The Wairarapa Eco Farm

The Wairarapa Eco Farm was born out of a desire to produce quality food with ecological integrity. Our farm is situated on the Tauherenikau Plains in South Wairarapa. We bought an empty patch of land in 1996 and with our ecologically solid principles, we planted windbreaks and olive trees, built up the soil, and designed and built our alternative green home. The farm has grown from bare paddocks into a secluded oasis amidst a grass desert and possesses the vitality we had dreamt of. Over the past 20 years, we created our very own micro-climate which has given us the opportunity to grow a wider variety of crops for another project in the making.

Now we have arrived at a point where this property also is in harmony with nature. We made the choice to grow organically – or as we like to call it, “ecologically” – when we were students at our Dutch university and dreaming of doing our part in making the world a better place. The Wairarapa Eco Farm was first Demeter certified in 2000 and the real quality of the fruits and veggies we grow here is vital to us. Starting from the ground up, we work towards a balanced and living soil. We build health and vitality into what we grow by using seaweed blends, compost, biodynamics, and love for what we do. Ultimately, we harvest quality produce at its peak, because flavour and freshness make healthy eating choices a pleasure. Over the years, we have developed farming systems targeted at growing good healthy crops with great nutritional value, while at the same time reversing the trends of genetic erosion, environmental degradation and the externalisation of costs.