July 26, 2026 • 4 mins
This Te Puke kiwifruit contractor is the Farmstrong Champion behind mental health initiatives for growers and farmers in the Bay of Plenty region.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This month's farm Strong Champion on the country and we
love chatting to these farmers and growers. Is a Tapoki
Kiwi fruit industry contract. There is name is Steve Cross
and you might remember he's the bloke organizes the cricket
game between the dairy farmers and the Kiwi fruit farmers
in the Tapuki or Bay of Plenty region. Hey, Steve,
(00:21):
I want to ask you, at the moment you're losing
dairy farms to Kiwi fruit production. Kiwi fruit seems to
be on a real high at the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, Jamie thans for having me. Yeah, cure fruit at
booming in our towns. We're lucky to be in this.
I guess there is some aconimal times with different proops,
but we're in this little bubble that's booming. Little Pokey's
going pretty well.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So are the dairy farmers being pushed into the hills.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There are a lot of hills being pushed in. It's
pretty crazy to see what's going on. I guess the
borders are getting bigger and bigger and that they're flattening. Well,
there's some pretty big hills being pushed.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
These hell's being pushed and to move to put dairy
girls on them or I'm assuming from what you're saying,
this is to grow Kiwi fruit.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
This is a grow cue fruit. Yep, So I guess
sort of the grazing land or the dairy farms are
being I guess shrunk or put to pasture and turn
of the cure fruit growing land.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Other than being famous for organizing the annual cricket game
between the dairy farmers and the Kiwi fruit growers, just
remind me and remind the listeners your history. How come
Farmstrong's chosen you to be a farm Strong Champion. What's
your background? Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I started off as a dairy farmer and I was
lucky enough to be playing a lot of cricket at
that time, and playing cricket was my outlet to getting
all of fun was pretty good no matter what the
situation was on farm. I would get my Thursday afternoons
at cricket training and my Saturdays at Sundays to play cricket.
So that's sort of how I came up with the
idea of our dairy very sports cricket and LinkedIn with
(01:56):
farm Strong to drag many growers and farmers awesome land
to come and celebrate for a day every.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Day off, not content with organizing a cricket match. I
see that at the end of the Kiwi fruit harvest season,
which would have been a month or so ago, you
organized New Zealand's largest well You organized at New Zealand's
largest clay target shooting field into Poky. It's called loaded
a day out for the Kiwi fruit industry people.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yes, I guess, going back to the basics of farmstrong
is five ways a wellness. So what I like to
take out of there is I guess my two that
I like is connect and give. So the best way
to do that was to connect as many orchard managers,
growers and industry professionals together and give them a day out.
(02:45):
So we celebrated the harvest and went out to load
it and we shot some clays. We threw some actors
and had a barbecue and some beers and it was
a great day.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah. You talk about farmer's well being, and of course
Kiwi fruit and dairy for that matter, are on a
bit of a high at the moment, and that's fine
and dandy, but we have other sectors of the primary
industry that are really struggling. And I think of arable
farmers obviously vita culture. Some of the veggi growers are
having a tough time as well.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, go BG. We are lucky in this current queue
fruit boom in our area that people are doing well
and we just need to make sure that we are
looking at even though we are doing well, some people
also can be struggling, so to make sure we think
of our mates and help we can.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Keep it up and good luck for next seasons. Cricket game,
the dairy farmers, the cow cockies versus the key we
for it growers course.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And if I can put a plug in for Farmstrong's
new book, Live Well, Grow Well, it's going to be
released soon. So it's a wide range of grower stories
and practical tools and tips on top of such as sleep,
nutrition and managing stress and pressia.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So Steve Cross and are you and the book? Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
There's a small little part of me and my game
of crik that we host in there, but there's also
stories from growers all across New Zealand. You can live
here from north to south.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Well, I'm looking forward to reading that book. It's the
second one out from Farmstrong because it's fate what have
it right in the studio here and I've described it
with my hot little hand. The first book from Farmstrong
Getting Through What it Takes to Recover from Extreme weather events,
and this one came out obviously after Gabrielle Steve Cross
and thanks for your time, keep up the good work.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Oh worries to Jamie
This month's farm Strong Champion on the country and we
love chatting to these farmers and growers. Is a Tapoki
Kiwi fruit industry contract. There is name is Steve Cross
and you might remember he's the bloke organizes the cricket
game between the dairy farmers and the Kiwi fruit farmers
in the Tapuki or Bay of Plenty region. Hey, Steve,
(00:21):
I want to ask you, at the moment you're losing
dairy farms to Kiwi fruit production. Kiwi fruit seems to
be on a real high at the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, Jamie thans for having me. Yeah, cure fruit at
booming in our towns. We're lucky to be in this.
I guess there is some aconimal times with different proops,
but we're in this little bubble that's booming. Little Pokey's
going pretty well.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So are the dairy farmers being pushed into the hills.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There are a lot of hills being pushed in. It's
pretty crazy to see what's going on. I guess the
borders are getting bigger and bigger and that they're flattening. Well,
there's some pretty big hills being pushed.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
These hell's being pushed and to move to put dairy
girls on them or I'm assuming from what you're saying,
this is to grow Kiwi fruit.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
This is a grow cue fruit. Yep, So I guess
sort of the grazing land or the dairy farms are
being I guess shrunk or put to pasture and turn
of the cure fruit growing land.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Other than being famous for organizing the annual cricket game
between the dairy farmers and the Kiwi fruit growers, just
remind me and remind the listeners your history. How come
Farmstrong's chosen you to be a farm Strong Champion. What's
your background? Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I started off as a dairy farmer and I was
lucky enough to be playing a lot of cricket at
that time, and playing cricket was my outlet to getting
all of fun was pretty good no matter what the
situation was on farm. I would get my Thursday afternoons
at cricket training and my Saturdays at Sundays to play cricket.
So that's sort of how I came up with the
idea of our dairy very sports cricket and LinkedIn with
(01:56):
farm Strong to drag many growers and farmers awesome land
to come and celebrate for a day every.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Day off, not content with organizing a cricket match. I
see that at the end of the Kiwi fruit harvest season,
which would have been a month or so ago, you
organized New Zealand's largest well You organized at New Zealand's
largest clay target shooting field into Poky. It's called loaded
a day out for the Kiwi fruit industry people.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yes, I guess, going back to the basics of farmstrong
is five ways a wellness. So what I like to
take out of there is I guess my two that
I like is connect and give. So the best way
to do that was to connect as many orchard managers,
growers and industry professionals together and give them a day out.
(02:45):
So we celebrated the harvest and went out to load
it and we shot some clays. We threw some actors
and had a barbecue and some beers and it was
a great day.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah. You talk about farmer's well being, and of course
Kiwi fruit and dairy for that matter, are on a
bit of a high at the moment, and that's fine
and dandy, but we have other sectors of the primary
industry that are really struggling. And I think of arable
farmers obviously vita culture. Some of the veggi growers are
having a tough time as well.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, go BG. We are lucky in this current queue
fruit boom in our area that people are doing well
and we just need to make sure that we are
looking at even though we are doing well, some people
also can be struggling, so to make sure we think
of our mates and help we can.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Keep it up and good luck for next seasons. Cricket game,
the dairy farmers, the cow cockies versus the key we
for it growers course.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And if I can put a plug in for Farmstrong's
new book, Live Well, Grow Well, it's going to be
released soon. So it's a wide range of grower stories
and practical tools and tips on top of such as sleep,
nutrition and managing stress and pressia.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So Steve Cross and are you and the book? Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
There's a small little part of me and my game
of crik that we host in there, but there's also
stories from growers all across New Zealand. You can live
here from north to south.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Well, I'm looking forward to reading that book. It's the
second one out from Farmstrong because it's fate what have
it right in the studio here and I've described it
with my hot little hand. The first book from Farmstrong
Getting Through What it Takes to Recover from Extreme weather events,
and this one came out obviously after Gabrielle Steve Cross
and thanks for your time, keep up the good work.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Oh worries to Jamie
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