Waiorongomai Valley Farms' van Ras family wins supreme award at Ballance Farm Environment Awards

The van Ras family of Waiorongomai Valley Farms, from left, Kylie, Johan, Truus and Richard. Photo / New Zealand Environment Trust

The van Ras Family of Morrinsville has been named 2021 Regional Supreme Winners in the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust.

The Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards that champion sustainable farming and growing was held at the Sir Don Rowlands Centre in Karapiro on April 14.

Running their Waiorongomai Valley Farm is a family affair for the van Ras family with new generations living and working on the farm since purchasing it 2010. Before this they leased the farm for six years.

The 76 hectare farm has 215 cows and has stock health as a main priority.

The family are proud of the farm they call home and are constantly looking to improve their environmental impact and balance sustainability with profitability.

With a great thirst for information and new initiatives they entered the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in the hope of learning from the awards experience and to help share positive stories from the farming industry.

The judges said the van Rases are good adopters of technology who understand the value of using accurate data to inform good management practice and sustainable business decisions.

"It is evident that the van Ras family work well as a team and have an excellent succession plan across three generations. We believe that this farm business offers many industry leadership opportunities for the van Ras family," the judges said.

As well as receiving this year's Regional Supreme Award, they also received the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award, the DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award, the WaterForce Integrated Management Award and the Synlait Future Leaders Award.

A field day will be held at Waiorongomai Valley Farms on Friday, May 14.

Other Waikato 2021 Ballance Farm Environment Award winners went to Michael and Susi Woodward – Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award and Norwood Agri-Business Management Award; Russell and Mavis Proffit – Massey University Innovation Award and Waikato Regional Council Water Protection Award; Murray & Janet Easton – Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Award; and Peter Levin and Phil Barton - Hill Laboratories Agri-Science Award and Waikato River Authority Catchment Improvement Award.