In the episode Becks sits down with Amanda Hasselman from Temple Peak Station, a Toitū Certified Carbon Zero Sheep and Beef farm at the head of the Wakatipu Valley. As well as farming alongside her husband Mark, Amanda has been a trustee on the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust for 10 years since its inception, and is part of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary and within both roles is deeply passionate about predator management for the restoration and protection of our native biodiversity. 

Having farmed Temple Peak since 1979 through the era of Livestock Incentive Schemes, Tenure Review, a change in breed and now the shift to Regenerative Agriculture and becoming a Toitū Carbon Zero farm they sure have seen some change, challenge and opportunity in their time.

I hope you enjoy this episode and the perspectives of someone who after walking the hills for many years, is "now starting to hear the music of the valley", who sees a real role for farming and conservation to occur in the same space, and is excited about farm succession and the potential within our industry with the continued opportunity to learn.

Episode Resources:

• Campaign for Wool video on Temple Peak Station | ⁠Watch here

• Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust | Website

• Southern Lakes Sanctuary | ⁠Website

• Book Mention | ⁠Aroha - Dr Hinemoa Elder

• Nicole Masters | ⁠Soil Resilience Tour - North Island

• Nicole Masters | ⁠Soil Resilience Tour - South Island

Within this episode Amanda refers to AF8 - this stands for Alpine Fault 8 which is the alpine fault running down the Southern Alps which is overdue for rupture and will have a catastrophic impact on New Zealand, especially the Glenorchy region as they are sitting directly on the Alpine Fault.

🎙 Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nobody535 or Instagram @n0__b0dy____

In this episode Becks is joined by Alexis Wadworth, Alexis is farming with her husband Nick and 2 year old daughter Addison down at Bare Hill Farming in Central Southland. Bare Hill is a sheep and beef property running almost 8000 stock units with a significant portion of ineffective land area. In all her spare time Alexis is also Chairwoman of the Makarewa Headwaters Catchment Group.

With farming heritage and a banking background Alexis has brought a significant skillset into the farming team, but likewise engineer Nick is pretty handy to have around too. They are passionate about being responsible land stewards and building a sustainable farming business; creating an environment that future generations can thrive in. But not doing this alone, ensuring they are growing alongside their community, valuing partnerships within the business and holding space for their own values and interests alongside their wishes for quality time together as a family.

Nick and Alexis were 2023 finalists in the Balance Farm Environment Awards and worthy recipients of the Norwood Farming Efficiency Award. This episode is a must-listen as Alexis shares with us the unique challenges faced by a property where under half the total land area is effective hectares, their changing stock policies to manage this challenge and learn about the Japanese Lean Management principle of Kaizen which is pivotal to their business. 

Episode Resources:

• Alexis Wadworth LinkedIn
• Bare Hill Farming Instagram
• 2023 Ballance Farm Environment Awards - Bare Hill Farming Story
• DJI Drones for Agriculture
• More information about Kaizen

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🎙 Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nobody535 or Instagram @n0__b0dy____

The employer and job title my have changed since this episode was released but the incredible insights, enthusiasm, inspiration and relevance that this woman provides in this podcast most certainly have not!

She has just done the West Coast Recharge Tour with B+LNZ and it has definitely left a few of us feeling a need for our Julia fix! So here it is!

We are on a two-week break with Season Two of the podcast (as Becks has finally got off-farm for a holiday) but it's a timely reminder of how to face adversity and challenges head-on and tackle that all important mindset piece.

Take a listen if you haven't already, or if you just want a reminder, and we look forward to bringing you fresh episodes in a weeks time!

Take a listen to a throwback episode to the FIRST ever episode of The Whole Story Podcast.

We are on a two-week break with Season Two of the podcast (as Becks has finally got off-farm for a holiday) but it's a timely reminder of what the UN Sustainable Development Goals are and how we can weave these into Agriculture!

Take a listen if you havent already, or if you just want a reminder, and we look forward to bringing you fresh episodes in two weeks time!

In this episode Becks is joined by Nick Gill. Nick is the General Manager at NZ's first organic, regenerative, CarbonZero winery, Greystone Wines, and the other half of the powerhouse duo running The Food Farm alongside his wife Angela Clifford. 

The Food Farm is their Tūrangawaewae, their place to stand, a place where they connect with the earth and organically grow annual and perennial vegetables, berries and tree crops. They have a young food forest, a traditional orchard and espaliered fruit trees; Wiltshire sheep, Pekin Ducks, Wessex Saddleback pigs, Cob500 meat chickens, Barred Rock and Brown Shaver laying hens, Jersey milking cows and honey bees! They save heirloom seeds, host Wwoofers and and now a yurt for hosting educational and engagement events connecting others with food and empowering people with tools to take into their own home gardens. 

Nick is also a family man, he talks a lot in this episode about where he’s come from, his family roots, the connection with food that came from becoming a father and now the importance of farming in the legacy he leaves for his children, and we even get an emotional insight into the response of seeing a sneak preview of his seventeen year old daughter in her formal dress. But he also offers some great practical tips of mindset, diversity and the importance of action. 

Episode Resources:

• Nick Gill | ⁠LinkedIn

• Greystone Wines | Website

• Greystone Wines Instagram | ⁠@greystonewines

• The Food Farm | ⁠Website

• The Food Farm Instagram | ⁠@thefoodfarmnz

• The Food Farm Facebook

🎙 Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nobody535 or Instagram @n0__b0dy____

In this episode Becks is joined by John Hollows the Aquaculture Manager from Ernslaw One. Now most people from around our parts know Ernslaw One  as a forestry company, so what are they doing with an aquaculture manager? Well John is farming kōura, or freshwater crayfish, in areas of forestry that would traditionally be non-productive in the business. These kōura are marketed locally to restaurants within Central Otago under the KEEWAI brand.

John is a freshwater cray fanatic having been cray-mad now for about 20 years and although discouraged from talking kōura at home, we let him loose here and asked all the curly questions about how they’ve built this incredible industry farming these unique little native critters. We dive into where they live, what they eat, how you harvest them and even how useful they might be at disposing of dead bodies. 

In all seriousness though this is a fascinating conversation and of utmost interest to me was the biodiversity and water quality benefits that the habitats for kōura and the kōura themselves provide. They are biological markers for water quality but can also generate a revenue off the back of ecological improvements. We also explore some of the indigenous history of the kōura and it’s establishment throughout Central Otago and the concept of sustainable harvest. 

Episode Resources:

• John Hollows | ⁠LinkedIn

• KEEWAI | Website

• Ernslaw One | ⁠Website

• John's E-book | ⁠⁠Freshwater Crayfish Farming - A Guide to Getting Started

• Rural Deliver video showcasing the Ernslaw One kōura operation in more depth including showing the hatchery | ⁠⁠YouTube video link

🎙 Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nobody535 or Instagram @n0__b0dy____

In this episode Becks gets the chance to sit down with Ben Anderson, from the Central Hawkes Bay. An ex-Army Officer with a Risk Management background who grew up on a Sheep and Beef property, Ben is currently a Velvet Producer, Tree Farmer and Dairy Farmer but going through farm systems change as we speak!

Ben is a Nuffield Scholar and his report was titled "The Green and the Black of it - Economic and Environmental Sustainability of the NZ deer industry and the case for change." It is this case for change Becks is particularly interested in, not only as a deer farmer herself, but also as an Agricultural Sustainability Coach working with other farmers to take on sustainability linked opportunities.

Ben is an avid hunter, and you get an idea of where this passion arose from as he recounts some entertaining childhood memories in this yarn. And although risk management is not always the most engaging of topics, Ben has a pragmatic way of chatting about the financial risks involved in farming. Some of his take home tips are extremely relevant at the moment as we face challenging financial times in the agriculture sector, so settle in with an open-mind for an episode where we might challenge a few commonly held beliefs, but hopefully we offer reasoning leave you with a bit of inspiration and optimism.

Episode Resources:

• Ben Anderson | ⁠LinkedIn

• Ben's 2021 Nuffield Scholar Report | Website

• Farmer's Weekly Eating the Elephant

🎙 Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nobody535 or Instagram @n0__b0dy____

In this episode Becks has the pleasure of reconnecting with Thomas MacDonald, Chief Operating Officer of Spring Sheep Milk Co - a sheep milk nutrition company taking the goodness of New Zealand sheep milk to the world. Spring Sheep Milk Co. is supplied by milk from around 20,000 milking sheep across the North Island. 

Thomas MacDonald is a third-generation dairy farmer from Gordonton, Waikato, who has found a unique space within the New Zealand Agricultural sector combining our strengths of producing high-quality dairy products with our national expertise of farming sheep. Where best-suited land-use, farm systems expertise, existing infrastructure, sustainable practices and a close connection with consumer combine - that’s where you will find Spring Sheep. 

The New Zealand sheep milking industry as a start-up sector is no stranger to fast-pace of change so Thomas’ insights into how to approach change are invaluable. So settle in with a cuppa for this next episode of The Whole Story Podcast, or even better have a listen while you’re out getting some much needed Vitamin D - Spring has sprung! 

Episode Resources:

• Spring Sheep Milk Co | Website

• Spring Sheep Instagram | @springsheepnz

• Thomas MacDonald | LinkedIn

• Agresearch Low-Methane Sheep Research | Website

🎙 Podcast brought to you by The Whole Story, with support from FMG Insurance.

🎵 Music by nobody, check them out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nobody535 or Instagram @n0__b0dy____