Bay of Plenty’s Mountfort family combines farming with conservation

Bay of Plenty sheep and beef farmer Brent Mountfort. Photo / Federated Farmers

Having carved out a career in finance until he was 42, Bay of Plenty sheep and beef farmer Brent Mountfort still had farming the land he grew up on in the back of his mind.

Every day since 2008, he and his wife Antonia have woken up to ocean views of Mount Maunganui and the Coromandel Peninsula at Mountfort Puriri Farm near Matatā.

It has always been their dream to come back home and not only farm but also return the land to its original form.

“I grew up here,” Mountfort said.

“When Mum and Dad moved here in 1966, Mum was six months pregnant with me.

“When I was growing up, there were two things I wanted to be – a farmer, and I liked conservation.

“I was always spending time in nature. I liked going out and on bush walks, both Antonia and I have always loved that.”

As second-generation farmers at the farm, their focus has been conservation, and at the forefront of their minds is passing the land on in better condition than when they began.

Together with Brent’s parents, Chris and Antoinette Mountfort, the foursome planted 40,000 native trees and fenced off 80ha of the 267ha farm, including 6ha of deer-fenced land for natives to thrive and a further 32ha planted out in pine.

Mountfort said all this wasn’t achieved overnight, and there was a lot more to come.

He’s quick to remind any farmer reading that in doing so, it hasn’t touched any of the productive farmland, which farms 130 Angus cattle, 650 ewes and 250 hoggets.

Nationally, sheep numbers have reduced significantly from 50 million to 27 million in 30 years and on four million hectares less land.

Reflecting on 55 years of International Earth Day this April 22, Mountfort said there wasn’t enough recognition for what many Kiwi farmers were doing off their own backs – and bank accounts – for the environment.

“They don’t get enough credit because so many people don’t even know what is going on on these farms.

“You also get people who build a perception, and they don’t want to get out and check because it may challenge their perceptions.”

Statistics back him up.

In New Zealand, 24% of our native vegetation is on sheep and beef farmland.

Not only that, but the country also has one of the smallest environmental footprints of any red meat production internationally.

Kiwi sheep and beef farmers have reduced their absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 35% since 1990, and there is significant investment going into further reducing emissions.

It has always been Brent Mountfort's dream to come back home and return the land to its original form. Photo / Federated Farmers

The New Zealand sheep and beef sector has a goal of net carbon neutrality by 2050 and is already a long way towards achieving this while it continues to invest in further emissions reduction initiatives.

Mountfort said that for the majority of farmers, this effort was done out of pride for the land and had nothing to do with any rulebooks thrown at them.

In fact, he argued that it would take the fun out of it.

“The bit I worry about is the more they regulate it, the more they will take the joy out of it.

“At the end of the day, that is the legacy we want to leave for our future generation, and that’s important.

“We don’t want to leave this place bare. Farmers talk about it all the time, about leaving the land in a better spot in the way they found it.

“We can enhance this area and make it better than it was before.

“We are not stripping the profitable parts of the farm, we are leaving the farming operation a way out of it; you are being more productive on the productive land.”

Mountfort had been researching what vegetation, natives, and bush were historically on the Puriri farmland and putting it back little by little.

This has meant turning the wetlands back into wetlands, conserving the soil to stop erosion, fencing out the pests, and planting rātā, rimu, pukatea and kohekohe.

He said the regional council, the QEII Trust and local help had been key to getting the land on its way back to its original condition.

“For the majority of farmers, it is just out of kind, it is putting your own time in.

“But people see what we are doing and want to be involved.

“It’s a community doing it, schools up here, it is a win-win.

“If schools want to come up and have a look at the conservation, they are totally welcome.”

He is happier for it, too.

“There is a lot of talk about mental health, but getting out in the bush is perfect for it.

“If it is a bummer of a day, you can drop down into the bush there, and within five minutes, you feel a bit more centred.”

One way the Mountforts actively support their wider community is by allowing groups to visit the farm for projects and demonstrations of good farming practices.

The family demonstrate that a thriving farm can also be a cornerstone of environmental conservation.

That is, “fencing it off” because you are told to isn’t enough when it comes to conserving the land.

“They will fence it off, but when it comes to biodiversity, it won’t change at all if it is just fenced off,” he said.

“You have got to manage it just like the rest of the farm.

“We are in a situation where kids walking through the bush would think it is nice and lush and they wouldn’t realise that at times 80% of the plants that would have been there are no longer there.”

But at just 58, he’s going to do his best to get it all back for future generations.

“I am only a young buck for a sheep and beef farmer, really.”