LandWISE introduced two new awards at the 2019 Conference. They recognise outstanding achievement among our members.

The Board determined that neither would be awarded lightly or necessarily regularly. They are to be special and valued.

In 2019, the inaugural year, both Awards were presented to Hugh Ritchie of Drumpeel Farms.

The LandWISE Sustainability Award

The Sustainability Award represents a no-till tine, reflecting technology and our origins working towards minimising soil erosion and improving soil quality. The base is 100 year old native New Zealand Black Mairie recycled from a fireplace surround, representing sustainability and longevity.

Honorary Membership

The Board has created a new category, “Honorary Life Member” and awarded this the Hugh Ritchie.

A Recipient of the LandWISE Honorary Life Membership will have shown extraordinary commitment including:

• Active contribution to the management, direction and development of LandWISE
• Active for 5 or more years as a LandWISE member/supporter/board member
• Actively promoting and helping raise the profile of LandWISE

An Honorary Life Member will have been an active ambassador for LandWISE.

Hugh has been involved in LandWISE since its inception, joining with Dan Bloomer, Stuart MacIntyre and Moray Grant to investigate ways to avoid soil loss from wind erosion. This resulted in projects to refine strip-tillage and then into auto-steer and precision farming investigations. 

Following his Nuffield Scholarship, Hugh strongly promoted strip-tillage and the need for better irrigation management and system checks.

Hugh’s awareness of the need to check irrigation systems led to our project on Irrigation Performance which now forms the basis of Irrigation New Zealand’s Code of Practice for Piped Irrigation Performance Assessment and NZQA qualifications. The Bucket tests that are increasingly part of the farming scene are the direct result of this initiative.

Hugh was Chair of LandWISE for over ten years, and while no longer a Board member continues to provide practical and intellectual support. The foundation he helped establish has proved solid, and allows us to continue as we do today.

The LandWISE Board recently appointed John Evans as LandWISE Chair, replacing long serving Chair Hugh Ritchie.  We are delighted that John has agreed to take on the Chairmanship role as we navigate a rapidly changing future for farming and for LandWISE itself.

John and partner Kai Tegels farm a 271 ha Arable and Stock property at Dorie in mid-Canterbury, specialising in vegetable seed production. He actively seeks new knowledge and applies it in innovative ways to achieve sustainable development of the farm.

John was an early adopter of GPS autosteer, high accuracy implement guidance and has trialled most precision agriculture technologies, retaining those that demonstrate value and utility in his farming system. He is a sought after research partner across  arable and precision farming and regularly hosts research trials for a range of organisations.

John has been involved with LandWISE since 2004 when he assisted the field testing protocols in the Code of Practice for Irrigation Evaluation with his boom and linear-move irrigators being the first assessed. He has since hosted training courses for people undertaking the National Certification in Irrigation Performance Assessment.

In recent years the farm has seen considerable investment in irrigation development including new technologies and on-farm water storage. John and Kai have an ongoing program planting trees and shrubs to enhance the environment and benefit bees and other beneficial insects.

John noted the strip-tillage work being carried out in Hawke’s Bay and saw a place for it in Canterbury. We arranged a loan of parts from Hugh Ritchie, John built a tool bar and tested the system initially for seed carrot production. He also demonstrated it at a FAR Chertsey field day.

LandWISE links have been maintained through various Sustainable Farming Fund and Foundation for Arable Research projects such as “Short-term forecasting of weather conditions for cropping farmers” which involved assessment of site specific hourly forecasts.

As a farmer member of “Advanced Farming Systems” which included assessing satellite NDVI imagery he was able to identify different plots in a FAR carrot seed trial.

John has maintained a watchful eye on our other initiatives, offering insight and advice.  He featured in the LandWISE publication “A Guide to Smart Farming”.

John completed a B Ag Com degree at Lincoln in 1979. He was instrumental in setting up the Certificate in Seed Technology at Lincoln University and completed its first course in 2000. He is a long standing member of FAR’s Mid-Canterbury ARG, a Board member of Process Vegetables NZ and active in process vegetables research.

John’s knowledge and achievements have been widely recognised, including being awarded the Agronomy Society of New Zealand Certificate of Achievement in Agronomy, winning the Ballance AgriNutrients Nutrient Management award and the WaterForce Integrated management award in the 2012 Canterbury Ballance Environmental Awards, and being a finalist in the Lincoln University Foundation South Island Farmer of The Year and Innovation Finalist in 2011.