2007 Canterbury BFEA WInners

Mid-Canterbury mixed cropping farmers win Supreme Ballance Farm Environment Award for Canterbury

Achieving sustainability is a continuous learning process for David and Hilary Ward, who have won the supreme award at the 2007 Ballance Farm Environment Awards for Canterbury.

The Wards run a mixed cropping unit on 425ha near Ashburton, where they are achieving top results across a range of crops.

To achieve the best outcomes both for production and environmental protection they are continuously fine tuning management tools such as direct drilling and water and nutrient monitoring.

The Wards also won the Hill Laboratories Harvest Award, and the Ballance Nutrient Management Award.

Judging co-ordinator Joanne van Polanen says planning has been the key strength of all eight finalists, and this reflected in the management and performance of their farms.

"There was a range of topography, climate, soil types and environmental challenges among the finalists, but their underlying aim was to enhance and develop their farms as sustainable and profitable businesses.’’

She says that while arable farms were well represented this year, livestock and dairy entries were lower than in other years because of the bad weather in late winter and spring.

The judges say the Wards have developed excellent, innovative practices to allow for intensive farming with high value crops and sound production.

Ninety-five per cent of crop establishment on the Ward’s farm is by no-tillage, and they have achieved excellent results across a full range of crops.

David Ward says using water in the most efficient way is a main thrust of their farming operation, and that is why they have adopted no-tillage techniques.

Extensive nutrient management is carried out through soil tests and deep soil nutrient tests.

He says that the search for more sustainable agriculture is very important for New Zealand. "But to be green you’ve got to be making a profit.’’

The 8 regional supreme winners were bought together in Queenstown in July to celebrate their success. The winners were interviewed by Hokonui Gold.  An interview with David Ward, was carried out on the 31 July you can listen by following this link.

Watch the video interview with the Wards

Winners of the awards were:

Supreme Award
David and Hillary Ward

BFEA Land and Life Award
Ian, Pam and Andrew Richardson

Environment Canterbury Water Efficiency Award
Lyndon and Millie Matthews

PGG Wrightson Habitat Improvement Award
Ian and Diana Mackenzie

LIC Dairy Farm Award
Shaun and Joanne Back

Hill Laboratories Harvest Award
David and Hilary Ward

Ballance Nutrient Management Award
David and Hilary Ward

PPCS Livestock Farm Award
Richard and Annabelle Subtil

Gallagher Innovation Award
Donald and Kathy Hudson

To read more about the winners and the good things there are doing, a Canterbury Winners 07.pdf is available.