GRAHAM Smith moves the cows to graze on Paulownia prunings. PHOTO TESS SMITH TACC
PAULOWNIA trees and 78 dairy cows have proved a winner for Miraka Farm, a mixed enterprise near Pirongia, in the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
Graham and Tess Smith won in two categories: water protection and biodiversity.
“It was quite a close competition,” Graham said; but the win was not a shock either.
“I wasn’t surprised, because I think I’ve done everything you can do to protect water. It would be pretty hard to do a lot more.”
He had entered the awards for many years, and found the judging process extremely useful.
Many of the judges were past winners with their own farms, he said; they offered useful teachings and feedback through the awards’ process.
And the awards event provided an opportunity to meet like-minded farmers.
“People who are trying their very best to do environmentally good things, and you learn from them by sitting around the dinner table and talking.’
The innovative 2000-tree Paulownia plantation was one thing that made Miraka Farm stand out.
The trees, which originate from China, make for an interesting cash crop; it is the second lightest timber in the world, after balsa wood. It is also strong, used to make anything from sailing boats to surfboards, and even musical instruments. It even has soundproofing properties.
Graham jokes it is “the poor man’s carbon fibre.”
Paulownia could earn farmers four or five times the income per hectare compared to pine. The fast-growing species allows for a payout in 10 years versus more than 25 for pine.
They are higher-input than pine, however.
“Not the same easy money,” as Graham put it, and they require regular trimming.
As well as providing shade for the cows, the Paulownia plantings are a key part of effluent management.
“[They] recycle a lot of nutrients that would escape past grass roots and go deeper and into the soil water.”
The deep roots pick up 75% of leachates and bring them up in the form of new growth.
“Then the leaves drop on the ground and provide slow-release fertiliser for the grass.”
The trees must be kept out of reach by stock.
“The cows cannot touch the trees,” Graham said. “They’ll ringbark them; they’ll wreck them.”
His solution is a two-wire electric fence around the plantings – which are in lines through the paddocks.
The resulting clean water on the farm “helps everything that grows around the river,’ Graham said. Regular testing has proven that it is pure when it leaves the farm.
And it was this clean water that led to Graham winning the water protection award.
Paulownia aside, wetlands and stream and drain fencing also ensured water quality.
“I’ve got two swamps, so all the streams and springs that drain from my hills have to go through those swamps.”
The Mangatutu stream runs along two sides of the farm. Most of it – and also the farm’s drains – is fenced to between five and seven metres.
By contrast, in 2020 nationwide stock exclusion rules changed to require fencing to be only three metres, while older fences were not required to be moved.
The Smiths’ fencing had been in place for 30 years, since Graham bought the farm in 1988, he said.
The only areas not fenced to this distance were where the river had “eaten away the bank” despite effective stabilisation in most places.
Water care was one of Miraka Farm’s awards; the other was biodiversity.
The biodiversity award partly reflects the works the Smiths have done to encourage native birds, such as wax eyes, as well as other animal and insect life like eels and bumblebees.
“We try and look up and we plant species the birds will use.”
Graham said his family had contributed enormously to the farm’s success.
“Tess and I care about the land equally. She’s part-Māori, so to her it’s special. Very special. She’s 100% behind all my ideas.
“We do a lot of it together.”
The land is connected to her hapu.
“She’s Raukawa; Raukawa used to own all this land. We don’t know for sure if her ancestors owned this particular bit or settled here, but it is Raukawa. So her extended family, if you call Raukawa her family. I talked to one of the elders. He said the original pā site was around this area. That’s as much as I know.
“My kids are the same – I’ve got three children and they are right into it, too. They believe in what I believe, too.”
Youngest son Lance, aged 35, comes back to take over Miraka farm on the first of June. Now aged in his late 60s, Graham felt it was time to start the farm succession process.
“I got to the stage of, I don’t know what’s really going to happen, and then the kids had a talk about it and said, ‘well the old boy has to slow down, and Lance, you better go back and do something about that.’ So that’s what happened.”
Lance has farmed since he left school; 20 years ago, now. He most recently worked on a 500-cow dairy farm near Arapuni.
He said he was looking forward to learning to grade wood and care for the trees, and was proud of what his dad had achieved.
“I look forward to growing the business, especially the tree side of it.”
He said urban New Zealand could benefit from knowing what could be achieved, environmentally, on farms.
“Townies [could] look at farms and see that there is something happening, and it’s not just all about making money. It’s looking at the environment as well.”
Lance said it had become increasingly important to him as he got older – and by taking care of the land, everyone would win.
What advice would Graham have for like-minded farmers?
“It’s a small steps process. Just learn by small steps like I did. I mean, I planted some trees, then I learned to look after them, and it just grew from there.
“Don’t try and do it all at once, and don’t try and take too big a bite of the cherry. Learn from small mistakes… it doesn’t cost you a lot.”
There is no such thing as wasted effort, it seems.
Many farmers had planted Paulownia but not pruned them effectively – but it wasn’t too late.
“The best thing you can do is, cut them down. They’ll grow again, they’ll grow again from the stump, And the new growth is what you prune – keep it clean and then you’ve got something to sell.”
He had also learned by joining a regional council watershed committee and learned about conservation and erosion control.
Farmers who wanted to learn more about growing trees should join the Farm Forestry association, he said.
“You learn about trees before you even plant your first one.”
The objective of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards is to promote sustainable land management on New Zealand farms, as well as to provide farmers with positive role models and opportunities for learning. This drives improvement in farm practices.
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards programme runs in 11 New Zealand regions.
Anjena, Arjun, Amreeta and Daljit Singh of Lawwal Holsteins near Hamilton were announced as the Regional Supreme Winners for Waikato.
The Singhs use free stall barn farming to run their 1000-cow herd.
