Sheep and beef farmer Nukuhia Hadfield (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Te Rangi), says through sheer determination Māori have taken agribusiness to new heights, with new figures from Stats NZ showing Māori farms are much larger than the average New Zealand farms, and they are running a lot more stock.
Quality beef and sheep farming produces world-class protein and Hadfield, of Mangaroa Station, says that is why the Ahu Whenua Trophy “celebrates the great things that are happening and so we can all share that and actually have pride in what we’ve been able to achieve over such a long period of time”.
Māori farms have three times as many beef cattle, five times as many dairy cows, and seven times as many sheep as other farms.
Māori own $13 billion in primary sector assets, including 30% of all beef and lamb production.
“Some of the operations that have been performing really well over the last decade have positioned themselves to grow and that is why some of these operations have been able to buy other land,” Nukuhia Hadfield says.
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson attributes the success of Māori farming of today to earlier Māori visionaries like Tā Apirana Ngata.
Rise of Māori agriculture
“I go back to Apirana Ngata, who talked about what our people could do at farm level. And the good thing now is we’re not just the labourers, we’re the managers, we’re running these things, we’ve got all the tools, and we’re leading in this area. I’m very proud of how our people have made it.”
The rise of Māori agriculture was rapid during the 19th and 20th centuries despite land losses. Māori agriculture played a part in the emergence of New Zealand as a leading agricultural nation.
National MP Tama Potaka says Māori farming was the backbone of the country. “When the country was in an economic crisis it was these farms and Pākeha farms that uplifted the state of our economy. I acknowledge our Māori and Pākeha farmers in dairy farming, sheep and beef, and in kiwi fruit growers and others within the agriculture industry.”
Climate change regulations continue to affect agriculture in New Zealand and how farmers operate. But Hadfield says as kaitiaki of their lands, Māori have always worked with the whenua and not against it.
“And as far as living on the land and working with the land, the climate is something that we’ve got to deal with every day,” Hadfield said.