Cambridge orchardist Bob Teal wins awards for innovative berry farming

Horticulturalist Bob Teal training autumn blackberry vine growth ready for next spring. Photo / Catherine Fry

A Cambridge orchard is proving that you don’t have to be a large-scale operation to be successful.

At Bruntwood Gardens, Robert Teal has built a thriving business on a relatively small piece of land, demonstrating a talent for high-quality production and a resourceful approach to horticulture.

Teal, known as Bob, was a finalist in the 2025 Ballance Farm Environment Awards – Waikato Region.

On the Waikato awards night, he walked away with two awards: the Rabobank Agri-Business Management Award and the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust Innovation Award.

Teal’s relationship with his piece of land started in 1980 when he was a dairy farmer and bought the 32ha block with the intention to convert it to a horticultural enterprise.

“After a long dairy farming career, I was ready to stop getting up early and being out in all weather conditions,” he said.

Teal said nothing happened overnight in horticulture, and 10-year plans were essential, as most new plantings took four to five years to produce a profitable crop.

“The advantage of having acreage gave me the opportunity to continue with other streams of income while waiting for planting to establish.”

These included bringing his in-calf young stock and growing the calves on to sell, which provided cash for the first year.

“During those first years, I tried several other crops, including maize and sunflowers, and growing on protea and blueberry root cuttings to sell,” he said.

“I had 20 acres in asparagus, and one planting lasted 20 years in the ground!”

Meanwhile, the berry plantings that would become his main business for 30 years were being established.

Teal has subdivided a few times, and there are now five houses on the land.

“That’s five families using the town, the schools, the services and providing workers for the district, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Ballance Farm Environment Awards Waikato finalist Bob Teal. Photo / Catherine Fry

He now has 1.68ha of the original land left, including his house and grounds and 1ha in berries.

He has the business of berry-growing down to a fine art and maximises the potential of available space.

He takes advantage of the demand for early berries.

“I’ve got three varieties of blackberry which are grown in poly tunnels and are ready by Labour Weekend and finished by the first of January.

“My raspberries are also early and finished around the same time.”

Teal had “two failed retirements” under his belt and, at 80, was still the main worker on the property.

Horticulturalist Bob Teal training autumn blackberry vine growth ready for next spring. Photo / Catherine Fry

The early berries mean that there is little need for irrigation as the vines are finished by the time drought sets in.

The vines are cut back as soon as they have finished fruiting, allowing new growth to utilise available water.

Teal and one worker tie up the growth on the vines through the winter.

Old cut vines are spread out with a pitchfork, gone over with a slasher mower and then finely mulched.

The mulch is spread around the vines, which helps keep weeds at bay.

“I’ve come up with permanent poly tunnels on wooden frames that have flexibility in their hoops and bird netting from waist height down.

“They really take the weather out of the equation.”

Bob Teal using water to demonstrate his innovative repurposed golf cart sprayer. Photo / Catherine Fry

The raspberries grow outside, and each year, as harvesting approaches, bird netting is erected over them.

During harvesting, seasonal worker numbers swell to 10.

Teal sprayed for weeds, pests and diseases (mainly fungal) and said it was a necessity for berry growing.

Bob Teal repurposed 10 pushchairs into harvesting trolleys. Photo / Catherine Fry

He seeks to use the safest products and is always looking at new products as they are released.

He has adapted a golf cart to pull an automated sprayer unit and is delighted with the result.

“It’s the perfect width for the tunnels, and I can make it go slow enough to ensure a nice, even coverage.”

Teal spent time on TradeMe buying 10 old pushchairs and converted each one into a trolley for collecting harvested berries.

Depending on the worker, each trolley can accommodate four to six trays before being taken to be processed.

Teal’s awards reflect his expertise at making a one-hectare berry garden a viable and profitable venture, and also his “can-do” attitude, where he invents his own solutions to problems that arise in his berry business.