Far North news in brief: Farm enviro awards; rugby club lease and Savour Northland

Oromahoe Trust, managed by Dean Candy, was the regional supreme winner of this year's Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards and is urging farmers to enter the 2025 awards

Farm enviro awards

Farmers and growers across the region are invited to enter the 2025 Ballance Farm Environment Awards to help continue to grow a healthy future for farming. Facilitated by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust, the awards recognise and celebrate excellence and innovation in sustainable farming and growing within the primary sector.

Sarah Harris, general manager of the Trust, invites farmers and growers at any stage of their sustainability journey to get involved.

Dean Candy and Wiremu Tane of the Oromāhoe Trust were named this year’s Northland Regional Supreme Winners and encourage anyone who is considering entering the awards to take up the opportunity.

For more details go to https://nzfeawards.org.nz/

Te Rarawa Rugby Club lease

Far North District Council has approved a 30-year ground lease for Te Rarawa Rugby Club at last week’s council meeting, granting the club a portion of Rarawa Memorial Domain Recreation Reserve.

This recognises the community’s strong backing of the club and its contribution to local sports, which was demonstrated by the results of an April 2024 consultation, where 99 out of a total of 100 submissions supported the lease proposal.

Since 1985, the club has been based at the reserve, sharing the site with Te Rarawa Football Club. It provides a wide range of sporting and recreational activities for all ages, including support for junior rugby teams and summer touch rugby modules, fostering community fitness. The sports ground and facilities also serve as a hub for community events, meetings, and gatherings.

Savour tastes of Northland

Locally inspired dishes, culinary collaborations and immersive workshops will be served up during the inaugural Savour Northland event. Over 30 events, including in the Far North, will be held from October 4 to 28 including collaborations between award-winning restaurants and vineyards, opportunities to sip and dine with your mates in stunning settings, meet the makers, learn a new skill or do something fun with the kids. Entries will be announced in September. For more information visit www.savournorthland.com

Hill country fund

Applications are open for more than $300,000 worth of funding for soil conservation mitigation on highly erodible hill country in Northland, including fencing for natural reversion, fencing native bush and planting native trees.

Northland Regional Council’s Natural Resources Working Party has $160,062 for planting natives across 37 hectares of Northland during the 2025-26 planting season (June, July and August 2025). It has another $151,840 for fencing to retire highly erodible land from grazing.

The fund is available to Northland landowners outside the Kaipara Harbour catchment area, as the Kaipara catchment is covered by funding delivered through the Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) programme. Half of the money is being provided by the council and half from the Ministry for Primary Industries.

People interested can contact the council’s Land Management team on (0800) 002 004 or email landadmin@nrc.govt.nz Applications are expected to close by September/October so fencing can be completed by March 31.