Drivers give woolsheds a wide berth

A game of musical woolsheds played out on Wairarapa roads yesterday.

Housemovers yesterday relocated a two-stand woolshed from Mt Munro Rd, near Hastwell, to a rural Carterton property. The shed had stood since the 1960s on a Makirikiri Aggregated Trust farm.

Meanwhile, a three-stand woolshed was being shifted from a Manawatu farm to the Mt Munro Rd property to replace the smaller building that was being moved to Carterton.

Geoff Perry, Makirikiri Aggregated Trust spokesman, earlier told the Wairarapa Times-Age the group owns almost 450ha of mixed farmland at the foot of Mt Munro and near the southern flank of the mountain.

The trust is launching a two-year Maori agri-business project worth $410,000 on the property in a joint venture involving the Ministry of Primary Industries, AgResearch, Landcorp, and Massey and Lincoln universities.

The property comprises 10 Maori land blocks and the trust represents 1825 Wairarapa shareholders, he said. Pastoral farmland at the site, which has been leased for the past half-century, was returned to trust control late last year.

The trust was currently establishing a 10-year development plan for the property, Mr Perry said earlier, that has the "audacious aim" of capturing a Ahuwhenua Maori farm of the year award before 2022.

Also, a series of four Farmer Field Days will be held over the course of the project, Mr Perry said, alongside distinct field days for Kura Kaupapa Maori and Kohanga Reo pupils. The aim of these days is to reconnect young Maori to their land and encourage farming as a career.

Other stakeholders with long-term interests in the project include Rangitane o Wairarapa iwi authority, Federation of Maori Authorities, Maori Dairy Land Collective, Wairarapa Moana and Aohanga Incorporation.