Clearwater Mussels story told on Country Calendar
The story of one of Marlborough’s innovative farmers, John Young, of Clearwater Mussels, will be revealed on Country Calendar on Saturday night.
Young, and his wife Lyn Godsif, shared the South Island Farmer of the Year title last year with Omarama sheep and beef farmers, Richard and Annabelle Subtil.
It was the first time a marine farmer had won the Lincoln University Foundation sponsored award.
A film crew accompanied the Youngs, and their staff, for three days filming in and around their Havelock base, recording the mussel seeding and harvesting operation for the television programme earlier this year.
Young was a trail blazing mussel farming pioneer when few knew how to commercially cultivate the shellfish, Country Calender director Michael Huddlestone said.
The hard work to perfect the production of farming mussels was one of the most satisfying achievements by Young, Huddlestone said.
Mussels required a ‘goldilocks’ environment where everything, such as water temperature, nutrients, density and tidal movements, had to be ’just right’ to thrive, he said.
Young, a science graduate, has spent 40 years in the industry developing the use of long lines to farm mussels, a technique soon copied by others armed with rope, buoys, know how-and a willingness for hard work.
Later developments included building a seeding boat, contracting out to other farmers, and buying more farms in partnership with Andrew and Milan Talley to form Clearwater Mussels.
The company is now New Zealand’s second biggest mussel farm, employing 27 staff, and exporting to over 60 countries, part of the $300 million total export mussel industry.
The Clearwater Mussel story will be aired on Country Calendar on July 30 at 7pm.