Business category winners in the 2020 Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Awards.
Blake Cheer and Gareth Fraser, Fonterra Farm Source Taranaki - for efforts to enhance farming practices through collaboration with the farming community for the protection of the environment.
Blake and Gareth are helping dairy farmers across Taranaki make the environment a central part of their everyday business activities. The pair are instrumental in the roll-out of Tiaki Farm Environment Plans for Fonterra suppliers. These cover all aspects including fertiliser use, effluent, waterway protection, biodiversity and other considerations. Each farmer gets a tailored plan setting out their property’s risk areas, current farm practices and practical steps to achieve good practice. The plans are living documents, to be consulted frequently and updated regularly to encompass changes in technology, expectations and regulations. Blake and Gareth provide personalised service of a high standard, reflecting their own commitment to the environment. Farmers say it’s like having their very own environmental consultant.
Video profile - Blake Cheer and Gareth Fraser(external link)
BTW Company - for showing outstanding leadership within the business community towards pest control efforts and innovation on Taranaki maunga
BTW Company and its staff are putting their time and expertise into iconic conservation projects in Taranaki and further afield. As part of BTW’s health and wellness programme, staff volunteer for The Mounga Project, regularly checking and clearing a five-kilometre line of 57 stoat traps high on Mount Taranaki. Now into the third year, their efforts and traps protect an area where Taranaki Kiwi Trust has already released 18 kiwi. Alongside this work, The Mounga Project’s kākā release programme will benefit from a BTW designed mobile kitset aviary. Erected at release sites, the aviary lets the birds acclimatise to their new surroundings before flying into the wild. It’s currently in use at Abel Tasman National Park.
Video profile - BTW Company(external link)