Eco-friendly chickens at CHB's Mangarara Station, The Family Farm.
Eco-friendly chickens at CHB's Mangarara Station, The Family Farm.
Central Hawke's Bay's Mangarara Station, "The Family Farm", will feature on this Sunday's episode of Country Calendar on TV One at 7pm.
Greg and Rachel Hart and their three children farm Mangarara Station which sits on the shores of Horseshoe Lake in Otane, Central Hawke's Bay and promotes sustainable farmingand regenerative agriculture.
The Country Calendar episode will highlight The Family Farm's regenerative agriculture principles, which focus on building soils, restoring watercourses, and encouraging biodiversity, while reducing dependency on outside inputs, improving livestock health and increasing farm yields and profitability.
The couple made their farm operations more environmentally responsible and sustainable 15 years ago. All the meat at The Family Farm is produced using regenerative farming principles, such as a holistic grazing, that sequester carbon in the soil.
The 500 cows, 100 pigs, 1000 breeding ewes and chickens at Mangarara are moved around constantly to maintain tall pasture which has deeper, more complex root systems which in turn act as a natural filtration system for any farm water run-off, as well as protecting against evaporation and soil degradation.
Milk from the pasture-fed cows is used to feed the pigs and although they are fed some maize, the chickens are also mainly grass fed. Though the farm is not completely free of fertilisers, the couple use only the most biologically-friendly ones and only when the compost from the station's two large worm farms isn't suitable.
"Basically we are growing pork and poultry that is fed on grass - because the milk is a derivative of grass - so it's requiring a whole lot less fossil fuel," Greg said.
"It's early days, but there are millions of hectares managed around the world this way. It's working for us and we think it's more sustainable."
They are also showing people how wise food choices can mean significant improvements for the environment. The award-winning Family Farm Meat Club, launched in July 2016, enables people to choose to eat food that makes a positive difference to the planet - by engaging with the food-source.
Sunday's show will also showcase Mangarara's Eco Lodge, a conference and holiday venue on the shores of Horseshoe Lake.
The Lodge opened its doors in 2015 and gives visitors, families, groups or corporates the chance to stay, hold meetings and conferences, have a hands-on experience on the farm and learn a more about the Harts' farming philosophy.
Depending on the time of year visitors can also muck in with milking, tree planting feeding pigs and chooks, collecting eggs, harvesting fruit and vege and general gardening.
Mangarara Station is open to the public, and Greg and Rachel say they enjoy showing people around, explaining what they're doing and why, and how we can all make a difference.
