On Saturday a Northland trust gathered in Kaikohe to celebrate the opening of a dairy farm which will bring benefits to an economy in need, and greater returns to 3,000 Maori landowners.

The dairy farm is a joint venture between the Ōmāpere Taraire E & Rangihamama X3A Trust and Te Tumu Paeroa: the new Māori Trustee.  Trust Chairman, Sonny Tau, says that the joint venture will fulfill the trusts’ vision of land that sustains its people. 

“By using the land to its maximum potential, this farm is expected to bring economic benefits to our people and the Northland economy,” says Sonny.  “We wanted to work with partners who share the vision and bring additional expertise, and are pleased to collaborate with Te Tumu Paeora, our joint venture partner, and also appreciate the advisory support from the Ministry of Primary Industries.”

Jamie Tuuta, head of Te Tumu Paeroa, says that they invested equity in the dairy venture because it is directly aligned with his organisation’s goals of managing Māori land, “so that it benefits landowners today, and in future generations.”

The iconic Nga Puhi block was originally used by twelve hapu as their food bowl.  Landowner and advisory trustee, Taoko Wihongi, says that “Streams flowing here with the eels, and water cress; Kumura patches. [Our elders] used to work this land together, the ideal thing is to be united in little things, and then those little things will grow a lot bigger for our people.” 

General Farm Facts - The Omapere Taraire E & Rangihamama X3A Ahu Whenua Trust (ORT)

  • Ōmāpere Tairaire E & Rangihamama X3A Trust is entrusted with the care of two land blocks with a total of 1991 hectares. Each block is an amalgamation of smaller whanau holdings, and the two blocks are an amalgamation because they are the same hapu. The combined blocks have over 3000 shareholders.
  • The joint dairy venture farms 500 cows on 278 effective hectares.
  • Previous land use includes forestry maize cropping and running sheep and beef activities.
  • Farm is located apporixmately 3km south west of Kaikohe.
  • Te Tumu Paeroa is an equity partner with a 50% interest in the joint venture dairy partnership which will be used to acquire livestock, plant, vehicles and Fonterra shares.
  • The trust envisions milk solid productions to grow from a budgeted 180,000kg in year one, to a total of around 230,000kg from year three of the development.