Grower, RC Hari & Sons, PUKEKOHE NEW ZEALAND
CATEGORY: SUSTAINABILITY
What do you do when urban sprawl is starting to encroach on the region you’re farming in?
This is the reality for New Zealand horticulturalist Pravin Hari, and his solution is to focus on sustainability - minimise the impact on the land so that he can continue to farm for many years to come. While Pravin struggles to buy and lease new land due to the increasing population in the Pukekohe area, one hour south of Auckland, Pravin is passionate about looking after what he has to the best of his ability.
A third-generation grower, Pravin has an active mind that searches for new possibilities. This has led Pravin to implement controlled traffic farming across his whole property over recent years, not an easy or particularly cheap move for an established horticulture enterprise, but enables much more efficiencies and sustainable use of water.
Controlled traffic farming is just the tip of Pravin’s sustainability iceberg. He has been actively working with the Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association to develop agricultural sustainability plans for the region, and he is constantly trialling new approaches and products to make growing quality vegetables as efficient as possible.
At the heart of Pravin’s initiatives is the desire to minimise the impact on urban neighbours so that they can live and work together in a dual agricultural/urban environment. The decision to farm more sustainably has translated into a much firmer strategy and targeted approach to the way Pravin manages his land.
Pravin’s dedication to agriculture has been rewarded with a nomination in the Sustainability category of the growth awards.