Anders & Emily Crofoot, Wairarapa

When New Yorkers Anders & Emily Crofoot took over Castlepoint Station on the eastern Wairarapa coast in 1998, they had to make some big adjustments, quickly. Relentless wind and frequent summer droughts have required a very considered approach to farming - with sustainability at the heart of it.

Learn how Anders and Emily Crofoot are keeping greenhouse gas emissions low and productivity high on their coastal Wairarapa farm.

Transcript

Duration: 5:33

ANDERS CROFOOT:
We've been here for 21 years now. The area we came from was about an hour north of New York city.

It wasn't as different for us as people might imagine. In fact it's somewhat amusing that we'd actually never lived closer to a shop.

Castlepoint has a little store. We'd never been on public sewerage and we'd never had street lights outside of our house.

So in some respects coming to Castlepoint was more urban than where we came from in New York state.

That first month we were here was incredibily windy because it was during the equinox when the winds are strongest.

We weren't quite sure what we'd run into at that point. One of the conventionally cultivated paddocks was getting re-grassed.

About a third of the paddock, all the seed got blown out to sea. We weren't very impressed with that, and we resowed it.

And about a third of that got blown out. We finally got everything in but we decided there must be a better way of regrassing than full conventional cultivation.

Being summer dry and having a high wind run through the spring means that we don't necessarily do things traditionally.

What we've found with traditional ploughing is you're opening the soil up.

If you've got a lot of wind blowing then your topsoil's getting blown out to sea. Which doesn't do anybody any good.

That's why we've settled on direct drilling for establishing as much as we can. That leaves the soil intact, so even when it's windy it doesn't blow away.

We find even after forage crops like rape or kale which we'll use as a winter crop - when that gets grazed off there is a fair bit of open dirt.

But because it's all compacted and the roots are still there to hold it, it doesn't really blow away.

You can see the difference in the paddock - you may have some open ground but it's not dusty. Whereas on the farm tracks you'll see dust blowing all over the place.

We do about 1000 to 1500 poplar and willow poles each year. The point of that is to stabilise the slopes.

The hills here are quite prone to slips and the deep roots of the poplars help keep the hills from slipping during the winter months.

They're also really useful as shade for the livestock during the summer.

Every farmer wants to leave the land better than when they found it.

Now we're looking into different species of plants that we can grow to make better use of the limited moisture we get.

We've looked at things like lucerne. We're looking at introducing dung beetles. They're very interesting because they take manure and put it down into the soil.

They also open up some nice deep channels for the moisture to get down. They're quite an interesting animal.

I think looking after soil carbon is actually about using good farming practices. There's probably no silver bullet, it's just doing everything as well as you can.

For us direct drilling is a big part of it, other people might do minimal cultivation.

The idea is you don't want to turn over the soil if you don't have to.

Let it sit there in a good state, let the bugs do their thing and let the roots go down and develop it.

A lot of the practices that are good for soil carbon are basically just good agricultural practice.

And having good soil carbon means that you're going to have good organic matter which means that everything's actually working well.

We have no regrets about coming to New Zealand. It's a fantastic part of the world.

We feel really privileged to be at Castlepoint station and be the latest generation of many stewards of the land who have looked after it for many years.

About the farm

Anders and Emily Crofoot own Castlepoint Station, moving there in 1998 from a seventh-generation farm in New York State.

The 3,700ha station spans 12km of the Wairarapa coastline and supports a sheep and beef operation and farm forestry. Most of the land is steep to rolling hill country with a small proportion (less than 10%) as flats and terraces. The station has three alluvial valleys, separated by hills that in some places run north-south and in others east-west.

The farm averages around 930mm of rainfall per annum. This occurs mostly during the winter months, causing waterlogged soils that then leads to pugging and erosion. The summers are usually dry. 

However, wind is a bigger issue for the Crofoots than the uneven rainfall. Strong northwesterlies (regularly over 100km/hour) blow across the property, particularly during the spring equinox where the winds flatten not only the pasture but also its growth profile – losing up to as much as 8mm moisture some days.

This relentless wind-run, coupled with the variable aspect of the property and its summer dry profile make for some challenging management conditions, in particular maintaining soil productivity. 

“Farming for the environment is essential out here,” says Anders. “We learned some hard lessons in the early years, but our focus on sustainability has helped us bring the best out of the land.”  

An environmental focus

When the Crofoots bought the farm, it had been advertised as a 28,000 stock unit property. The couple were keen to bring this number down while maintaining profitability.

They worked with the regional council (Greater Wellington) to map the different land use capabilities (LUC) across the property.

This process identifies the physical limitations of the land (e.g. rock, soil, slope, erosion type and severity, and vegetation) and uses that to determine its capacity for long-term sustained production. For more on the LUC approach, see this handy Beef + Lamb NZ resource [PDF, 2 MB] .

Marginal and unproductive land at Castlepoint was retired, with some areas planted in forestry and others in an extensive poplar and willow pole programme aimed at stabilising erosion-prone slopes and providing shade for livestock in the summer. This mix of forestry suits the harsh growing conditions on the coast and enables an ongoing revenue stream at the same time as diversifying risk.

Grassy paddock with poplar trees growing and pine trees in the background.

Poplar and pine planting at Castlepoint Station. (Photo: Dave Allen Photography)

For the parts of the farm sheltered from the northwesterlies, the Crofoots have concentrated their efforts on maintaining soil productivity and improving efficiency and animal performance.

On the flats and terraces, direct drilling reduces soil disturbance and wind erosion. The Crofoots are also experimenting with deeper-rooting forages, such as lucerne and fescue, that extract moisture from the soil more effectively without compromising feed quality and help hold the soil together.

Lucerne and fescue, along with other novel forages such as plantain, plus clover, are helping lift capital stock performance. Rape and kale are also sown to help with feed supply and grazing management, especially in summer and again in late winter when covers are low.  

The Crofoots now have around 10,500 breeding ewes and their replacements, along with 400 beef cows and their replacements. This is a significant reduction in stock numbers from when they first took over, but not at the cost of their bottom line. They have increased their lambing percentages from 125% to nearly 135% - producing the same number of lambs but from fewer breeding ewes. Weaning weights have increased from 19kg to 28kg. The lower capital ewe numbers have allowed them to finish more of their own lambs which increases profitability and spreads financial risk.

Anders sees their efforts as simply “good farming practice”, but what difference have they made for the climate?  

The Crofoots' greenhouse gas numbers

The Crofoots have been thinking about climate change and Castlepoint’s contribution for a while now, including in Anders’ various roles with Federated Farmers. 

They use Farmax to get their greenhouse gas numbers and have also found Beef + Lamb’s calculator a handy tool. You can read more about these tools and others on our Know Your Numbers page.  

  2003 2011 2020
Gross emissions from pastoral area (tonnes CO2e/ha) 3.75 3.18 2.96
Total net emissions across the whole farm (tonnes CO2e) 8,437 4,986 4,395
Net emissions per hectare, taking pine forestry into account (tonnes CO2e/ha/yr) 3.1 2 1.8
Methane expressed as tonnes CO2e/ha 2.79 1.97 1.84
Methane expressed as tonnes/ha 0.11 0.08 0.07

The main drivers of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (methane and nitrous oxide) are:

  • Amount of dry matter eaten
  • Protein level of the diet
  • Amount of nitrogen fertiliser applied

For the Crofoots, their emissions are driven by the sheep and cattle they run and the fertiliser they apply.

It was a proud moment when they realised that their actions on-farm have achieved a 21% reduction in net emissions since 2003 – as shown in the table above (net emissions are total emissions from the farm minus the carbon sequestration achieved by planting trees).

With their numbers in place and a solid track record of reductions underway, they are well placed to start developing a plan to manage them.

On-farm actions

“Every farmer wants to leave the land better than when they found it,” says Anders – a philosophy that has been at the heart of their approach to farming. Their actions over the years have done a lot for the environment, including the climate.

Reducing capital stock numbers has had a major effect. This directly reduces the amount of dry matter eaten, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

At the same time, the focus on increasing animal performance and making overall productivity gains meant that farm profitability has been enhanced. This has been achieved by:

  • Increasing lambing percentage
  • Finishing animals faster and to higher weights
  • Culling less productive stock
  • Reducing nitrogen fertiliser use, only applying it where and when it is needed.

Adjusting their farm system to match the capabilities of the land has also helped. They have improved pasture management to optimise quality and production and to balance growth with utilisation. Retiring less productive areas from grazing and planting them in trees has generated an additional revenue stream both from forestry and the Emissions Trading Scheme. And they’re still working hard to support healthy soils on the property. 

You can find out more about these actions and others on our Current Actions page. 

Know your numbers and have a plan

By now, all farmers and growers must have a record of their annual on-farm greenhouse gas emissions (methane and nitrous oxide). By the end of 2024, they'll also need to have a written plan in place to manage them. These requirements are part of the He Waka Eke Noa partnership and are intended to help get farmers ready for agricultural greenhouse gas emissions to be priced from 2025. To find out more on how to do this, see our Know Your Numbers page.