2016 East Coast Regional Supreme Winners

Resilient, innovative and hard-working growers Graham and Marian Hirst are Supreme winners of the 2016 East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The Hirsts run a 40ha pipfruit and blueberry operation spread over five blocks just south of Hastings. Their business has grown considerably since 1989 when they bought 11ha of bare land and planted 1.5ha of apples. Today they grow 32ha of apples and 2.5ha of blueberries, employing seven full-time staff (including themselves), two permanent part-timers and a seasonal team of more than 100 people.