Region well-suited to diversification

David and Lesley Jensen also run dairying, kiwifruit and avocado operations near Tauranga and say the area is well-suited to this mixed type of venture.

Unlike John and Margaret they expanded into orcharding by buying several orchards amounting to about 25ha, rather than planting on their 240ha dairy farm. A former dairy farm consultant David has plenty of primary industries governance experience under his belt including as a director with LIC and Farmlands and Eastpak Co-op. He also sits on the Lincoln University Council. The move by more dairy farmers to diversity is not a new thing, he believes, and is more to do with the Sustainable Dairying – Water Accord, which started in 2013, than with the recent possibility of reduced stocking rates.

The successful planting of riparian strips on farms has made growing things other than pasture more usual to farmers and is making it easier for them to look at diversifying into horticulture, he says.

But there is more risk in horticulture than in dairying and farmers need to be aware of that, he says. A bad winter in farming is not generally a serious issue. But a hail storm just before harvest can wipe out a whole year’s kiwifruit crop. Diversifying is a sensible way of spreading business risk, he says, and sees it continuing to gain in popularity with more diverse possibilities like solar farming and agrivoltaics being looked at seriously.