A well-known Hawke's Bay station and training farm has taken out the Supreme title in the 2013 East Coast Ballance
Farm Environment Awards.

Smedley Station and Cadet Training Farm also collected several category awards at a special Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA) ceremony in March.

Terry and Judy Walters manage the award winning Hawke's Bay Smedley Station.

Managed by Terry and Judy Walters, the 5054ha (3186ha effective) sheep, beef and deer farm near Tikokino, northwest of Waipukurau, is home to 22 cadets who are presented with a wide range of learning opportunities during the two years they live and work on the property.
BFEA judges said the intensely scrutinised station sets and achieves high benchmarks.
'As a working farm Smedley not only practises profitable and sustainable management, it also teaches this ethos to tomorrow's agricultural leaders.”
Smedley Station was bequeathed to the Crown in 1919 by Josiah Howard who wanted the farm to be used for agricultural training.
Terry Walters, who previously worked as stock manager on Smedley, was appointed manager in 2002. He reports to the Josiah Howard Estate advisory board and the Public Trust farm unit manager.
Over the last decade the station has undergone a period of significant consolidation. This includes the sale of outlying blocks and the purchase of two large neighbouring stations – Onepoto and Ridgelands –which are managed separately but with activities dovetailing into the Smedley block.
Last year the mainly rolling to steep hill-country station wintered 28,500 stock units, including 11,500 ewes, 500 breeding cows 365 breeding hinds and 450 velveting stags.
As well as its role as a training facility, Smedley also hosts a wide range of visitors and interest groups.
The station continues to fence, retire and protect areas of native bush, with 150ha transferred into QE II national covenants in the last 10 years. Cadets are heavily involved in this bush protection project which instils them with good environmental values.