November 1 2011

Rakaia cropping farmers Bill and Lynda Davey are one of four finalists in the running for Lincoln University Foundation's South Island farmer of the year.

The Daveys run an intensive cropping operation supplying barley for Monteith's Brewery and lease land to a Dutch company that grows bulbs.
Ray and Adrienne Bowan, Orari potato growers and owner of Heartland Potato Chips, are also in the running, along with Stephen and Tracey Cullen, from Southland, and David and Pam Gardner from Waimate.
The Cullens graze sheep and winter dairy cows, while the Gardners also farm sheep and cows.
Lincoln University Foundation chairman Neil Taylor said the competition rewarded innovative, efficient and sustainable farmers and farming methods. "This year's entrants were all of a high calibre and it was difficult to narrow them down to four finalists."
The winner will be announced at a special function at the university on November 4. Each of the finalists will give a 20-minute presentation before a final judging round.

The four finalists:
Bill and Lynda Davey's Springdale Farm just west of Rakaia totals 487 hectares, all but 50 hectares of which are fully spray irrigated.
Springdale is predominantly a cropping farm, however the Daveys also finish up to 14,000 crossbred store lambs during winter as well as wintering dairy cows, using the farm's barley straw and brassicas as a feed source. The Davey family emigrated to New Zealand from England 10 years ago, disillusioned with subsidised farming and with little opportunity to expand the family farm in Lincolnshire. While it was a major transformation at the time, they have few regrets. They are Monteith's preferred supplier of Charmay barley with all grain produced being made available to the brewery for its boutique Single Source Lager. A Dutch company leases land from the Daveys to grow lily bulbs which are washed on-farm and they are currently negotiating with a British seed house to grow and export turf grasses. The farm not only supports the Daveys, but their son Nick's family and one other full-time employee.

Stephen and Tracey Cullen's 677-hectare sheep and dairy cow wintering farm borders the Oreti River on the Mossburn-Five Rivers Highway in Southland. They farm 4530 Coopdale ewes, 1250 ewe hoggets and 50 rams. Working to the farm's strengths, they winter dairy cows before the river flats dry out. In 1991 at 26 years of age, Stephen leased his first farm. He worked hard to improve the fertility and profitability of properties with the aim of purchasing his own farm. In 1995 Stephen became one of the first sheep farmers to start wintering dairy cows to supplement his income. This year more than 1500 dairy cows from various Southland farms wintered on the Cullen's property. The family purchased their first farm in 1998 and in the new year Stephen will take over another farm that he is currently leasing. Tracey works full-time as a resource teacher of literacy and she is studying part-time towards her doctorate of education. They have two primary school-aged children.

David and Pam Gardner farm Melford Hills inland from Waimate in South Canterbury. The property is made up of rolling hills from 450 metres above sea level through to rocky points 150m higher up. The Gardners run 2700 Kelso ewes plus hoggets with a focus on prime and store lamb production with a lambing percentage of 140 percent. They also run 120 shorthorn cross cows, including heifers that are calving at present. Innovatively for a sheep and beef property, Melford Hills is fenced extensively using mains electric four-wire fencing for subdivision as well as laneways. This approach is unusual for sheep and beef farmers. While some use it in a limited way few have used it as extensively as the Gardners. By using a cheaper, yet effective, fencing method the Gardners have been able to fence more of their property and increase productivity. They have also been able to turn their attention and investment to direct drilling and bulldozer work to clear more land for production.

Ray and Adrienne Bowan farm 1214 hectares in Orari and 197 hectares at Coldstream on the North Bank of the Rangitata River. With 95 percent of their farm irrigated they grow potatoes, cereals, barley, maze and grass seeds. Increasingly they are wintering dairy cows and last winter 2,500 cows wintered on their property. Ray is a director of both Grainstor and Seedlands and is an original member of the Rangitata South Irrigation Scheme. In 2009 when a potato chip factory in Washdyke closed down the Bowans bought the factory and established Heartland Potato Chips which employs 15 people. The Bowans bought their first farm over 40 years ago. It is now a family affair with their son working on the farm, one daughter working in the office and another daughter, who lives in Christchurch, helping out with the marketing.

Pictured: Somerton farmer Bill Davey with his paddock of charmay barley.

Photo Kirsty Graham