Hamlin Road Organic Farm

BYD Auto New Zealand 2024 Sustainability Champion Hamlin Road Farm – Pathways Health is a second-time winner. It was also Outstanding Sustainability Champion in 2021. As well as its sustainability credentials, Hamlin Road Farm fresh grown vegetables caught the judges’ taste buds, being award five gold medals in 2024.

According to the sustainability judges ‘Hamlin Road Farm is more than a certified organic farm providing tasty healthy produce to its local community; it’s also a mental health and addiction service. What sets this social enterprise apart is how it entwines its commitment to wellbeing (food and people) with positive environmental impact. That ethos is embodied in everything it does – from enhancing soil fertility and making homemade comfrey fertiliser to developing its own seed bank. It supports people in Counties Manukau facing mental health and addiction challenges through providing employment and training. Through this work, Hamlin Road Farm is having a positive impact on the local community and environment, through the production of nutritious food. It is truly a role model for sustainable food producers.’

Stuck in the bustle of our biggest city and tired of the rush? On your next sunny Sunday morning, why not try this:

Venture southward on State Highway 1, hop off at the Botanicals, and take Hill Road onto Alfriston. Drive for a few minutes. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

Although you’ve only just escaped the city’s clasp, you’ll feel well beyond its reach. Nipped at the heels by urbanisation, but not quite yet bitten, are the gliding farmlands and rolling hills of rural South East Auckland.

But it’s not just a nice spot for a Sunday drive, nor entirely reserved for lifestyle blocks and Cessnas. Amongst this often-forgotten slice of countryside lies an award-winning farm with a purpose: five-bulwark-hectares where organic methods, ancient practices and a budding team of fresh horticulturists flourish.

Founded in 2002, Hamlin Road Farm is a social enterprise run by Pathways—a charitable organisation providing mental health, addiction and wellbeing services across Aotearoa. For over two decades, the certified organic operation has provided a safe workplace to empower and support those with lived experiences of mental health and drug and alcohol addiction. With the help and guidance of te ao Maori principles and the Maori horticulture calendar, Hamlin Road emphasises the importance of the connection between nature and people. In their words, ‘We all grow here’.

Today, there are seven large shade houses, native garden beds of kawakawa and kumara, orchards of stone fruit and citrus, a propagation house teeming with wildercress, two goats, and a solo sheep. It is a fully functioning commercial enterprise, supplying two farmers' markets, a webstore, certain specialist food stores, and a roadside honesty stall. 

It’s “Real work, real pay and real expectations”, affirms Team Coach Sarah Hewitt, “but not without heaps of support.” Everyone has a contract, which starts at six months and then rolls over if necessary. Profits from sales remunerate their tangata whai ora—a person seeking help—workforce.

Typically, after a year, members of their working whanau move on, but not without a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills behind them, an embedded routine for working life, and a feeling of accomplishment. Sarah and the Pathways team are after progress from each individual, “We want people to go into another workplace, and they have to understand what is demanded of a real workplace when they leave here… we want to see progress.”

With an ethos of ‘Growing quality produce, people and potential’, it’s easy to see why it’s not just people that excel at Hamlin Road. This year, they earned five gold medals for their organic rhubarb, organic round carrots, organic mini mixed capsicums, organic watercress, and organic rocket.

Of course, the satisfaction of serving the community through award-winning produce is not earned without challenge. Maximising yields through sustainable methods with an entirely seasonal, organic crop is tough enough. Add freak weather events and a global pandemic, and it becomes a whole different mahi. 

Sarah acknowledges they’re at the mercy of the weather and price. Today, people have many options from larger supermarkets, and many aren’t particularly bothered about buying seasonally. But those who do are what counts, particularly locals and visitors, who often leave more in the roadside honesty box than they have to.

And if you remember Hamlin Road as our 2021 Sustainability Champion, you can be assured that they haven't rested on their laurels since. Sustainable packaging remains a must; the introduction of their goats and sheep helps maintain parts of the farm that would've burnt through fuel and time, and efforts are underway to plant flood-prone areas of the farm with native species, such as kahikatea.

Through Hamlin Road, Pathways and their team have implemented an innovative growing model that’s proven successful during a time of agricultural uncertainty. Through ‘real work’, they’ve made real change. Through ‘real expectations’, they’ve forged real success stories, and whilst working for ‘real pay’, their tangata whai ora is responsible for some really good produce. So what’s next?

Sarah says the team is keen to upscale. Increasing sales will increase the number of workers they can accommodate and help. However, she also highlights that overdue maintenance might come in the way of anything immediate. Many shade houses are deteriorating, with whanau and friends often called upon to lend a hand.

Still, growth is on the horizon. There are plans to open further services to the broader community, with training workshops and corporate team-building events on the cards. Indeed, through the Pathways Real Service, nature and nurture workshops are already offered to taiohi (youth) in the community. They can come to the farm to learn growing, propagating, and cutting skills. They can also harvest weeds to feed Kowhai and Pepper, the goats, and Bumble, the lamb, for animal therapy. 

At some point, Sarah and the team also hope to upgrade the roadside shop to an on-site store. This way, they can look to co-op with local organic farmers and provide a hub for food security within the community.

Like many social enterprises, funding is crucial for Hamlin. With sizable maintenance and healthy aspirations in their sights, any assistance from the community is greatly appreciated, and locals with the time and skills to help are warmly welcome.

You can visit their webstore here to purchase award-winning organic produce and seedlings or donate.