The winners of the 2016 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards will be announced at an awards dinner at Mount Maunganui tonight.

Three dairy farms and three kiwifruit orchards are this year's finalists, and judges say the standard of entrant is extremely high.

Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards judging underway at the Dibley farm with from left Doug Dibley, Terry Harding (judge), Mark Dibley, Donna Smit (judge), Sophie Dibley, Margaret Wright (judge), Mark Lincoln (Dibley staff), David Ingram (sharemilker) and Shalom Leathers (Dibley staff). Photo: Doug Lineham.

'In the early days of the awards it wasn't so hard to pick category winners. This year all were of a very high standard and decisions came down to the wire as we pulled entries apart to find a half a point difference between them,” says judging co-ordinator Margaret Wright.

The three kiwifruit finalists are: Marnie and Peter Anstis of Woodlands Road, Opotiki; Baygold Group of Paengaroa and KWKIWI Ltd owned by Phillipa Wright and Stephen Kenna of Ongare Point, Katikati.

The dairy farm finalists are: Waionehu Farm owned by the Birchall family of Rerewhakaaitu, Gary and Debra Rowlands of Edgecumbe and Mark and Sophie Dibley of Rotorua.

Margaret says the awards are about celebrating agribusinesses which are sustainable environmentally and financially and increasingly inter-generational sustainability has become part of the picture too.

'As we farmers live longer; we need to prepare for an income during our retirement while having a business which can also support the next generation. Making that happen isn't easy.

'Many families, including those among this year's entries, are managing the process really well, often involving their children at quite an early age so they have a good understanding of the business.”

That's the case for Marnie and Peter Anstis whose property includes two mountain streams, mature and re-generating native bush, kiwifruit orchards and a dairy farm developed and protected during the last 40 years by the couple.

To ensure those legacies endure, environmentally, economically and through the generations, they have appointed their sons, Chris, and Michael, niece Nat Wilson and orchard manager Aimee Curley to a board set up to govern and manage Anstis Orchards, Anstis Dairies and the young peoples' own venture, a new development Anstis Orchards II.

‘Grow the Future' is the core purpose of Baygold, one of the kiwifruit industry's largest orcharding companies, and it's a value which encompasses more than the fruit on the vines.

For the Paengaroa-based company, growing the future is about producing top quality kiwifruit but it's also about growing opportunities and skills for its staff, benefiting the wider community and enhancing the environment.

Part of the Baygold Group is Baygold Joint Venture partnership which has a number of shareholders and directors who make up the equity partnership.

Helping restore the Lake Okaro's water quality has been the focus for the Birchall family with two hectares of constructed wetland formed on the 220ha property and all three water courses fenced and planted in native trees and flaxes.

Shane and June Birchall are closely involved in the management and day-to-day running of the farm alongside son Daniel and daughter Megan.

Shane's nephew Jason Birchall is in his fourth season working at Waionehu and other members of the Birchall family are relief milkers and weed sprayers, with 14 of the extended family living on or bordering the property.

Four years ago the KWKIWI Ltd kiwifruit orchard at Ongare Point was in survival mode, with owners Phillipa Wright and Stephen Kenna focused on its recovery from the vine disease Psa-V.

In 2012 the orchard harvested just 2830 trays per hectare but remarkably, last season produced a total of 72,000 trays of fruit from the first crop after re-grafting vines to the gold G3 variety.

Severe as the impacts of Psa-V were, Stephen and Phillipa never considered giving up on kiwifruit. Instead they developed off-orchard sources of income and embarked on a strategic orchard recovery plan, closely involving their sons Daniel, 21, William, 19, and James, 17.

Keep it simple and do what you do well is the philosophy Gary and Debra Rowlands operate by – and it's put their performance above the top 20 per cent of North Island dairy farms.

Debra and Gary's operating expense of around $2.97 per kgMS is well under the national average and an outstanding result, especially given recent low pay outs. However, there's no scrimping on animal health or feed, which is reflected in the fact that production as a percentage of cow live weight is 90 per cent which is excellent, especially for a low-input farm.

For 130 years, members of the Dibley family have farmed in Oturoa Road, but now the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's rule 11 has capped both production and fertiliser inputs on the Dibley and other dairy farms in the Lake Rotorua catchment. Current owners Mark and Sophie Dibley say conditions are only likely to get tougher, which will impact on the economics of dairying in the area.

'Operating within the Rotorua catchment we take our obligations around protecting water quality very seriously. All waterways on farm including all major ephemerals are fenced and totally stock excluded with riparian planting surrounding all,” says Sophie.

The family is immensely proud of the environment which they have developed on the farm. This includes approximately 20 ha of native bush which is retired and fully fenced. An additional three hectares has been retired and planted in natives over the last couple of years, using thousands of trees propagated by Sophie from seeds she collects from native trees, shrubs and flaxes, and raises in a nursery by their home.