About Us | Woodhaven Gardens

With all our products Woodhaven attempts to exceed customers needs and expectations with a promise of freshness, taste and uncompromising quality. Woodhaven has capability to produce prepack line such as spinach, parsley, radish, silverbeet, spring onions, lettuce and kale etc. This gives our customer a product that does not need to be re-processed in store, so that there is less wastage, and ultimately a product that arrives fresh, and increase shelf life at retail.

44 Years growing

2000 Acres of production

24 Types of product

220 Staff members

Our History

Since its inception Woodhaven has witnessed many industry based changes from the cessation of the auction system, to the introduction of quality assurance programs such as New Zealand Gap. Our growing practices have also changed dramatically. Many a night in summer was spent hand watering plants from a trailer mounted tank, now we irrigate via automated irrigation systems. Planting was all done by hand but is now done via cell transplanting, there has also been major advances in integrated pest management and how crops are produced allowing us to achieve healthier products and more sustainable production.

One of the keys to the farm’s success has been the ability to adapt and in some cases pre-empt these changes. 42 years on Woodhaven Gardens is still very much a family owned and operated business, with John’s daughter Emma being involved in the day to day running, and son Jay leading special projects. Woodhaven Gardens has a strong sense of its own history, but with an even stronger focus on the future.

Quality Assurance

At Woodhaven our Food Safety programme is second to none. Tested, inspected, audited and passed by AsureQuality, our products come with the strongest possible endorsement for Food Safety. Woodhaven is certified with NZGAP (GlobalGAP equivalent) / GRASP.

Our Environment

The Horowhenua region is renowned for its fertile soil and temperate climate. This allows for production of a large range of quality vegetables all year round. In order to maintain the vitality of the soil Woodhaven uses crop rotation and cover crops of beneficial grasses, which are ploughed back into the earth in order to enrich the soil and ensure its sustainability for the future. Woodhaven understands its environmental footprint and works hard to minimise this environmental impact as much as possible. Its work creating sustainable farming practices and investigating ways to reduce nutrient leaching resulted in a finals nomination in the 2016 Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Woodhaven also works closely with both the Horowhenua and Horizons Regional councils as they try and balance the needs of a varied and growing business with the potential impacts on its local community.

Our Community

The local Horowhenua Community plays an important role in the success of our business. We are proud to support the following organisations with sponsorship and or fresh produce.

Woodhaven Gardens also acknowledges the importance of family to its staff. As such Woodhaven offers two $5000 scholarships to the children of past or current staff* who are completing tertiary education. The winners of the scholarship are decided by a group of trusties annually. For more details on the scholarship and how to apply please contact Emma Clarke at emma@woodhavengardens.co.nz

*Staff must have completed two or more years of service before applications will be considered in accordance with the trust deed.