INDIVIDUAL CLIENTS

Success stories from farmers who dared to do things differently

These are real farming families and businesses who worked alongside the Tipu Whenua team — and the changes they made speak for themselves.

Farm Systems Transformation

THE NETTLEINGHAMS

A whole system changed in a matter of years

The Nettleinghams worked alongside the Wai Kokopu farm systems team and changed their system and landscape in a remarkably short time. With a transdisciplinary team wrapped around them, their operation was transformed — not over decades, but in years. This is the story of what becomes possible when the right people come together around a farming family with the courage to do things differently.

Intensification & Efficiency

REX BUTTERWORTH

Lifting productivity while cutting environmental footprint

Rex Butterworth made a bold decision to intensify his system with herd homes — but the results went far beyond efficiency gains. By redesigning the operation around a smarter infrastructure, Rex lifted productivity, reduced his environmental footprint, and built a profitable, productive business that has proven a very positive change for both the farm and the land it sits on.

Resilient Farm Systems

COLIN & SHELLEY GUYTON

Flexibility, not intensity, was the key

Colin and Shelley Guyton featured as a resilient business in the MSc study conducted by Alison in 2013–2015, which sought out the most resilient dairy systems in the Upper Waikato — those that could best withstand heavy regulation, climate volatility, and milk price fluctuations. Their lower-stocked, less intensive system proved to be the most resilient over multiple years, riding from one tough year to the next without losing its footing. The lesson: it wasn't intensity that made them strong — it was flexibility.