From Tauranga City Library’s archives
In 2023, the Library's Heritage and Research Team was invited to see if there were any published items of value we could retrieve from the basement storage area at the NZME offices on Cameron Road. Among other titles, we found issues of the Bay of Plenty Farmer, a local, tabloid publication that the library had never collected.
The newspapers are in fairly good condition. Some issues are bound in large volumes and others are loose with punch holes near the margins. We placed them all in snug fitting archival boxes and we keep them in the library’s climate controlled room for their protection and preservation.
A bound volume of Bay of Plenty Farmer newspapers inside an archival box.
The Bay of Plenty Farmer was a free, monthly newspaper, delivered to the ‘farm gate.’ Printing commenced in 1982 and lasted until probably 2001. After 12 years, the publishing team moved from their Cameron Road location to ‘Farming House’ at 102-104 Spring Street, sharing the premises with Federated Farmers and Farmer Mutual Group. From September 1998 it was published from the Mount and Papamoa Times offices in Mount Maunganui.
An article in the Bay of Plenty Farmer, on Clydesdale horses working in the Tarawera Forest, July 1982.
The newspaper comprised regular features on farming industries such as dairying, horticulture, forestry, motoring, education and house & garden, along with regular columns from the Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers. It featured articles with photographs by local journalists such as the late Brian Rogers, who went on to co-found SunMedia and produce the rural Coast & Country News publication in 2000.
Photos of the Te Puke A&P Show, published in the Bay of Plenty Farmer, March 1994, p. 8.
Plenty of local social history is captured as Bay of Plenty Farmer journalists attended rural special events such as local A&P Shows, school agricultural days and the National Fieldays. Later, issues featured coloured front-page photographs and advertising.
Front page colour photo from the Bay of Plenty Farmer showing Ben Wiltshire with Shetland ponies, September 1998.
Kiwifruit industry related articles featured heavily in the publication, however, it is interesting to note that, through the years, other interesting agricultural ventures like ferret and ostrich farming were embraced by Bay of Plenty locals.
An article on fitch ferrets, bred in Waihī for their pelts, Bay of Plenty Farmer, July 1982.
An article on ostrich farming, with ostrich industry advertising on the same page, Bay of Plenty Farmer, February 1998.
The only other copies of the Bay of Plenty Farmer are at the Alexander Turnbull Library, which holds limited runs - from 1985 to 1986 and from 2000 to 2001, so many of these newspaper issues are unique to Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries collection.
