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Sheree and Dylan Ditchfield with son Blake on their award-winning Freedom Acres Farm at Murihiku. Photo Credit: Environment Southland.
Among the prize winners in the Environment Southland Community Awards were dairy farming couple Dylan and Sheree Ditchfield, who won the Leadership in Farming Award.
The Ditchfields have farmed in Southland since 1997, progressing from sharemilking to equity partnerships to sole farm ownership.
Now based on a 176ha farm at Wendonside known as 'Freedom Acres', they regard themselves as guardians of their whenua.
With their shared vision of "Positively Impacting People", the Ditchfields freely share their journey, methods and philosophies on their company website, and also run a series of business, life and leadership courses they call "Farming to Freedom".
Freedom Acres is currently in its first season of once-a-day milking. They are also trialling bale grazing, a wintering system where hay bales are spaced across a paddock, with stock grazing breaks of hay and pasture throughout the winter. The system aims to reduce nitrogen leaching and improve soil health and pasture regeneration, helping towards lowering the farm's environmental footprint.
The judges commented that the Ditchfields were inspirational and real leaders in the farming sector, with the philosophy of people being at the core of their operation. "This approach is good for the cows, good for the soil, good for the water and good for the people."
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
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