Rats so hungry they ate not only all the bait, but also chewed the alkathene pipe which contained it, were among the challenges Jan and Brian Barton encountered when they began restoration work on an embankment on their Katikati orchard.

“I have no idea how many rats we killed, but we’ve used a lot of bait,” says Brian. The couple bought the 3.86 hectares orchard close to the Tauranga Harbour in 2002 and began work on clearing weeds and pest species from around native trees on the embankment.

“It was overgrown with hawthorne, wattle, woolly nightshade, wandering jew and more; and while we are not quite on top of them yet, it’s much improved.”

The pest plants were cut down and poisoned and natives, including kowhai, puriri, nikau, kauri and many more, were planted in their place.

“We planted to attract birds and now have tui nesting in the trees and moreporks here too.” It is because of those successes that Jan and Brian have entered the 2017 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Gold kiwifruit

The couple, who were farming in the King Country, had planned to retire to a kiwifruit orchard they owned at Waihi when a neighbour offered to buy the land. As a result, the Bartons purchased the Sedgemoor Lane property on the outskirts of Katikati.

When they bought the orchard it was growing Hort16A kiwifruit on 0.83ha. The rest was in cut flowers and foliage. These were replaced with 0.28ha of kiwifruit and 0.5ha of avocados in 2003. However, when the vine disease Psa-V infected the gold kiwifruit, the couple had no option but to cut it out and re-graft with the new variety G3, marketed as SunGold.

When he’s not working on the orchards, Brian Barton can be found at his lathe creating hand-crafted wooden items.

“[In effect] 2011 was our last Hort16A crop,” says Brian who, despite the financial impacts of having to cut out the variety, doesn’t regret its demise.

“The reject rate for G3 is significantly less than with Hort16A, which had a sharp “beak” that caused the fruit to damage each other. I hated seeing good quality fruit going for stock food because it was punctured.”

No weed spray

The orchard is managed by Hume Pack-N-Cool postharvest company but Brian takes care of the orchard mowing, choosing not to weed-spray.

“All that spraying does is provide a bare patch for more weeds to grow.” The use of a Kubota zero-turn mower enables him to keep weeds and grass under control in both the kiwifruit and avocado

The kiwifruit orchard may be only just more than a hectare in size, but Brian says it is an economic unit that provides an income for the couple. The avocado trees, with their irregular bearing, are not so reliable.

Jan and Brian, who are active member of the NZ Tree Crop Society, also have about 60 varieties of fruit and nut trees in their home orchard.

When he’s not working on the orchards, Brian, past president of Hauraki Woodturners Club, can be found at his lathe creating hand-crafted wooden items.