The story of Waikato turf company FineLawn is the story of Mark Eman, whose Range Rover "farm car" proves you can take the boy out of the city but not the city out of the boy.
Mark Eman checks out some of the turf grown on his farm. Photo: RNZ/Leah Tebbutt
"I graduated from Massey University in [the] early 80s with a degree in agriculture. I went share milking in Horowhenua where I won the Share Milker of the Year award...not bad for a North Shore-born city boy."
In 1987, Eman came to Waikato to set up a turf company, FineLawn, juggling it alongside dairy farming and growing asparagus.
The inspiration for turf came from his neighbour in Horowhenua, also a turf farmer.
"Being a city boy I had an unassociated, romantic affiliation with rural land in New Zealand. I always wanted to be a farmer."
Grass is cut and lifted automatically by the harvester machine. Photo: RNZ/Leah Tebbutt
The six varieties of turf grown on Eman's farm, fall into two categories – warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda and Kikuyu, and cool-season grasses.
All are grown on a 12-month rotation and mown three times a week with a separate mower for some turf so as to not cross-contaminate.
Fences are pointless on this 52-hectare property, so come harvest time, a machine running on sensors automatically cuts pieces of turf that are about 15 millimetres deep and 2.2 metres wide.
The conveyor belt then lifts and rolls the strips up so "Mr Muscles" - as Eman describes his staff - can place them on pallets to be collected and delivered to commercial developments and landscaping businesses.
"It's just a mat of stolons, you're not actually selling any soil at all.
"Which is groovy for us because we're not here to sell soil, we're here to sell grass."
Grass is harvested into precut rolls stacked onto pallets ready for customers. Photo: RNZ/Leah Tebbutt
Eman considers himself fortunate to have accumulated long-standing staff.
His production manager has been working at FineLawn for 20 years, and the person underneath him in the chain of command has worked for 17 years.
"Another staff member's been here for seven years and is on a programme to take over from these guys when they finish."
Eman's put this employee through Outward Bound, and others have been funded to complete certificates in sports turf management.
All staff are given financial literacy lessons from FineLawn's own accountant.
"I live in a community of people that's called New Zealand.
"My role as an employer is to make better human beings, whether they stay here long-term or whether they don't."
FineLawn's Mark Eman. Photo: RNZ/Leah Tebbutt
In the hope of building his employees' confidence, Eman pays for a Te Reo Māori teacher to visit the farm every week for a one-hour lesson.
He reckons employee benefits are only fair when half of his staff are "bent over like a post staple all day picking turf up".
Some are "poorly coached young men", he says, who are being encouraged in their personal enhancement and education.
"I think most employers would agree that you take on a responsibility when you employ people to provide that network of support to them."
