" project of the Air NZ Environment Trust and has general environmental objectives, including ecosystem restoration, improving water quality, reducing erosion, sequestering carbon and environmental education. Passengers can visit and see the trees they have contributed to with their voluntary sponsorship, as well as learning more about where their food comes from and the realities of farming life. The Harts welcome others to get involved with the planting program, and as a result many volunteers have made a bond with the farm.

It seemed to me a great example of how to break down some of the misunderstanding between town and country.

This planting is not primarily a carbon sequestration project, as the natives will accumulate carbon quite slowly, though over the long term they will accumulate far more than fast growing trees like pines.

From a farming point of view, fencing and planting those steep valleys cuts out stock losses and improves water quality downstream. There are also likely to be cash benefits from carbon sequestration in the future, and the Harts are looking ahead to when the prices of oil and fertiliser change the profitability of much of this type of land. Greg says:

"We made the decision to make this land available and take it out of pastoral farming based on a desire to create more balance between agriculture and nature and to increase biodiversity on the farm. It obviously will make the farm a nicer place to live, work and visit! The land wasn't particularly productive and with expected increases in fertilizer and application costs, increased occurrence of droughts, and the need for more trees to soak up some of the excess atmospheric CO2, reduce erosion and improve water quality, there were plenty of reasons to give up a bit of short-term income."

Last year another 18,000 alders, poplars and willows and over 20 other exotic species were planted on the farm, some in small blocks on very dry faces and some spot planted in protectors across the paddocks. The objective is to create shade patches and shelter, with nutrient cycling as the trees bring up nutrients and water to benefit pasture and stock at leaf fall. Many of the species planted are also suitable for feeding stock during periods of drought.

A patch of bush, which is predominantly kahikatea, matai, and totara, is protected by a QEII covenant.

With support from QEII, the Regional Council, and Fish & Game, an enchanting little lake has been fenced off and the edges planted to improve habitat for waterfowl. Two other neighbours also front the lake edge so inevitably there are issues about co-ordinating protective management.

With this new focus on sustainability Greg is also reconsidering how he manages the soil. Until recently he used DAP 15S and some urea. He has knocked off the urea and moved to 170kg RPR and 250 kg lime per ha. He is now working with Abron (living soil solutions) and taking a more biological approach. The 65kg RPR he now uses is only half maintenance rate measured by conventional standards but he also uses 350kg Lime Mag, 10 kg elemental Sulphur, cobalt and selenium, and humates. This year he has also applied his first use of biodynamic preparation 500. He expects the nutrients to be much more available due to the use of humates and the high carbon content he is developing in the soil. We looked at some soil profiles and the deep root channels with darker humus along them were very visible.

It is too soon to determine the effects of this change definitively, but Greg says he can observe a greater biological activity. I watched the use of a brix meter to measure grass sugar content and the measures in different parts of the farm of 5, 9 and even 14 were higher, according to Greg, than any previous measures. A full monitoring system is in place and this will be an interesting farm to watch. It's not a new idea that it is quality rather than just quantity of feed that matters, but so often this is just guessed at.

Results of future monitoring will be posted on the farm website, www.thefamilyfarm.net.nz, which is well worth a look. It has better pictures than I was able to take, given the grey weather on the day.

With regard to stock health, again it is too soon to get definitive measurements, but Greg says they are seeing less footrot and drenching less. A change of grass type may be helping too - he has sown more fescue and a variety of clovers and chicory, all of which help with parasites and general health.

What I found exciting on this farm was the wide range of sustainability projects, as Greg is taking a whole of farm sustainability approach. He is open to new ideas of all kinds and keen to share what he learns with others.

Thank you Greg and Rachel for a great afternoon - even if I was hours late for my next appointment!

Greg's farm is currently the focus for an in-depth case study, as part of a Sustainable Farming Fund project on adapting to drought in hill country Hawke's Bay - you can read more here. Bruce Wills has also made a contribution to this project.

Read about other visits Jeanette has made

Read our Agriculture and Rural Issues policy