7 May 2013

Te Karaka, Gisborne, couple Bob Wishart and Meg Gaddum have won the Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year.

The trophy is one of several they have received for their farming and foresting efforts over the years. When the couple arrived on the farm 33 years ago it was a treeless landscape with erosion potential, so they began to plant for soil conservation and land stability in a small way.

"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," Ms Gaddum said.

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, she said.

"In recent years we have planted eucalyptus forests, which include scientific trials for the New Zealand drylands forest initiative."

Te Koawa Station carries about 147 ha of planted forests, covering 17 per cent 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 Meg Gaddum works part-time.

"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," Ms Gaddum said.

"However, Bob has new ideas and places for more planting and planning . . . planting trees is always positive at Te Koawa."

Source: Gisborne Herald story by Murray Robertson. To read the full story, click here