Tama Potaka presented the Ahuwhenua trophy to chair Kingi Smiler. alphapix.nz
A 300ha dairy operation owned by Wairarapa Moana ki Pouākani and managed by Kim Turner, whose whānau hail from Te Kūiti, has won the Ahuwhenua trophy for 2024. The award won by unit “Farm 4” in Mangakino is the most prestigious national acknowledgement of excellence in Māori farming. It was presented at a function at Claudelands, Hamilton which featured 850 guests including Kīngi Tūheitia, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. Wairarapa Moana Group General Manager Anaru Smiler told the King Country News it showed the group’s strong sense of purpose. “We’re so proud of it as an organisation.” “We have a clear strategy, robust planning and organisation, so the right things happen at the right time.” WMI consists of 12 dairy units across 4300ha and three dairy support units comprising 1900ha and two forestry blocks totalling 6100ha. The incorporation entered one of its 12 farms. Farm 4 has a milking platform of 300ha, milking 980 cows and producing 416,000kg of milk solids. At the Ahuwhenua 2024 dinner, trophy committee chair Nukuhia Hadfield told 92-year history of the awards. She said the winners and runners-up showed qualities that “make us proud to be farmers and proud to be Māori”. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and finance minister Nicola Willis both spoke of the important contribution of Māori dairy farming to the economy. Chairman Kingi Smiler said the win reflected “innovation and adaptation, to ensure we continue to sustain ourselves now and in the future”.
Addressing the Farm 4 team in a statement he said, “your efforts, dedication and hard work is an example of how we can farm better in our environment and still achieve the productivity needed.”
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouākani Incorporation represent the descendants of the original owners of Lake Wairarapa. It was formed through the amalgamation of Pouākani 2 Trust and Mangakino Township Incorporation just over 20 years ago. Wairarapa Moana hapū had landholdings and customary fishing rights around Lake Wairarapa, however by the late 1800s following pressure from farmer settlers the hapū gifting the lake to the Crown, initially in exchange for other lands in the Wairarapa. In 1916 the Crown handed 10,695 hectares of the land at Pouākani as compensation for its failure to provide lands in the Wairarapa. The incorporation on its website notes the Pouākani lands were isolated, unproductive and predominantly covered in bush and scrub. Some was confiscated under the Public Works Act for the Waikato hydro-electricity scheme and formation of the Mangakino Township in the 1940s and 1950s. Access to the land was made available in1946 after the building of the Maraetai dam by the Ministry of Works. From 1947 to 1983 the Pouākani lands were developed by Māori Affairs under the Māori Land Development Scheme set up by Ta Apirana Ngata.
