After more than 25 years of being developed into a major North Canterbury employer and business, New Zealand’s largest pig farm, Patoa Farms, is now being sold.
The farm raised close to 100,000 pigs annually on a nearly 900-hectare property near Hawarden. It employed more than 50 staff members, injecting about $4 million in wages into the local economy.
First converted in 1998, the property has expanded into a free-range pig operation with 5,000 breeding sows that produce finished pigs following an ethical and environmental approach.
Owner Steve Sterne originally purchased a large block of land along the Hurunui River with co-founder Jens Ravn, then carried on the farm after Ravn shifted to sheep farming in 2013.
Sterne has stepped back from hands-on involvement, installing a management team to handle daily operations while he and daughter Holly Davies oversee the expansive complex.
Sterne said they are approaching the end of their involvement in pig farming, as he seeks retirement after completing his “stint.” He noted that his daughter is now prioritising family, with a second child on the way.
“It’s probably the end of an era,” Sterne said.
Patoa Farms’ assets are being sold with breeding stock, plants, and equipment integral to the fully enclosed farming system.