The Taranaki Community Rugby Trust (TCRT), is excited to announce that it has recently purchased its own farm. The TCRT is a registered charitable trust established in 2008 with the purpose of helping to fund and promote community rugby in Taranaki. The Trust is a unique charity in that it operates a successful dairy farming business, using the funds generated to support community rugby.

While TCRT has leased farms since its inception, the Trust has now purchased a 350 cow Dairy farm on Normanby Road Manaia. The farm is considered one of the best farms in South Taranaki with excellent infrastructure including a 60 bale Rotary cowshed and a near new 3-bedroom Brick homestead. The 100ha property, with an additional 15ha leasehold, has in the past 3 seasons averaged production over 160,000 KGs M/Solids .

Chairperson of TCRT, Garry Carnachan says, “It is the best possible outcome for the Trust in that we know the farm well and can continue our relationship with our fantastic farm staff, advisors and supporters, making the transition from leasing to ownership as seamless as possible. We are very grateful to William and his family for this opportunity which will ensure Community Rugby within the province of Taranaki will continue to be supported by TCRT for generations to come.”

The Johnston family have successfully farmed this property for 42 years, bringing it from a dry stock farm in the late seventies to a highly developed dairy farm it is today. The Trust is proud and privileged to have been given the opportunity to firstly lease the farm for the last 5 years and then purchase the property and our sincere thanks go to William Johnston and family.  The Johnston’s congratulate the Trust on their acquisition and also that the farm serves them well for its intended purpose long into the future.

In recent years TCRT has gained a great following, with Beauden, Scott and Jordie Barrett becoming ambassadors of the Trust and Colin Cooper championing the Colin Cooper Club Rugby Development Officer programme, which is partially funded by TCRT and run through the Taranaki Rugby Football Union.

Scott Barrett says “It’s fantastic to see that the work of TCRT over many years has enabled the trust to purchase a farm. The support they give every year to community rugby in Taranaki, especially the clubs and juniors, has been massive in making rugby available to everyone. With farm ownership they will be there for the long run which is a huge benefit for the game in Taranaki.”     

Along with the increased profile, TCRT was able to distribute a record $235,000 to community rugby in 2021 supporting junior rugby in clubs, referees, the Colin Cooper CRDO programme, as well as the Women’s, Pacifica, and U18 representative programmes.  This brings the total amount distributed to community rugby by TCRT over recent years to more than $800,000.

Taranaki Rugby Chairman Andrew Thompson shares the sentiment, “The relationship we have with TCRT is the envy of many other rugby unions throughout New Zealand.  For the trust to purchase a significant asset is exciting for the future of our community game here in Taranaki.  The distributions we receive are actively spent in the community game where we focus on participation from young to old, including coach development. “

With recent accomplishments and a new logo launched just last year, TCRT are working to make the Taranaki community more aware of the Trust and the work it does, gain more support from companies and organisations that align with TCRT values of improving health, welfare, and safety, with a focus on helping to keep Taranaki kids fit and active.”

Combined with continuing to operate TCRT lease properties at the Beach Energy and Osflo Fertiliser sites, this major milestone in farm ownership ensures that the work of TCRT is protected long term and that community rugby in Taranaki can look forward to TCRT support benefitting future generations.

TCRT are extremely proud to have achieved such a milestone and thank our Platinum Community Partner Beach Energy, our major contributing partners Osflo Fertiliser, Farm Source and Velocite, all our farm trust business donors, individual supporters, staff and advisors. Without the support of all our partners this would not have been possible.”

Beach Energy’s Country Manager Mat Quinn says “We would like to congratulate the Trust on this important milestone and acknowledge the innovative work that the charity does to deliver this significant level of support to our community. We are proud that our unique partnership and Trust’s successful operation of the Beach farmland is contributing to youth growth and development opportunities through the TCRT grants.”

Article added: Thursday 10 March 2022