Waikato AgriBusiness News May 2023

More documents

Recommendations

Info

DRIVING BRIGHTER BUSINESS FUTURES Get your business connected to EV’s the smart way. 0800 800 935 | we-ev.co.nz We.EV is helping businesses get future-ready with their Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure to help shape a better, more renewable future. We’ve seized the opportunity to lead the way in supporting businesses to transition their fleets by designing and installing the charging and monitoring infrastructure needed to not only keep cars on the road, but to also manage both the cost and the demand on our Waikato community’s infrastructure. With greater access to EVs in New Zealand, the number of businesses choosing to switch to electric fleets in the Waikato and beyond, is accelerating. WEL expects to see more than 50,000 EVs in the Waikato by 2030, which means the infrastructure needs to keep pace. Let’s get moving. Transitioning isn’t just about buying new cars, it’s an opportunity to change how you use vehicles and reduce your total fleet. We have a team focussed on partnering with customers to help. This team has significant experience in this transition having done it themselves and with other organisations. Visit we-ev.co.nz/case-studies to see how we’ve helped businesses in their EV transition.
WAIKATO AGRIBUSINESS NEWS, MAY 2023 3 Market gardener winning from the ground up FROM PAGE 1 Recently winning the Organic NZ Emerging Leader of the Year award at the Organic NZ Awards is validation for the hard work she has put into making her business Tomtit Farm a success. “The award recognises somebody working in an inspiring leadership role in the New Zealand organics/kai atua sector with under five years’ experience, and this year there was a particular emphasis on environmental protection and leading the way to mitigate climate change, and build a just society in harmony with nature and the planet. So that’s what we took away this year, which is really cool.” Being certified organic Brit says is all in the health of the soil and coming from a background of nutrition, she likes to think of the soil like a human stomach. “Our number one goal is to have really healthy living soil. For example, when a person has a diverse variety of foods in their diet with lots of different colours and different vegetables they build and fuel a healthy gut microbiome, and this results in a healthy person. It’s the same with the soil - if you have lots of different plants growing on the top of the soil, you’re going to build more life and diversity underneath the soil. So essentially we are building a living ecosystem in the soil, which builds healthy plants above the soil.” she says. Located in Matangi, just ten minutes out of Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, Tomtit Farm is the veggie patch Brit and her husband James created in 2019. Having worked in nutrition for many years, Brit was keen to use her knowledge in a way that would have more influence on people’s health and wellbeing. WE’RE TRYING TO BUILD THAT REAL COMMUNITY AROUND FOOD “I had been working in health research, and I wanted to make an impact at that grassroots level with my nutrition.” The opportunity to utilise a hectare of land on Brit’s parents’ lifestyle block was the kickstart to their market gardening enterprise. “We thought - why don’t we have a go at growing good quality sustainable food. If we can get a few people to eat some local, healthy food that’s probably more than I can ever achieve in my whole life by just telling people,” she laughs. With the good life beckoning, the couple upped sticks from Auckland, found work in Hamilton and began gardening. For Brit this meant a part time job at Waikato University so she could put time into developing the garden, while James found full time work in Agri-banking utilising his financial skills in the business. “It was quite full on, trying to do a job and run a farm at the same time. We had to be quite smart about the way we set the business model up.” The farm offers harvest boxes of seasonal vegetables. Customers can choose to order weekly, fortnightly or for the season with a seasonal community supported agriculture (CSA) subscription. “We’ve always run it as a subscription base/veggie harvest of the week model because when we first started it was just me and I was still working part time. I didn’t have time to go to markets on the weekend.” Little did they know that the Covid pandemic was just around the corner when they first started and what this would mean for online businesses. “When Covid hit, it was kind of good timing because everybody slowed down. We were already set up online. It was good and bad because we were so small and new to growing, and we had so much attention and not enough food to feed all of the families who wanted to support us. Not that it’s a bad thing. We got our name out there and just did our best at the time.” At the end of 2020, Brit gave up her job at the university and went full time in the garden. “I found it really hard to focus on my other job when all I wanted to do was be outside in the garden. And it’s been really awesome working full time in the garden every day. I feel very lucky to have that opportunity. Don’t get me wrong when it’s raining and freezing cold, I am so envious of everybody inside,” she laughs. Sticking with the CSA model, Tomtit Farms has organically grown since Covid put some wind in their sails. The model is an important part of the young farmer’s ethos; it’s a way for Brit and James to build meaningful relationships with their customers that go beyond a basic sales’ transaction. Tomtit Farm customers commit to purchasing a season’s subscription; where they are investing in the farm for the upcoming season, and in return they receive a share of the harvest each week. “This is a way the community can get behind and support their local farmer and local food system. Throughout the ups and downs of the season without any price fluctuations. Ensuring the farmer gets a fair price for the food they grow and allowing the farmer to focus on growing good quality food for families in their community.” Building those relationships with customers includes more than just selling them vegetables, Brit also has set up a Facebook community page to sell seedlings, share gardening tips and recipe ideas. “We’re trying to build that real community around food. Building confidence in cooking with seasonal vegetables, and just thinking outside the box and having fun when it comes to food.” As well as selling organic vegetables, herbs, salad greens and micro-greens, they also sell flowers and hold Pick Your Own Flowers’ days which usually run from December – May. “On our PYO flowers days, all you can hear is laughter, people enjoy being amongst nature. The rows of flowers are nestled amongst the vegetables to show how everything is grown and providing an opportunity for people to think about where their food comes from.” Our team DESIGNER Kelly Gillespie kelly@dpmedia.co.nz DESIGNER Warren Gilberston design@dpmedia.co.nz EDITORIAL Janine Jackson editor@dpmedia.co.nz ADVERTISING MANAGER Joanne Poole Ph: (07) 838 1333 Mob: (021) 507 991 joanne@dpmedia.co.nz Produce is also available at their farm fridge at 165c Matangi Road at the Front Paddock Cafe. They also deliver locally to Hamilton, Matangi, Tamahere, Cambridge and Te Awamutu on Tuesdays. Check out what the farm has to offer at www.tomtitfarm.com. PUBLISHER Deidre Morris Ph: (07) 838 1333 Mob: 027 228 8442 deidre@dpmedia.co.nz ••• STUDIO Copy/Proofs: studio@dpmedia.co.nz SUBSCRIPTIONS accounts@dpmedia.co.nz 131 Victoria Street, Hamilton Ph: (07) 838 1333 www.wbn.co.nz - www.dpmedia.co.nz
Page 1: The Waikato region’s voice of Agr
Page 5 and 6: Come visit us at Mystery Creek SITE
Page 7 and 8: WAIKATO WAIKATO BUSINESS AGRIBUSINE
Page 9 and 10: Wastewater recycled using Kiwi A sm
Page 11 and 12: HURRY BUY BEFORE 1 JULY UP $2,590 T
Page 13 and 14: Rabobank kicks off new series of Fi
Page 15 and 16: Global avocado trade expected to gr
Page 17 and 18: WAIKATO AGRIBUSINESS NEWS, MAY 2023
Page 19 and 20: Connectivity wins the No.8 Wire Nat
Page 21 and 22: INGHAM EXCLUSIVE OFFER 2WD VRX BLAC
Page 23 and 24: THE POWER TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

Waikato AgriBusiness News May 2023

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?