Ag & Turf was founded in 1968, by current Co-Director Barrie Busst. Back then the company was known as Busst Contractors.

The first years, up to the early 1970's the company worked predominantly on subdivisions and laying lawns around houses and commercial properties. In 1974 Busst Contractors secured several contracts from Manukau City Council to mow passive reserves and sportsfields.

In the mid 70's there was virtually no sportsfield renovation equipment, so the company set about manufacturing its own. Most of the equipment used (even today), has been designed, built and used in-house. Some equipment was also sent overseas.

By 1976 Barrie's son Todd left school and was brought into the company, as an operator.
In the late 1980's the company had also secured a large slice of the Auckland City Council Reserves and Sportsfield maintenance work.

In 1991 the Busst Family started a Tractor Dealership with the CASEIH Franchise. The two companies ran separately for 5 years.

In the mid 1990's, some 15 years since the start of the drainage of sportsfields, the company decided, due to the extreme work load to focus more on drainage and faze out the mowing work. Also that year come the merging of the two companies, Busst Contractors & Tractors Ag & Turf Ltd, become one company.

Since then the contracting arm of the company has focused solely on sportsfield formation, maintenance and drainage.

In the late 1990's two workers were sent to the U.K. for the winter (N.Z.) for some overseas experience, only to find the way the industry was run in New Zealand was more efficient and more productive than any other place worldwide. With this in mind Todd Busst started overseas campaigns for off Shore work which came to fruition in 2001 with 3 off shore projects and several more to come in the 2002 season.

CONTRACTING...

Ag and Turf New Zealand, Ltd have developed a simple but totally effective drainage system to let players utilise sportsfields all year round. This is called a Sand Slit/Sandcarpet system.

This is how it works...

Rain or sprinkler water travels through grass, then a sand carpet layer of between 35 and 60mm to the soil surface. The water then intercepts a sand slit where it travels down and is again intercepted by a lateral drain which runs at 90 degrees to the sand slits. The Lateral then takes the water via a perforated plastic pipe to a main collector drain then on to a sump. The water is either reticulated and stored for irrigation or disposed of through a stormwater system. All of our procedures are separate, Trenching and backfilling are carried out separately to ensure a quality job is done every time.

Why Sand Carpeting Is Superior To Full Sand Construction...

The Turf grows in existing soil, Less irrigation and Fertiliser needed. More Stable Turf, less likely to damage surface. Installation Costs are less than 25% of full Sand Profile. Sand Carpet uses the existing turf which means less time the field is out of commission. Construction time on average for a Sand Carpet field is 7-10 days from main drain to first sand application. No heavy equipment needed to perform the operation.