Dairy farming family planting native trees for future generations

The forest includes kahikatea, tōtara, rimu, pōkākā and mataī and was fenced off 30 years ago to protect it. Doug says the farm has been in the family for six generations, and his parents John and Susan are also involved in the farm’s environmental work.

“We embarked on the sustainability journey because we want to connect even closer to the land and enhance the natural beauty of the farm,” Doug says. “We want to keep eeling in the river and for future generations to play in the forest like we did.”

With help from native planting specialists Koroneiki Developments and volunteers, the Storeys have planted 2.5km alongside the section of the Mangapiko Stream running through their farm, and plan to plant another 1km. They planted around a wetland, which helps attract native birds and other wildlife.

The family have retired four hectares of land from farming to carry out more planting and have a pest management plan in place to help increase the bird population.

Doug is one of 400 environmentally focused farmers in the Dairy Environment Leaders network, created by farmers, DairyNZ and the NZ Farm Environment Trust in 2007. The network aims to empower leadership and create opportunities to support and share on-farm actions to reduce environmental footprint.

Doug’s son Josh and daughter-in-law Bayley help run the family farm and are passionate about sustainability and encouraging other young people into dairy farming.

“As farmers, we want to do our best to protect the land and enhance native wildlife, and love seeing tūī, kererū and other native birds on the farm,” Josh says.

The Storeys are involved in a Waipā district community project creating an ecological corridor linking two mountains – Mt Pirongia and Maungatautari. A key goal is to create great habitat for wildlife, including native birds and bats.

The Taiea te Taiao ecological corridor project sees farmers, iwi, community groups and organisations including Nestlé, Open Country, Fonterra and industry good organisation DairyNZ working together. The work includes a range of environmental work across farms and other properties.