Trees that pay twice; resilience + returns (23 October 2025)

Posted on November 05, 2025

Shane Carroll and Prof. Nicola Shadbolt from Westview Farm (Pohangina Valley). They’ve blended trees into a working hill-country system with beef, sheep, deer and dairy, and won top honours in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Shane also serves as a NZ Poplar & Willow Research Trust farmer ambassador, and Nicola is ONZM (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit), and an FMG director. Discussion on what’s worked, what hasn’t, and how they decide where trees go and why, without compromising day-to-day farming.