Awhitu Organics

Awhitu Organics

One of the early movers in the organic sector in New Zealand,  Viv Rutherfurd, started by growing organic garlic in 1981 on 3 ha of his 240 ha sheep farm on the Awhitu Peninsula west of Auckland. The business, Awhitu Organics, is now run by his daughter Kathy and her partner Grant with ongoing help from Viv and his wife Robyn and grows a wide range of organic vegetables for the local market.

Viv was motivated by his passion about soil health and believes excessive poisons will eventually destroy the soil. In his view, once damaged, the ‘living' soil can take a long time to restore.

At the same time as starting Awhitu Organics Viv helped set up an organic farmer's co-operative in Auckland called "Ceres Organics". That farmer's co-op has grown to be one of New Zealand's largest organic wholesalers and distributors, Ceres Enterprises Ltd.

Awhitu Organics gained Bio-Grow certification in 1985 (one of the first 50 organisations to do so). Over the years the Awhitu team have continued to improve the property, expand the range of produce and build experience and knowledge around organic production systems through a largely ‘learn-as-you-go' approach.

Kathy's partner Grant joined the team in the late 90's and the two of them completed a Permaculture course, run by Robin Francis from the Permaculture Institute of Australia. This proved a turning point for Awhitu as it supported Kathy's belief that the garden had to be managed as a whole ecosystem.

Awhitu sells its expanded range of organic vegetables and herbs through Ceres, via farm gate sales and via direct delivery throughout the Franklin District. Kathy and Grant approached Prometheus in 2006 to help them buy a new tractor and a much needed heavier-duty mulcher/mower attachment to help with their ongoing development of Awhitu.