About Us

Our Ethos

New Zealand has established itself on the strength of a clean, green image drawn mostly from the beauty, health, and grandeur of its landscapes and waterways. Much of New Zealand’s land and waterways are used for agriculture and production. To date, the link between tourism and the agri-based economy has not been successfully married in a regenerative way.

In the last 10-15 years, science and data has enabled us to be better informed about how we farm and the impact that this can have on our environment. In the past, there hasn’t been the awareness and the importance of having a whole approach to the way we live on the land. This is now in front of us and we need to do better.

New Zealand as a whole has many positive initiatives in place supporting improvements and identifying better ways of operating. Fit for a Better World has established the Primary Sector’s vision for New Zealand and how we farm.  Criffel Station and those who inhabit it are deeply involved in regional and national environmental and community groups including WAI Wanaka, WAO Summit and Our Land and Water National Science Challenge place-based pilot.

We believe above all else that with the right practices and vision in place, agriculture can be regenerative and sustainable. An approach that benefits the land, the animals, the environment, and the communities who work in and around rural properties. One such approach is One Health. It is this philosophy which underpins all that we do at Criffel Station.

One Health

One Health describes the collaboration of varied disciplines working together to provide optimal health of water, environment, animals and people. It is a virtuous self-reinforcing cycle that helps to improve the reputations of New Zealand producers within this country and beyond. It is about focussing not just on the monetary value of the agri-sector but also the esteem in which products are held. We believe this is communicated through the relationship producers have with the land.

In 2020, Criffel Station was one of 25 pilot farms that piloted the New Zealand Farm Assurance Plan Plus Framework. This Framework is effectively setting farming standards to support our production in a sustainable way while adding value to our agricultural product. One Health encompasses:

ENVIRONMENT

This aspect focusses on using Nature-based Solutions in our farming practices, reducing air pollution and waste management

See more on Nature-based Solutions below.

WATER

Developing a sustainable water catchment management plan, that involves testing and where possible going beyond industry standards.

ANIMALS

Taking a proactive risk-based animal health and welfare planning approach. This aspect requires properties to adhere to the core concepts which the NZ Animal Welfare Act (1999) is founded on:

  • Proper and sufficient food and water.
  • Adequate shelter.
  • Opportunity to display normal patterns of behaviour.
  • Physical handling in a manner which minimises the likelihood of unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress.
  • Proactive documented animal health plans that are annually reviewed and risk assessed by a veterinarian to ensure protection from, and rapid diagnosis of, any significant injury or disease – being a need which, in each case, is appropriate to the species, environment, and the circumstances of the animal.

Or more simply, proactive animal husbandry that results in truly happy animals.

PEOPLE

Ensuring a safe and healthy workplace where a team feels supported, encouraged and rewarded is just part of this aspect of One Health. It is also about the flow on effect of a rural entity on suppliers, guests and the broader community that supports or, through employment, is supported by a rural property. One Health properties take care to ensure involvement with the community as valuable and respected contributors to the overall health of their rural property.

Agriculture is not the end in itself: it is part of a value chain that culminates in consumption – but to be successful we need to ensure our landscapes, our people and the animals are nurtured.

Read more

Nature-based Solutions

Criffel Station is an advocate and supporter of using Nature-based Solutions in our mission to sustain the health of the land, through continuous care, for this generation, the next and for the benefit of all.

Nature-based Solutions offer a way forward for addressing conservation, climate and socioeconomic objectives while maintaining healthy and productive agricultural systems. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

To Criffel Station, Nature-based Solutions are entirely consistent with our One Health philosophy and mission to achieve sustainability, enhance biodiversity conservation and provide opportunities for carbon storage. Criffel Station views Nature-based Solutions as a positive answer in achieving sustainable production and our conservation objectives. It is our belief that we need to relentlessly invest in nature, it is central to our future thinking approach and not an afterthought.

Nature-based Solutions are being applied for soil health, soil moisture, carbon mitigation, downstream water quality protections, biodiversity benefits as well as agricultural production and supply chains. Our goal is to make our land healthier year after year.

Criffel Station believes it is part of our collective responsibility to tackle climate change and our journey to net zero greenhouse gas emissions. It is critically important to us to demonstrate the Nature-base Solutions concept locally, and our ability to have a greater, more transformative effect on the environment, on our ability to sustain human wellbeing and prosperity, and to restore nature.

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