A love for restoring farm land has won Restore Native nursery owner Adam Thompson the Kaitiakitanga/Guardianship & Conservation Award at the recent Primary Industries New Zealand Awards.

The awards honour the teams and individuals whose talents and toil help New Zealand’s farmers, foresters and fishers thrive.

Passionate about native trees and biodiversity, Adam began his tree planting journey on his Cambridge farm in 2018.

“I’ve always been really passionate about the bush and growing things. I just keep chipping away at it and learning more, and eventually got to a place where you turn into a business.”

A full time mortgage broker at that time, Adam made the shift towards growing trees as a full time business in 2020.

“It was quite funny when the COVID stuff happened I thought the property market is toast. I’m going to get out and just go full time in the nursery but I couldn’t because it was so busy.”

Still a shareholder in My Mortgage, Adam continues to support the team on a weekly basis but supporting farmers to plant their land in native trees is how most of his time is consumed these days.

The nursery grows more than a million native trees to plant on farms and he leads by example, being well on his way to meeting his personal target of digging in 250,000 trees on his own beef finishing farm.

“I’m trying to demonstrate how we can farm sustainably. We’re intensifying the areas we can drive a tractor over and trying to get a good return out of that. And where we come off those flat areas and onto the steep stuff, we’re retiring it completely back into native bush.”

In the five years that Adam has been on this journey production on his farm has increased and he has returned around 25 percent of the land to native bush.

“We’re actually just farming better; farming good land and our streams are running clear rather than full of silt.”

Selling trees by the thousands, Adam clients are looking to restore land they are retiring, planting out marginal land and protecting waterways with riparian planting.

Adam says land restoration is something many of the new generation of farmers are fully committed to achieving.

“The reality is that ‘the exploiting the land to make a living view’ is actually dying out with the people who hold it. My generation wouldn’t even dream of doing those things.”

And he says, farming for the environment rather than in competition with it is far more enjoyable.

“It’s also a pride thing. The amount of people who call me up and say how stoked they are to see trees growing that we put in a couple of years ago.”

It might not happen overnight but Adam says planting trees that are native to the area is a recipe for success.

“We’re blessed in the Waikato because native trees grow really well. Two, three, four or five years after planting you can be looking at a pretty impressive bit a native bush that was once a barren, muddy hillside.”

It’s the busy season for the Restore Native team and Adam says his usual team of eight doubles to meet the demand.

The team not only grow the trees they also offer advice on best planting for the site, they do the planting and provide ongoing support to ensure those trees get the best start.

“We offer a full service and it is full accountability; if the tree dies, it’s my fault. But if you follow the recipe for this specific place, you can do really well.”

A self-described risk taker, Adam says making the move away from mortgage broking into growing trees was much more than venturing into a new business to make money.

“It does need to be financially sustainable. But there are lots of other things like the sustainability of employment of our people. The sustainability for mental and physical health. I’m physically and mentally healthier than I ever was and my team says the same thing. And there’s sustainability in terms of the quality time spent with my kids. I can take them to work, and they can go – oh, that’s what dad does. I can help with the sustainability for our community by offering part time jobs to the local kids and donating plants for schools and community projects. And obviously it’s sustainable for the environment – we’re protecting water and air.”

Winning the award was the icing on the cake for Adam who started a passion project that is now bearing fruit for sustainability.

“I was stoked. I was honestly super proud. I literally took a punt to grow trees without any formal training. I love my work with the farmers and to be recognised for something like that is really, really cool.”

Cream of NZ’s Primary Industries Researchers and Innovators Honoured

Teams and individuals were honoured at the 2023 Primary Industries New Zealand Awards with 65 nominations across nine award categories.

Waikato entrants took out four of the coveted trophies, including three AgResearch personnel.

The Science & Research Award went to the AgResearch Endophyte Discovery Team for their world-leading development and commercialisation of strains of ryegrass with improved insect protection and plant persistence, coupled with fewer adverse effects on animal health.

Scientist Dr Louise Hennessy (Ngāti Maniapoto) claimed the Emerging Leader Award for her efforts at AgResearch and other crown research institutes championing support for early career researchers and a learning approach that blends matauranga Māori with western science.

And another AgResearch scientist, Dr Dave Leathwick, was presented with the Primary Industries Champion Award. Praised by the awards judging panel for his knowledge sharing and effective communication, Dr Leathwick has demonstrated “an unwavering commitment to the rural sector”, in particular championing parasite control and anthelmintic drug resistance management.