Supreme Ballance award for Whananaki beef farmers

Whananaki Coastal Charolais owners Greta and Craig Harman took the top prize at the 2018 Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards ceremony in Waitangi last week.

Whananaki beef farmers Greta and Craig Harman have won the 2018 Northland Ballance Farm Environment Supreme Award.

It was presented to them at the Copthorne Hotel and Resort at Waitangi last week after judges said both of the Harmans' coastal hill properties — home to Whananaki Coastal Charolais — were showplaces of biosecurity and biodiversity management that combined cattle farming, bull breeding and community involvement.

"The Harmans have completed an extraordinary amount of environmental protection work on their properties, not because they had to, but because it was the 'right thing to do'," people at the awards dinner were told.

The Harmans have completed an extraordinary amount of environmental protection work on their properties, not because they had to, but because it was the 'right thing to do'.

The Harmans have two properties totalling 455ha. Thirteen per cent of the land is fenced native bush and 4per cent is protected wetlands.

There are 100 registered Charolais cows plus replacements on the properties, along with 70 R1 and R2 bulls being reared for sale, a small purebred Angus cow herd and around 260 commercial crossbred cattle — cows, heifers, steers and bulls.

Water is reticulated to all paddocks for cattle, shade is provided where possible and fencing is nearly complete for all waterways and wetlands.

Whananaki Charolais is situated near numerous coastal holiday homes, camping grounds and beaches and balances public access to sites of biodiversity, scenic and historical importance against the needs for biosecurity, animal welfare and health and safety.

The farm has hosted many Whangarei Pony Club events, school camps, walking groups, horse treks and volunteer planting days.

Local schoolchildren also monitor the health of the estuary and help to plant bushes and trees on the farms through the Northland Regional Council's Enviroschools programme.

Greta's family began farming in the district 50 years ago, founding the Charolais stud soon after, and the home farm has since been expanded and a second farm added. Land use and development has come full circle in that time, from clearing scrub and weeds to open up pasture to closing gullies and wetlands to promote native regrowth.

Greta heads the local Landcare group, one of more than 60 groups linked to the Kiwi Coast project, aimed at creating a safe corridor for kiwi on Northland's east coast from the Brynderwyns to the Karikari Peninsula.

Pateke (brown teal) have been protected and encouraged so Whananaki is now the strongest pateke breeding ground on the mainland.

Other awards

As well as the regional supreme award, the Harmans won the Northland Regional Council Water Quality Enhancement Award and the Predator Free Farm Award.

Kawakawa beef and forestry farmers Geff, Dinah and Kaleb Cookson won the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award and the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Award.

Ruakaka dairy farmers Bruce and Julie Paton won the CB Norwood Distributors Ltd Agri-Business Management Award and the WaterForce Integrated Management Award.

The DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award was won by Andrew and Vicky Booth from Titoki and the Hill Laboratories Agri-Science Award and Massey University Innovation Award were won by Daniel Lloyd and Tina Winder from Landcorp's Takakuri Station.

The Harmans will host a field day at their Whananaki property on May 10.