Horizons winners

Skillful stewardship leads to Supreme Award

Brothers Bruce and Ian McKelvie’s ongoing commitment to skillful stewardship of their large Tangimoana land holding has been acknowledged with their earning the title, supreme award winner in the 2005 Horizons region Ballance Farm Environment Awards announced in Palmerston North.

The McKelvies also won the Richmond Best Livestock Farm Award and the Livestock Improvement Best Dairy Farm Award.

The awards in the Horizons region were abandoned in 2004 due to severe flooding in the region, meaning the McKelvies are the first Horizons region Ballance Farm Environment Award supreme award winners.

The McKelvies farm their 2400ha property ‘Pukemarama’ with a mix of sheep, beef, dairy and forestry applications which recognise what the award judges term their ‘fragile environment’.

An understanding of their distinctive ecosystem is hardly surprising, says Bruce McKelvie, who entered the awards, given the family’s long reliance upon it and connection to the area.

Ian McKelvie’s son Cameron has for the past 10 years been the sixth generation of his family to farm Pukemarama.

Forebear John McKelvie came to the Rangitikei from Scotland, via some successful years in the goldfields of Australia carting and supplying for miners. He was one of the early settlers in the area in the 1850s and had the resources to buy up a substantial acreage.

Bruce McKelvie believes being able to successfully and sustainably farm in their area chiefly comes down to two things.

The first is the accumulation of a unique family knowledge, passed on through generations. Using their preserved and actively managed wetlands as an example, he says: ‘I’ve been sitting watching them and how they work for 50 years. And my grandfather saw more than 50 years’ worth, too. As a young fella I opened a lot of gates for him – all I had to do was listen, and I did.’

The second success factor is more recent: ‘Science allows profitable farming in this area now,’ he says. ‘Because of science and technological advances, we are able to farm more sustainably and intensively.’

Developments in the past 30 years like planting pines on sand ridges to counter wind erosion and soil structure decline; the availability of electric fences sturdy enough for raupo swamps and the invention at Massey University of the cross-slot direct drill system are just three examples of money in the bank for the McKelvies.

Other winners were:

Horizons Regional Council Award
Rex and Angela Brown, Dannevirke

Hill Laboratories Harvest Award
Easton Agriculture, Shannon

BFEA Heritage Restoration Award
Murray and Fiona Gemmell, Ongarue

Ballance Nutrient Management Award
Trevor and Julie Laird, Wanganui

ANZ Grow Award
Trevor and Julie Laird, Wanganui

Gallagher Innovation Awards
Steve Dittmer
Grant and Michelle Teahan