The 76 farms range in size from five to 46,000ha.<\/p>\n
Together, they employ more than 400 people, steward at least $738 million in assets, and generate over $51 million annually for the Tair\u0101whiti economy.<\/p>\n
Established in 2023 in reaction to government-proposed RMA reforms, this large network of M\u0101ori landowners was formed to amplify the collective voice of the whenua and its people.<\/p>\n
At a time when major regulatory shifts were reshaping land governance and environmental responsibilities, Tair\u0101whiti M\u0101ori landowners came together rather than being passive recipients of change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess what we\u2019ve done is we put a formal structure and discipline around influencing macroeconomic policies,\u201d Collier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew how big we were.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil didn\u2019t know, so that\u2019s when the lawyers arrived to the next meeting we had. And after that, we came to an understanding that decisions being made around the table would have a major impact on our operations, and we would defend it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The purpose was to ensure these M\u0101ori landholders were active in shaping the region\u2019s future, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cM\u0101ori land is a lot different to your typical mum and dad farmer in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got a whole lot of beneficiaries, owners, shareholders, call them what you will.<\/p>\n
\u201cOwnership tends to be there through a lens of connection to place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collier said communication had to be different, too. <\/p>\n
When speaking to landowners, describing how decisions impact the land and its future often resonates more than economic arguments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about making money for the sake of making money,\u201d Collier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think giving people their cause or their purpose is fundamental to what we do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat purpose may be because they want to be a farmer of the year and be recognised for that. <\/p>\n
\u201cOthers want to see career pathways for their children, grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief executive officer of the Tairawhiti Whenua Charitable Trust, Hilton Collier.<\/p>\n
Since 2023, the 198,000ha have seen change.<\/p>\n
The trust\u2019s research showed that the steep hill country and erosion-prone hills were redundant for farming. So it was planted out in native trees, or already existing trees were registered under the emissions trading scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe land feeds the people,\u201d Collier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if it\u2019s not running sheep and cattle, it\u2019s not creating a job; there is no reason why we can\u2019t be using the emissions trading scheme to provide income.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor how long now we\u2019ve been told the emissions trading scheme is the death of farming?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the death of farming if farmers want to sell all their land to the highest bidder. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe [M\u0101ori land owners] can\u2019t sell land, so we\u2019re looking at which parts of our state we put into ETS, because we quite like the idea of $50,000 a hectare worth of carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trust’s farms generate over $51 million annually for the Tair\u0101whiti economy.<\/p>\n
Instead of removing existing vegetation growing in the high country, the farmers have registered under the Emissions Trading Scheme and can earn $300 a hectare, ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not making a return, get rid of it,\u201d Collier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop wasting money on it and redivert that investment into other parts of the farm, increase carrying capacity – we strip out costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newly native trees return around $1800 a hectare.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the trust\u2019s operation is the influence of the red meat sector, with 130,000ha still used for sheep and cattle.<\/p>\n
The trust recently won the Gallagher Innovative Farming Award at the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Awards.<\/p>\n
M\u0101ori and Pacific peoples form an important part of the red meat sector\u2019s workforce, particularly among younger age groups, making them central to the sector\u2019s future labour supply. <\/p>\n
Around 25% of the sector are M\u0101ori and 11% Pacific peoples.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have all those socio-economic problems; we\u2019re not going to change it overnight,\u201d Collier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if we start packaging things in a way that matters to our landowners that they can engage with, why wouldn\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n
Collier said much of the trust\u2019s workforce was M\u0101ori; however, they employ the best people for the job. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe invest in trading and upskill our people, whether those people come back to us or don\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t really matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about employing people in our region. And if they\u2019re a good rugby player and they play for the family rugby club, that\u2019s a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, the collective has increased farm revenue during its three years of operation, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of 100 years ago, we probably went out for a hunt and ate whatever we killed,\u201d Collier said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut today, it means using the land in a way that creates jobs, it creates enterprises, all those sorts of things. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then to be sustainable, not only do we need the jobs, we need somewhere to live, but we also need to make sure the land stays in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I talk about feeding the wh\u0101nau \u2014 because if we don\u2019t continually look into the horizon and ask what that looks like, we\u2019re going to wake up and we\u2019ll still be producing black and white TVs when the world\u2019s moved beyond colourful iPhones.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Supplied by Beef + Lamb NZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 76 farms range in size from five to 46,000ha. Together, they employ more than 400 people, steward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[262833,26652,4057,262834,64582,11586,9942,1259,3806,14934,36652,2944,2514,19136,2720,117,111,43,139,529,69,15363,1523,766,35108,30279,1961,9438,8238,14605,189903,2963],"class_list":["post-532642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-198000ha","tag-aotearoas","tag-behind","tag-caldwell","tag-charitable","tag-coast","tag-collective","tag-community","tag-east","tag-farming","tag-farmland","tag-inside","tag-island","tag-largest","tag-mori","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-olivia","tag-over","tag-reports","tag-spread","tag-tairwhiti","tag-this","tag-trust","tag-under","tag-whats","tag-whenua","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}