Associate Minister of Agriculture Meka Whaitiri at Fieldays 2022. Photo / Alison Smith
Associate Minister of Agriculture Meka Whaitiri at Fieldays 2022. Photo / Alison Smith
It’s important to ensure Māori agribusiness is supported to the next level, says associate Minister for Agriculture Meka Whaitiri.
Whaitiri spoke while hosting the event Celebrating Māori Farming Excellence at Fieldays headquarters during the annual agriculture showcase.
She said it was estimated Māori owned $13 billion in primary sector assets and Māori businesses exported $750 million in goods last year.
“In its 54th year I suspect this is the first time that we’ve carved out an event that actually acknowledged Māori farming excellence,” she said. “I want to thank Peter [Nation, Fieldays chief executive] and to the crew of the national society thank you for bringing us here.
“Whenua Māori has huge potential for sustainable growth and development,” she said.
With Agriculture Minister Damian O’Connor alongside, she told the inaugural gathering of Māori dairy, sheep, horticulturalists and agri-business leaders that it was important to ensure the Government can support Māori agribusinesses to move to the next level.
“Māori enterprises account for 40 per cent of forestry, 30 per cent of all beef and lamb production and Māori horticulture has grown by an impressive 300 per cent in 12 years,” she said.
“Māori contribute a significant amount to the overall economy of Aotearoa New Zealand, which underpins the wellbeing for us all.”
The minister took the initiative in February to ensure the Government’s Ministry for Primary Industries celebrated the best of New Zealand’s Māori food and fibre leaders at Fieldays.
“In February this year I conversated with MPI to say with Fieldays coming up, it would be nice to create an opportunity where we actually celebrate those that participate in the Māori agri-business space.
“As the minister responsible for Māori agribusiness I’ve had the privilege of meeting many Māori landowners, farmers, producers and growers who are paving the way for future generations and Māori to work in the primary sector.
“Time after time the standout factors I notice are their commitment to a social, economic and sustainably-centred ethos, intergenerational management and the drive to innovate.”
The Fieldays ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by the society's president, James Allen, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor, and the cutting by Tumuaki o te Kiingitanga Hone Thompson. Photo / Stephen Barker / Barker Photography
The Government committed $34.5 million over four years to expand MPI’s Maori agribusiness services to improve the capability of Māori landblocks and address unmet demands for support. The event was used to launch an MPI plan to support growth in the Māori food and fibre sector, which it says is at the forefront of growth.
The Māori asset base is worth $68.7 billion and grew by 61 per cent from 2013 to 2018. MPI reports nearly a third of Māori businesses are in the food and fibre sector – 3864 in total – with only 40 per cent being medium or large.
An emerging class of Māori agribusinesses were becoming known nationally for environmental leadership, social responsibility, innovation and leadership, Minister Whaitiri said.
Complex land ownership and governance structure were among the challenges these primary producers faced.
Among speakers was Tina Ngatai of the Māori Agribusiness Sheep Milk Collective, with 20 Māori land trusts and incorporations that own more than 24,000ha.
“To get 20 in the collective to hold hands and moving together was an undertaking,” she said.
Asked why Māori agribusinesses should get Government support on their goals, she said Māori were locked into their land and as such had a unique relationship to it and a pivotal role ahead.
“The difference for us is we can’t sell our whenua and many of our people are in such poor states, we just have to step it up for the next generation.
“The land blocks I’m on, a lot of us give contributions to our people every year and they rely on us to do it. We can’t compromise that financial contribution we make to our people because without it, some of them would be in serious financial difficulty.
“We had four dairy farms and we said what are we going to do, we can’t keep polluting our lakes, we were part of the polluting problem with all the nitrates running into our lakes, we wouldn’t wait to be told what to do, we have to grab that wero, that challenge, and six years ago decided our best option was to go into dairy sheep.”
The collective’s goal is to have multiple farms milking 25,000 sheep and potential to employ more than 100 people by 2030.
Nukuhia Hadfield, chair of the Ahuwhenua Trophy, said this excellence in Māori farming was established in 1933 by Sir Apirana Ngata and the governor-general at the time, Lord Bledisloe – and she spoke of the value of these awards in encouraging Māori landowners.
