In 2020, Greg and Dansy Coppell were confronting a considerable financial dilemma on their 500-hectare farm in St Arnaud. Like many farmers, they needed to purchase materials to fence off vast swathes of pasture and keep their stock contained, yet the price of new posts went well above their budget. So they did what any young farmers should do – they sought the wisdom of an elder.
“Greg’s Dad – who we call Pop – had been farming for years and using old viticulture posts for fencing with great success,” says Dansy. “On his advice, Greg went to a Marlborough vineyard and loaded up an eight-wheeler with these posts.”
Although made of perfectly usable timber, the posts were filled with nails and trellis clips which made it difficult to install flush wire. So
Greg and Pop designed and built a “rough-and-ready” hydraulic nail puller powered by an old tractor engine to clean up the posts and prepare them
for fencing. After picking up a few more truck loads of posts from vineyards and selling them to neighbouring farms and friends, the couple quickly realised they’d stumbled onto a viable business opportunity.
Named Repost, the business ticked along nicely while Greg and Dansy juggled parenthood and farm duties. But when the couple brought their posts to the 2021 Fieldays, they suddenly found themselves thrust into the national spotlight.
“When we showed up at Fieldays, the rural community rallied around us. So many people thought our posts were a no-brainer. They’re solid and durable and a fraction of the cost of new posts, so they allow on-farm maintenance and improvement without digging a larger debt hole.”
For the first year, Greg processed the posts himself with his ad hoc nail puller and help from friends and casual workers. But with plenty of faith in the value of their proposition, they borrowed heavily to expand their machinery, production capacity and gradually hire more employees. They moved into their current premises in Blenheim, and the business continued to grow as more sectors and organisations got wind of their products.
Perhaps the most unique – and compelling – aspect of Repost’s business model, is the fact that demand for their products is just as pressing as the supply. On one side were the farmers, desperate for an affordable yet quality product that wouldn’t break the bank, and on the other were the vineyards, under pressure to reduce the vast volume of CCA (chromated copper arsenate) treated timber they were sending to landfills.
“In the wine industry, one million treated timber posts are broken during grape harvest every year due to the stress on the trellis and vines,” says Dansy. “By taking these posts, we provide a solution that allows the vineyards to fast track their goals to send zero waste to landfill by 2050. Our winery waste solution is portable so we move from one winery to the next, processing each stockpile of treated posts as we go.”
At the end of 2022, the business took a break from trading to bring on a new general manager, while Dansy took on the business development role full time. The processes were streamlined and the company redefined its mission and goals. Dansy says it was the best thing they ever did. “We’ve learnt from farming that it’s not always about doing more, but doing better with existing practices.” With a newfound sense of passion and purpose, the company was catapulted to another level of prominence and attention.
The next year came the awards: they won the 2023 Cawthron Marlborough Environment Award in the wine category, then the 2023 Beef+Lamb Gallagher Innovative Farming Award. Dansy says it was a huge moment for her and Greg as it recognised the legitimacy of their business and its mission.
But perhaps the most profound recognition that they were truly making a difference came when they were asked by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Cyclone taskforce to be a part of the recovery clean up. Alongside Federated Farmers, they donated over 20,000 posts to the Hawke’s Bay community to help repair 90km of agricultural and horticultural infrastructure.
“It’s been incredibly rewarding for us to be able to do our part in the Cyclone Gabrielle cleanup,” says Dansy. “We now have a team of employees in
Hawke’s Bay working with the cyclone recovery taskforce.”
But it’s not all been big business and government contracts, and Dansy says the day-to-day of the company is mostly about working with the little guy – the solo farmer, the lifestyler, the winemaker.
She recalls one interaction where Greg was able to help a stressed-out farmer save thousands of dollars to fence off 3km wetlands and waterways to comply with government legislation. The potential cost had been keeping him up at night, but Repost’s products allowed him to get the work done at a third of the cost of normal posts.
Then there was an elderly lifestyle block owner whose horse had broken through one of her fences. Lacking the budget to make repairs with conventional materials, she turned up at Repost’s premises and loaded up her car with posts so she could make the repairs within her budget.
It’s interactions like this, Dansy says, that exemplify the kind of work they do and the value they’re providing to the community.
“We are bloody proud of this,” she says. “We’re only just starting to show the potential of second life-cycle timber products. It’s a passion project and we aren’t slowing down!” ■