Three CHB farms finalists for Ballance awards

Ashley Clinton dairy farmers Robert and Alison Barry.

Central Hawke's Bay has provided three of the finalists in this year's 2018 East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The East Coast includes the geographic area covered by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council and the Gisborne District Council. The awards are run by the NZ Farm Environment Trust.
Of the three finalists two are from Ashley Clinton and one is from Waipukurau.

The remaining two finalists two are from Raupunga and Mahia in northern Hawke's Bay. There were no entrants from the Gisborne region this year.

Andrea Barry and Craig Pennell

The finalists are Robert and Alison Barry — Barry Farms, BEL Group (Ashley Clinton), dairy; Andrea Barry and Craig Pennell — Longrow Dairies, BEL Group (Ashley Clinton), dairy; Steve Treseder — Nisbett Taumata Estate Ltd (Waipukurau), sheep and beef; Graeme Watts for Ngati Pahauwera Commercial Development Ltd (Raupunga), beef; and Richard and Hannah Coop — Okepuha Station (Mahia), sheep and beef.

The finalists have been judged for a second time and results will be revealed at an awards dinner at the Napier Conference Centre on Wednesday, March 28.

Waipukurau sheep and beef farmer Steve Treseder

As well as a supreme winner, a variety of category awards will be announced. These are the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Award, CB Norwood Distributors Ltd Agri-Business Management Award, DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award, Hill Laboratories Agri-Science Award, Massey University Innovation Award, WaterForce Integrated Management Award and the Predator Free Farm Award. There is also a regional award called Farming for the Future.
CHB finalists

* Robert and Alison Barry are part of the team at two Ashley Clinton dairy blocks, Hedley and Elllingham, farmed together as Barry Farms under the management of BEL Group. The couple finished Dairy Level 4 qualifications under an internship with BEL Group and Robert is now 2IC of Barry Farms, made up of two neighbouring farms — 260ha Hedley and 160ha Ellingham — operating as a single farm, milking 1220 cows once a day. The business was started by his parents, Andrea and the late Peter, in the 1990s.

* Owned by Andrea Barry and managed by Craig Pennell for the past three seasons, Parkhill Dairy Farm is part of Longrow Dairies Ltd, which is managed by BEL Group at Ashley Clinton. Parkhill is one of nine farms under the BEL Group umbrella and was one of the first converted by Andrea and her late husband Peter in 1994. Parkhill peak milks 880 cows on 268ha.

* Waipukurau farmer Steve Treseder has been managing 247ha Waipukurau farm, Taumata, for the past 30 years. It is owned by the Nisbett Taumata Estate Ltd (three of the four daughters of the late Joyce and Donald Nisbett). Taumata has a 70:30 sheep-to-cattle ratio — stock units last winter included 1170 ewes, 25 one-year bulls, 67 two-year bulls and 11 three-year bulls.