Farm Forestry New Zealand

Award winners

Farm Foresters of the year - award winners

North Island

• Husqvarna North Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2021 – Nick and Sheryll Pollock
  Nick Pollock completed his four years at Canterbury University with a degree in horticulture science. He then worked for a family business in Marlborough for eight years where he gained…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2020 - Graham and Tess Smith
  Graham and Tess Smith purchased 37.4 hectares close to Kihikihi, near Te Awamutu in the north King Country. Graham had been share-milking and always looking for an opportunity as he…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2019 - Gordon and Trish Levet
  Gordon and Trish Levet are sheep farmers and they are good sheep farmers. Gordon, now in his mid eighties, has managed the family farm Kikitangeo near Wellsford since 1961. But…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year 2018 - Dean Satchell
  The winner of the 2018 North Island Farm Forester of theYear award was not born into land, money, horticulture or forestry. In fact, growing up in suburban Auckland would probably have…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year 2017 - Dave and Sue Forsyth
  Dave Forsyth farms a 243-hectare intensive dairy farming and forestry operation mid-way between Pirongia and Te Awamutu in the Waikato. The property is a mixture of volcanic flat and rolling land of…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2016 - John and Christine Pedersen
  John and Christine Pedersen live and work on a 232 hectare farm at Parakao, west of Whangarei. The area is typical of much of the northland landscape with pockets of…
• Husqvarna Farm Foresters of the Year North Island 2014 - John and Diny Dermer
  John and Diny Dermer’s farm Waipiko is located at Cheltenham, 15 kilometres north of Feilding. The farm is a mixed cropping, sheep and beef fattening farm and has been owned…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2013 - Bob and Meg Gaddum
  This year’s winners live on Te Koawa Station, an 882 hectare property 50 kilometres west of Gisborne. It is typical of the hill country of that region. It runs approximately…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year 2012 - Roger and Daphne Reddington
  Roger and Daphne live at Chilly Brook in the upper Akatarawa valley, north of Upper Hutt. Roger first worked in the vicinity as a carpenter at a sawmill which had…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2011 - David and Cloie Blackley and Gabrielle Walton
  Summerhill Farm is an inter-generational farming and forestry enterprise situated on the Papamoa hills behind Welcome Bay, between Tauranga and Te Puke. It has a total area of 400 hectares…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year 2010 - Gordon Perry
  Gordon Perry lives at Hoteo, just a short distance from NZFFA founder Neil Barr’s farm. Gordon, his father and brother, purchased the property of 140 hectares from the Steventon family…
• Husqvarna North Island Farm Forester of the Year 2009 - David and Ngaire Bryant
  Longview was originally part of Olrig Station. It returned to the Lands and Survey Department after the World War I because of the ‘harshness of the climate and the fact…

South Island

• Husqvarna South Island Farm Forester of the Year 2021 - Alistair Malcolm
  For many years Alistair Malcolm has been an orchardist and fruit tree nurseryman growing apples, peaches and nectarines as well as running fruit packing sheds and cool stores. In 1986 he…
• South Island Farm Forester of the Year 2020 - Scott McKenzie
  It is Scott’s name on the award for farm forestry at Pineview in South Otago but it is very much a family enterprise. The farm is run by Colin and…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Forester of the Year 2019 - Gary Fleming
  It would not have been a surprise to those who know Gary Fleming that he is the 2019 South Island Husqvarna Farm Forester of the Year. Gary is the complete…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2018 - Claire and Terry Gavin
  Claire and Terry Gavin’s 53-hectare forest farm Otiria is situated at Owen Junction, 23 km north of Murchison on flats alongside the mighty Buller River. The predominantly north-facing property lies…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2017 - Mark and Marjorie Hay
  Mark and Marjorie Hay and their son Isaac farm near Lawrence in South Otago. Their property, Glenayr, covers 893 hectares and is situated on the highest part of the surrounding countryside.…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2016 - Bevan Walker and Nora Flight
  Hidden away in a little offshoot of the Wai-iti Valley about 30 km south west of Richmond is an arboreal gem which includes in its 71 hectares more than 40…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2015 - Graham and Pam Hunter
  When Graham and Pam Hunter took over their 484 hectare farm in 1997 it had 30 paddocks and the only exotic trees on the property were the old orchards and…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2014 - Graeme and Christine McArthur
  The McArthur property, Lochaber Downs is situated near the small town of Whitecliffs, nestled in the foothills midway between the Rakaia and Waimakariri rivers. The farm of 680 hectares was…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2013 - Charles and Sandy Wiffen
  The Wiffen’s homestead is on the west side of State Highway 1 north of Parnassus, but the vast majority of their 1,400 hectare Inverness property lies on the east side…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2012 - Dennis and Margaret Larsen
  Farm foresters have a keen interest and love of trees, but plant them for various reasons. Many have small blocks of diverse species, which provide great environmental and amenity value…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2011 - Neil and Pam Cullen
  New Zealand has numerous isolated valleys which are farmed to varying degrees, and have tremendous potential for forest development. One such valley is the Glenomaru Valley in South Otago, 25…
• Husqvarna South Island Farm Foresters of the Year 2010 - George and Terry McMeeken
  George and Terry McMeeken farm 295 hectares at Feldwick, 25 km north of Tuatapere in Western Southland. George and Terry are long time members of the Southland branch and are…

New Zealand Landcare Trust Award winners

• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2021 - The Lloyd and Beverley Gravatt farm
  The hill country farm of 500 hectares close to Dargaville is known as Windy Hill. The property was purchased in 1994 by Lloyd and Beverley Gravatt. The land is mainly…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2020 - Jeff and Linzi Keen
  The farm Tomogalak Gorge in northern Southland covers 870 hectares of rolling medium hill country with 700 hectares of effective grazing land run as a mixed sheep and beef farm.…
• The Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Forestry 2019 - Jaap and Sue van Dorsser
  Jaap and Sue van Dorsser have a wonderful park-like lifestyle block on the banks of the Awahou stream 15 km north west of Rotorua. It has fruit trees and vegetable…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2018 - Ken and Robyn Ferguson
  Ken and Robyn’s picturesque farm Waipuna is nestled alongside the Grey River on the West Coast and consists of 1,000 hectares of flat pasture and 850 hectares of indigenous forest.…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2017 - Eric and Annette Cairns
  Eric and Annette Cairns have an eight-hectare property Fantails which is five kilometres east of Upper Hutt. They purchased the gorse, bracken and scrub property in 1985 with the intention…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2016 - David and Helen Vollweiler
  For David and Helen Vollweiler, running their 860 hectare property in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner has long been a key component of their management practice. In 2009 they…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2015 - Graham and Tess Smith
  Miraka farm is nestled against the banks of the Mangatutu river south-east of Te Awamutu. It is home to 70 cows, 15 ducks, three dogs, umpteen turkeys as well as…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2014 - Peter and Jane Evans
  The Evans family have been resident in the Pareora Gorge for a long time, with Peter’s great grandfather purchasing the original 80 hectares in 1875. This has been increased, mainly…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2013 - Ewen McGregor
  This year’s award winner has achieved in a dry land environment what many aspire to achieve in more benign parts of New Zealand. Situated on the banks of the Tukituki…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2012 - Rural Woman New Zealand Forest Committee Southland
  This year’s winner of the New Zealand Landcare Trust award is not the normal farm operation of the type which has won this award in the past. In New Zealand there…
• The Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2011 - Ingleby Coxe
  In 1988 an English woman who had lived in Africa for many years came to stay with friends and walk some of the magnificent walkways that New Zealand has to…
• Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry 2010 - Michael and Michelle Anderson
  Sometimes the boundaries between farmland and park become blurred. This is certainly the case at Lyndale farm owned by Michael and Michelle Anderson, the recipients of the Landcare Trust Award.…