Ronga Valley farmers Glyn and Carol Jones first came across Te Hoiere Project at the 2020 Rai Valley Show. They’d recently moved from Canterbury and bought their dream farm—300 acres of hill country, native bush, waterways and a 5ha pine plantation.
“We were already doing the things the project wants to see happen off our own bat and could see with project support, we could make five years’ progress in one,” Glyn said.
By the time the Project came along, Glyn had already started to build fences, with about 40 hectares of the property used for dry stock farming.
“I’ve never liked seeing cattle in creeks,” Glyn said.
The Project helped to accelerate more fencing. First, by funding the materials and, now, funding materials and labour. When the fences go up, Glyn is usually ready to plant with his “bulging” on-site nursery where he grows native seedlings. Glyn has collected seeds from the farm’s native bush backdrop, where all five species of New Zealand beech trees flourish.
