People Helping Nature Podcast · Conservation Amplified

From Degraded to Thriving: A Catchment Story (EP29 with John Burke)

·58 min·1 clip

John Burke turned one of New Zealand's most degraded catchments into a conservation success story over 25 years.

Interview with John Burke, a Bay of Plenty farmer who transformed his family's degraded farm into a conservation success story over 25 years. Burke discusses his agricultural background, the shock of learning his farm was one of the most environmentally degraded in the region (causing seagrass loss in Tauranga Harbour), and the gradual restoration journey. Key interventions included riparian fencing (15km), wetland reinstatement (8 areas), steep slope retirement, and native reforestation. Burke emphasizes that this also improved farm profitability—reducing effective grassed area by 25% while maintaining equal returns through 'Blue Zone farming' (productivity over production). He discusses the Timata method for cheap native establishment, participation in Project Parore, climate resilience benefits, and provides advice for starting restoration: begin small with a 'kitchen window project' you see daily.

As heard by us

A practical catchment story about farm repair, wetland reinstatement, and profitability.

This episode follows a Western Bay of Plenty farm and the catchment around it, treating land repair as both ecological work and a practical part of running the place.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a farm story where ecology and profit stop arguing, start here.

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