Around 200 people gathered at the Chateau in Christchurch to showcase good farming practices and celebrate growers at the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust.

The awards ceremony was held on March 7, with the Guild and Dunbar families of High Peak Station winning the coveted Regional Supreme Award.

The 3,760-hectare station is managed by an eight-way partnership running four businesses.

The partnership comprises of the Guilds – parents James and Anna, son Hamish and wife Gemma, son Simon and wife Kate, and daughter Amelia with husband Tom Dunbar.

James Guild said the family was 'honoured' to receive the award presented by last year's regional supreme winner, Ian Knowles from Glenmark Springs.

"We're hugely proud that what we have done at High Peak has been recognised in this way,' Guild said.

Guild thanked the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust for showcasing what farmers in Canterbury can achieve.

"It shows the massive diversity we have running through the province."

High Peak Station is a traditional beef, sheep, and deer farm that has successfully diversified into tourism and honey through strategic planning.

The judges and the families recognised this, as well as the families' protection of the environment through natural wetlands, QEII covenants, and riparian planting.

"Politicians come and go, policies come and go, fashions come and go, but in the end, what really endures is the land and what we can do with it," Guild said.

"We are hugely proud as a family to be able to make a small contribution and try to evolve our farm in a way that adds to New Zealand and looks after the environment."

The Guild and Dunbar Families also won the following awards:

• Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm Award

• Rabobank Agri-Business Management Award

• NZFET Biodiversity Award

• NZFET Climate Recognition Award

• Environment Canterbury Water Quality Award

Other Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Award winners include:

John Wright & Richard Green — Wainono Dairy, Fairlie

• Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award

• DairyNZ Sustainability and Stewardship Award

Andrew and Peter Gilchrist — Gilchrist Brothers, Swannanoa

• Hill Laboratories Agri-Science Award

• Norwood Farming Efficiency Award

• NZFET Innovation Award

Sam & Jo Spencer-Bower — Claxby Estate, Swannanoa

• Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award

by Claire Inkson