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Ngaiotonga Trust co-chair Morris Pita Picture: Alphapix
The drought breaking rain in Northland was greeted with much joy and delight by the more than 200 people who turned out last week for a field day at the farm of Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust near the east coast settlement of Whangaruru, about 70km from Whangarei.
The trust is one of two finalists in the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy to determine the top Māori sheep and beef farm in the country. The farm consists of 1,100ha of land, about a third of which is farmed and about 1,000 bulls are run on it. The remainder of the land is in commerical forestry, native forestry, and wetlands.
Each of the finalists are required to hold a field day as part of the judging process and to allow members of the public to hear about the farm from the trustees and staff and also to go on a tour of the property.
But the heavy rain, while much needed, quickly turned the farm tracks into mud and the farm tour had to be abandoned soon after it started. However, staff were agile and held a series of presentations including photographs to outline the history of the property and how in the space of just four years it has developed into a high quality operation.
Co-Chair of Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust Morris Pita says the day was everything they could have hoped for and more.
He says they had the right people in their beautiful whare who had come from all over the motu to celebrate farming and Māori taking great steps forward on behalf of their whenua and community.
"It's hard not to look and feel the emotion that has come from the day, and it has given us an enormous lift," he says.
Among the VIPs at the field day was Dave Samuels, CEO of Te Puni Kokiri, who described the finalist's field day as brilliant because it enabled people to see and hear what has been achieved.
He says as well as seeing the property it's also about meeting the people. He adds that the Māori view of the land is not widely understood because most people see it simply as an economic asset, whereas from a Māori perspective it relates to whakapapa.
Meanwhile, Nukuhia Hadfield, who chairs the committee which runs the competition, says the field days are a fabulous feature of the Ahuwhenua competition because they get people out into the real hinterland of Aotearoa, enabling them to see the amazing achievements of people who work in remote places and often under difficult conditions.
"Field days such as this show in a very practical way the great achievements of Māori," she says.
The next field day is on Thursday 10 April at the proprietors of Tawapata South, Onenui Station on Mahia Peninsula, where Rocket Lab has its launch pad.
More details about the competition, including its history and past winners of the trophy are available at www.ahuwhenuatrophy.maori.nz
Recently two of New Zealand's top Maori sheep and beef farms held field days as part of the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy competition. The two are: Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust, northeast of Whangarei, and the proprietors of Tawapata Onenui farm on Mahia Peninsula in southern Hawke's Bay. Reporter Peter Burke attended both field days.
Farms from Northland and northern Hawke's Bay are the finalists in this year's Ahuwhenua Trophy competition for the top Māori sheep and beef farms.
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