Absorbing harsh lessons in farming As input prices rise and farmers struggle with issues around soil, water and climate, some are rethinking their approach. Niko Kloeten talks to a South Island family who have embraced ‘regenerative agriculture’, while telling the story of others doing the same. WORDS BY NIKO KLOETEN
CAMILLA RUTHERFORD
H
ow friendly is the climate in Tarras, near Wanaka? Not very. For starters, it’s dry – the long-term average rainfall is only about 450mm (a foot and a half) per year. It’s also very cold. Although the area was one of the first in New Zealand to be irrigated, the hard soils can make absorbing the water – or anything else of use – a bit of a problem. It’s no surprise, then, that modern agricultural philosophy and methods may not work as well in an area like Tarras as they would in more optimal climates. The Point Partnership, which runs 5,000 merino sheep and 120 breeding cattle on a roughly 5,500ha station, has been finding out that lesson the hard way. Tim Rutherford is the fourth generation to run the family farm, with guidance from his parents Alastair and Suzanne. “The farm’s been in the family since 1910,” he says. “It was originally part
34 | Farmlander | farmlands.co.nz
of Morven Hills, which used to go all the way to Clyde and Lake Hawea, so it was about half a million acres back then. It got broken up in the early 1900s, so it was one of the first blocks to be occupied. They have had irrigation since they hand-dug the races after the First World War, in the early 1920s. There are some irrigated flats and the rest is high country, going from 280m elevation to 1,600m at the top.” The conditions would be a tough adjustment for most people moving to the area, but Tim’s wife Camilla is used to cold weather, having been born in Scotland. “I grew up rurally outside of Edinburgh and my father was an agronomist,” she says. “We lived on eight acres, had a few sheep but definitely not a farm, it was more lifestyle block as you would call it. I started travelling after school and went to Wanaka during ski seasons.