Te Karaka’s Bob Wishart and Meg Gaddum have won another major award that further recognises their farming and foresting efforts over 33 years. Source: Gisborne Herald
They received the trophy for Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year at the annual New Zealand farm forestry conference at Orewa in Auckland.
The award has gone to Gisborne six times in the 36 years it has been presented.
The couple started farming at Te Koawa Station in 1980 after agricultural studies at Massey.
“We saw the farm as a treeless landscape with erosion potential and began to plant for soil conservation and land stability in a small incremental way,” Gaddum said.
“Cyclone Bola was a sharp lesson and we began more serious farm forestry, taking advantage of forestry schemes, planting 57 hectares in pines in five years.”
The work was designed to protect their farm from the Waikohu River, and vice-versa, and stabilise what could be lost if another Bola should occur.
Thousands of willows have since been planted on the property many of which have been cut and fed to animals during droughts.
Becoming members of the NZ Farm Forestry Association provided continual opportunities to learn and to inspired, Gaddum said.
“It has spring boarded us to keep on planting but usually with other species chosen to suit the site and soil,” she said.
They hope to mill their smaller specialist forests themselves to provide high-quality timber for flooring and furniture.
“In recent years we have planted eucalyptus forests, which include scientific trials for the New Zealand drylands forest initiative,” Gaddum said.
Te Koawa Station carries about 147 hectares of planted forests, covering 17% of the farm, with more planting planned for the near future.
Seventeen hectares of native forest is protected by a covenant with the QEII Trust, for which Gaddum works part-time.
The pair is no strangers to award success. They won the inaugural Gisborne Rural Environmental Awards in 2000 for good environmental practices and a commitment to integrating conservation into core business opportunities.
They also won the Neil Barr Award for high standard of silviculture (pruning and thinning) on farm in 2009.
“By using trees to protect the land, provide doses of extra income from time to time, provide shade, shelter and emergency stock food, and improve the management of stock by removing the difficult or unproductive corners, I feel my dream of an integrated farming system is nearing completion,” Gaddum said.
“However, Bob has new ideas and places for more planting and planning … planting trees is always positive at Te Koawa.”
