Dayaveg Takes Delivery of 13th John Deere Tractor

Makan Daya sailed from India to New Zealand via Fiji, at the start of a 1920s New Zealand winter, seeking a better life. He travelled all over the country working multiple labouring jobs, gaining citizenship and settling in Pukekohe in 1940, before moving to Tuakau in 1962.

Today, his descendants are building on the legacy of the market garden he established on the rich volcanic soils that surround Pukekohe and Tuakau, south of Auckland.

Officially registered in 1963 as Makan Daya & Co Ltd and branded as Dayaveg, the business is a grower, packer and supplier of fresh vegetables to food markets in New Zealand, managed by Makan’s 80-year-old son Dheru and grandson Navin Makan.

Life was tough when his father first arrived.

“There were no tractors, just Clydesdale horses for the ploughing and raking, and they planted potato and onion crops by hand,” Dheru said

“They could see opportunities, so they leased land and worked until they could buy it. I used to help weeding onions or feeding the chooks in between going to school and remember we bought our first tractor in 1956.”

From humble beginnings on eight hectares, the family has become a successful commercial enterprise, harnessing new technology and advances in irrigation and machinery and buying neighbouring plots to build the current holding.

Both Dheru and Navin men remember the key investments in machinery that revolutionised the family business, from a travelling irrigator in the 1970s to their first John Deere 1750 tractor in the 1980s, a second-hand, open cab, model which has amassed more than 10,000 hours and is still going strong.

“The 1750 was so easy to operate, and its performance led us to getting into a new, larger John Deere, from where we’ve never looked back,” Dheru said. The latest arrival, a new 6M 130, was chosen for its versatility in heavy loader work and field tasks, and was supplied by local dealer Brandt and its sales manager Barry Beukes.

The grower is embracing new and emerging technologies, that typically sees a sprayer talking to the tractor and the tractor talking to the spreader, resulting in quantifiable bottom line savings.

Navin Makan agrees that precision agriculture has brought new gains to the business to offset rising labour costs and a shortage of experienced agricultural workers. Using the John Deere Operations Center, he monitors the tractor fleet, optimising input costs like fuel consumption, optimising his machinery to ensure no tractor sits idle.

“We will use the new 6M 130 for onion and potato harvesting and spreading fertiliser, meanwhile, our old original 1750 is still used to pull the irrigator around,” he said. “With all our costs rising due to global issues, Operations Centre tracks fuel use, fertiliser and spraying operations, so that we’re putting the right amount on the plant or the ground.”

For 80-year-old Dheru, comfort is also a bonus on one of his other tractors, the recently purchased 6R 185.

“Operating that joystick is so relaxing,” he said. “The new technology means you’re working the tractor with your hands and not your feet, which takes the tension out of what to do when you get to the end of the row. I really like driving, so they put me on the slow jobs now, of course, but I love it, it’s all so much easier.”

For the Makan family, the journey from a few hectares worked by hand to a premium-quality vegetable-growing operation is a testament to generations of hard work, resilience and innovation.

More than a century after Makan Daya first set out in search of opportunity, the family continues to honour his legacy, embracing new technology and trusted partnerships to help ensure the business remains productive, sustainable and ready for the future.