Style: May 20, 2020

STYLE | report 15
Spring Collective managers Dominique Schacherer (second from right),
Logan Kerr (far right) and Penny Platt (fourth from left) with their crew.
Photo: Camilla Rutherford, www.healtheearthnz.com
THE GROWERS
Dominique Schacherer tells the story
behind three young farmers who turned
two small organic farms into one big one
called the Spring Collective, after meeting
each other at local farmers’ markets.
We just started on an acre, just doing a small amount of
vegetables.
I had always been interested in self-sufficiency. I did some
WWOOFing (volunteering on an organic farm) in the North
Island and that got me started. My partner, Logan Kerr, was
planning on being a chef, but after he was asked to grow some
heirloom vegetables by his work, he gave up on that idea and
got into growing.
A few years later we met Penny Platt. She had started her
own farm, too, and we met because we were both selling at
the farmers’ markets. She approached us saying, ‘Would you
guys consider working together?’
We were all working seven days a week and working
extremely long hours. We thought if we teamed up we could
share the load and the assets we had.
None of us come from farming families, so we’ve all started
our farms quite slowly. Setting something up like that takes a
lot of structures and equipment and that all takes a little while
to build up.
Finding land to lease has always been really difficult for us.
You’d be at a place for three years, your lease would run out
and then you have to move to another farm. Penny’s parents
had purchased some land and gave us a long-term lease. We
decided to join up and start the Spring Collective on this
20-hectare property.
After the first year, we started leasing the neighbour’s
property, so now we have 21ha. And, including us, there are
16 employees working the farm (previously Logan and I only
had a part-time employee).
We arrive at 7.15am in Brookside, just south of Christchurch
and have a team meeting with the crew. We’ll do a few
exercises to loosen up and bring the team together.
We send out the harvest team. Often, if it is a big day, I’ll go
out and help them. Other days I’ll go and look after my crops.
The three of us managers all have crops that we look after
and grow. I have kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces,
celeriac and celery.
Other days, I’ll be heading into the office to do accounts.
The crew finish at 4pm and we try to stick to that because
it is hard work on the body. And it takes about 40 minutes to
drive home – many of us live in Christchurch.
Lockdown turned our whole business on its head – one
of our main outlets was the farmers’ markets. So, a lot of
our revenue was cut off. We’ve always done vege boxes – a
little side thing that we just did for fun really, but with the
restrictions, our market customers still wanted our veges, so
vege boxes took off. It’s been crazy and has been our lifesaver.
One of the best parts of this job for me is that satisfaction
of growing crops. Seeing the whole process, right from seed,
the growth stages, and at the end the appreciation from our
customers. Being outside on a sunny autumn day, harvesting
crops and feeling the stillness in the air is something special. I
love that I am doing something that I know is really beneficial
for the earth and for people.
Support Dominique at springcollective.co.nz
Logan, Penny and Dominique from Spring Collective.
Photo: Camilla Rutherford, www.healtheearthnz.com