Sophie Scott and her dogs pictured on the familys stunning property at Loch Linnhe Station near Kingston, Otago. Photo / Alan Gibson
For Alan Gibson, the love of the country came at a young age.
The award-winning photojournalist grew up on a sheep, beef and deer farm “in the middle of nowhere” in a town called Te Ākau, in coastal Waikato between Raglan and Port Waikato.
For more than 20 years, Gibson captured world events for readers of the New Zealand Herald, winning the New Zealand Press Photographer of the Year four times, but now works as a freelancer based out of Tauranga.
He’s passionate about the rural sector - “they are my people” - and when a publisher came to him with the possibility of doing a farm book Gibson lept at the opportunity.
“I’m happy to spend my days helping to tell their stories, the New Zealand food story because we’ve got a good one to tell and we’ve got to get out there,” Gibson said.
“[The publisher’s] motivation was to help try and bridge the gap between urban and rural, the disconnect over the last couple of decades.
“Consumers have less and less clue where their food comes from and there’s been a picture built up that (too many) farmers are some sort of environmental disaster and sit around counting their money.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth, which I knew growing up around people like that so I was keen to help him in his quest.”
What’s transpired is a new book, For the Love of the Country, which celebrates farming in New Zealand.
It’s been described as a visual celebration of the New Zealand farmer and the landscape in which they live and work and tells the stories of people who are the backbone of the industry, helping to bridge the gap in understanding between the urban population and those who produce their food.
It took Gibson up and down the country covering all types of farming and their animals, from oysters to sheep, cattle dogs to vineyards, the hardback, the 160-page book has it all.
“Some of the places I got to in this book are unbelievable – I said to my wife after I got back from Glen Lyon station ‘if I get to a more stunning valley on Earth I’ll be pleasantly surprised’,” Gibson said.
“It was out of this world. It was a bugger of a thing to photograph because it was so stunning and vast. It was hard to capture.”
Gibson thought the main takeout readers would have is how hard rural folk work and described how Te Arorha farmer Tania White might take two days off a year at Christmas — in 2021 she had none.
He also said “the real love” farmers had for their stock and the environment would capture readers.
“Farmers love their animals, if they don’t treat them well, they don’t have a business, don’t have a farm,” he said.
“It’s a great privilege of being allowed into people’s lives. With these guys, their work, and their business is also their home.
“It’s a huge privilege to be allowed into someone’s private areas like that and be able to record some of what’s going on.”
The Good Farm, Welcome Bay, Tauranga
Loren Gibbs and partner Michaela Good own The Good Farm in Welcome Bay, Tauranga, and run it on organic principles, selling the milk, veggies and eggs they produce to locals.
Loren Gibbs explains: “My mum always said that food is medicine. So, if you are eating good food, you are getting good medicine.
“At The Good Farm, we are on 10 hectares, and we are running mainly a raw-milk dairy herd. We milk between 14 and 16 cows during the day. We are not certified organic, but we like to think that we work alongside the principles of organic agriculture and gardening. We are spray-free on our pastures and our vegetable garden. We don’t use synthetic fertilisers, any chemical pesticides or herbicides.
“We have a farm shop and that’s where we make most of our income. All the milk from our cows gets sold on the farm through a self-service dispenser. That’s about 180 litres a day. All the produce from the veggie garden and our eggs get sold through the shop as well, on an honesty system that works well. We get hundreds of people through the shop every week and they come from all walks of life; they are not all a bunch of hippies. The only thing they have in common is that they all want fresh, raw milk and that they care about their food. That’s the main thing.
“My wife and I returned from Australia and were looking for new careers. My wife’s parents gave us this opportunity and we thought, ‘why not!’ I have always been interested in food, being a chef for 12 years. It was an opportunity to change lifestyles, change family life and still work within food. It also gives us an opportunity to know where our food comes from and how its grown.”
Michaela Good: “We don’t have a farming background. Loren had never milked a cow in his life, and we just had a few pots on the porch. It had never been in the plan. But maybe that’s what makes it even better because we dived head first into it and love it. We are into our third year here. People really love it. They love the raw milk and produce. I am very optimistic about the future, and we have lots of plans for the property. We have a love for this place.”
Crater Lake Farm, near Rotorua
Crater Lake Farm is a unique 300-hectare block of land in the central North Island sitting on a triangular plateau bordering three of the Rotorua region’s lakes - Ōkataina, Tarawera and Ōkāreka. Owner Paddy Sands also leases another 600 hectares: “The crater is unique; it’s 97 acres, 400 feet deep. It’s a big hole.
“I found out that I am one of the very few people in New Zealand to privately own a volcanic crater. It’s hard case. The farm is one-third venison, one-third beef and one-third sheep. We focus mainly on beef, mainly bulls, and I have been here for 10 years. Farming is everything really, isn’t it? In the future there are government lake issues as I have three different lake catchments. There are concerns that I will be restricted to what I can run.”
Saleyards
Chris D’Arcy, farming veteran and sales manager at Rangiuru Saleyards, Paengaroa, Bay of Plenty: “I have always had a passion for farming. Ever since I was a kid. I have never wanted to do anything else.
“Sale day is Tuesday. It’s a very social thing. We have fabulous tea rooms. The saleyards are an integral part of a rural community. That’s why it’s so sad with the way things are going. Our stock numbers here are declining and they have been for a long time. With the development of horticulture and forestry.
“At the Rangiuru Saleyards we cover a big area and get stock from the East Coast, from Cape Runaway, the odd bit out of Ruatōria, Taupō, all the Kaimai, some out of Coromandel and the odd load from Waikato. We cover a big area.
“There will always be livestock sales. People want to see the stock in person, not in a photo. People need to see what the market is. Because the prices on sale day are the market. Poeple need a guide, a barometer and that’s what saleyards do.
“Most of my team are not here for the money. They are here for the interaction with people. I’ve been lucky and had some interesting times.”
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