I'm Jane Wright and I am running for the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa seat for the Northern Regional Council. My background is in farming, horticulture and asset management.

I was raised on a dairy farm at Tapora on the Kaipara Harbour, and our family moved to Rainbow Falls in Kerikeri in 1977 where I attended High School. While my family developed our kiwifruit and subtropical fruit orchard we market gardened, producing vegetables for local market and export. 

I experienced first hand the impact of flooding with the arrival of a cyclone in 1981. Rainbow Falls Road was inundated with water, so much so that it couldn't be driven down on the little orchard tractors because their exhausts were lowered. Quando Restaurant - (now Phoenix Vets) was also inundated and I spent a day sweeping mud and water out of that building. Bundles of posts were washed off the neighbouring property that was being developed into kiwifruit, next to the Falls. That land is all residential now.

I attended Massey University and completed a Diploma in Horticulture, starting a 25 year gardening career  that included plant production for DoC Manapouri, Dunedin Botanic Garden where I specialised in New Zealand Native Plants and propagation of rare and endangered species. Otari-Wilton Bush in Wellington, then moved to Auckland Botanics as plant propagator. 

These days my partner and I run a 223Ha beef block overlooking Lake Omapere. Its fair to say we have first hand experience in balancing environmental concerns with the practical and financial realities of farming in the Far North.