Our Team Agriculture & Horticulture Field Trip
It was a big afternoon out for 12 of our team from Rural Accountants who took part in an agriculture and horticulture field trip organised by managing director, Shannon Harnett, who is also personally involved in many of the farms and farming projects we visited.
Travelling as a convoy of three vehicles, we got our trip off to a great start with a beautiful lunch at Roquette Restaurant & Bar which is easily one of our favourite places to eat in Whakatane.
Sufficiently fed and watered, we then piled back into our cars for the drive down to Opotiki where our first stop was a visit to the new mussel farm factory currently being built by Whakatohea Mussels Opotiki Ltd. Although much of the site is still undeveloped, Jared, a project manager, showed us a video of how the completed factory will look and did a great job answering our many questions about the farm.
Next up was a visit to a kiwifruit orchard which is mostly under cover and really interesting to see, especially as gold kiwifruit is going so well. And last but not least, we visited a local dairy farm.
Everyone agreed the field trip was an excellent and very worthwhile experience. The team came away with a real appreciation of the growth that is currently happening in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region, especially in Opotiki with the aquaculture and harbour development/marine precinct.
After such a big day out and about it seemed only appropriate that we finish the field trip with beer and pizzas back at Christine’s house – a well deserved celebration to a fantastic day together.