Carl and Jodie Goudswaard are making more room for nature on their Waikato dairy farm by fencing, planting and retiring unproductive areas. Their approach focuses on improving farm efficiency while restoring habitat.

Mike Bodle has transformed challenging, gorse-infested gullies on his Southland dairy farm into productive forestry, native plantings and wildlife habitat.

Sandra and Chris run a rolling South Otago dairy farm where every paddock has gullies and seasonal creeks. After early plantings failed, they trialled planting seedings by drone and selective blanket spraying to establish native cover at scale.

See how low-productivity farmland was transformed into terraced wetland ponds that improve water quality, support biodiversity, and add to the land’s natural beauty. Careful design and ecological planting turned a gully into a high-value wetland.

Discover how well-planned tree planting on farms can provide livestock shelter and prevent soil erosion while enhancing biodiversity, water quality, and pollination.

Tree planting on your dairy farm can provide multiple benefits including potentially earning carbon credits in the ETS.