How a Scholarship Helped Build a 1400-Cow Taranaki Farm
On a farm in Tikorangi, North Taranaki, Brent Stevenson is sharemilking 1,400 cows.
The Bashford-Nicholls Trust has supported her every single year since she began her degree in 2023, helping to reduce her course fees along the way.
But for Tayla, the impact goes beyond fees.
“The scholarship gave me something that money can't fully capture - time,” she says.
"Because a big chunk of my fees have been covered, I don't have to spend any spare hours behind a checkout or working multiple jobs. Instead, I've been out on farms, in horse stables, and at desexing clinics, volunteering, getting my hands dirty, and turning everything I learn in the lecture theatre into real-world experience.
“That is the difference this trust has made. Not just a degree, but a vet in the making."
With a year and a half until she graduates, Tayla's plan is clear. She is coming home to Taranaki to build a career as a large animal rural veterinarian, serving the communities that shaped her. There is one more detail that gives her story a particular weight. Tayla is the first person in her family, across many generations, to attend university.
“The Bashford-Nicholls Trust didn't just invest in my education,” she says. “It invested in breaking a cycle, and I hope that means something to the next kid from Taranaki who wonders whether they can do it too.”
Steele is out on farms before lectures, a vet in the making, the first in her family to go to university, and already planning her return to the region that believed in her first.
About the Bashford Nicholls Trust Fund
For more than 60 years, The Bashford Trust, has supported agricultural learning. Founded by two South Taranaki farmers, Claude William Nicholls and James Dawson Bashford who were changemakers ahead of their time. Born in 1880 and living just 5 kilometres apart, they each formed trusts so their farms would continue to benefit future generations. Their vision was clear: invest in the next wave of agricultural and veterinary leaders and innovators.
Over the decades, their legacies evolved. Under the stewardship of The Bishop’s Action Foundation (BAF), the two trusts were merged and BAF expanded the scholarships and created innovative awards, including the $100,000 PIVOT Award with Massey University and scholarships for up to five Level 4 Organic Horticulture students at WITT.
Today, the trust distributes around $300,000 annually, supporting vocational, undergraduate, postgraduate, and innovation pathways, helping thousands of young people advance careers in agriculture and veterinary science. Last year, the Bashford-Nicholls Trust (BNT) transferred $14 million in assets to Taranaki Foundation, marking the largest single transfer of trust assets in New Zealand's community foundation network. This transition with the Trust partnering with Taranaki Foundation honours the original intent of the trust while strengthening it for today and for generations to come through active regional storytelling and donor engagement, backed up by local investment management.
A decision built on the next 60 years
For Simon Cayley, chief executive of Bishop's Action Foundation who manage the Bashford-Nicholls Trust, the decision to partner with Taranaki Foundation was about far more than investment
management. Bishop's Action Foundation had been stewards of the trust since 2008. The question was how to make sure the next chapter was just as purposeful as the last.
"This feels like another major milestone in continuing to honour the legacy that we've been asked to steward,” says Simon.
"We wanted to make sure the next 60 years were just as safe, just as purposeful”.
He says the partnership also brings something the trustees have long wanted, the ability for the Bashford-Nicholls story to be shared alongside others.
"Having our story told by Taranaki Foundation, being part of their story at the same time, and then getting other people really excited about how they could be part of that journey too,” says Simon. "That's the really exciting part.”
"We don't need to worry for the next 60 years that we've got to hold all of that investment knowledge. Taranaki Foundation brings that expertise. For us, it's a real safety net, it means this legacy is in safe hands for the long term”.
