Molesworth, New Zealand’s largest high country station seeks new farmer
Thursday, 18 December 2025
Molesworth Recreation Reserve’s 1800km² make it the size of some small countries – so managing a farm on it is no easy feat.
Jim and Tracey Ward, who had managed the high country station for 24 years, suddenly resigned earlier this year.
Now a new farmer-manager is needed for the farm, which is owned by the Crown, managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and leased to Pāmu (Landcorp Farming).
On Thursday, DOC announced it was accepting applications from “potential operators wanting to run a commercial farming operation for up to 30 years”.
“We’re looking for an experienced high country stock farm operator to take on the day-to-day running of Molesworth Recreation Reserve,” said DOC South Marlborough operations manager Stacey Wrenn.
In an emailed statement, she said proposals would be examined with consideration for the applicant’s experience, commitment to biodiversity, heritage and cultural values, and how public access could be improved and facilitated.
“Commercially-focused tourism opportunities, like guiding or use of existing buildings for short-stay accommodation, to run alongside the farming operation will also be considered, where such use is consistent with the purpose of the reserve.”
However, exotic forestry, deer farming and safari parks would not be considered, Wrenn said.
“DOC expects farming to be the primary activity occurring at Molesworth.”
Molesworth, with a surface area larger than 10 of New Zealand’s 13 national parks, was also battling wilding pines, which threatened the station’s native plants and biodiversity. The reserve was considered a biodiversity hotspot with species found nowhere else in the world, and had a rich history of Māori exploration and pioneering farming.
In July, Ward told Stuff he did not receive any reassurance about what DOC wanted to do with the station, which homed about 6000 cattle and suffered from an infestation of wilding pines.
“We’ve been trying to get more money for [eradicating] wilding pine trees which are a huge issue for us,” Ward said five months ago.
“We’ve had quite a lot of money from the Government but we can’t get any more.”
He had proposed running the farm as a non-profit operation with heritage status for the benefit of all New Zealanders, to mixed reaction.
In August, bovine tuberculosis was detected again at the station, four months after it was declared TB-free for the first time in more than 50 years.
The application process for prospective farmer-managers would close on March 20, 2026.
After that, DOC would also call for separate commercial, recreation or tourism proposals that could fit alongside the successful applicant’s operations, Wrenn said.