May 16, 2021
Papatuanuku the winner in Ahuwhenua comp
The chair of this year’s winner of the Ahuwhenua Trophy for excellence in Māori farming credits the win to putting Papatūānuku first.
Tātaiwhetu Trust runs an organically-certified dairy farm in the Rūātoki Valley milking just over 400 kiwi cross cows.
Paki Nikora says when he became chair a decade ago the trust had a sharemilker on the land milking 600 cows two times a day 12 months a year.
The decision to go organic meant doing away with herbicides and conventional fertiliser, reducing the number of cows to take stress off the pasture, and once a day seasonal milking.
"In a financial sense that meant a sacrifice but it didn't really worry us because we believed if we looked after Papatūānuku, Papatūānuku would look after us, so by dropping off 150 cows we were getting more quality feed for the cows we had left," Mr Nikora says.
It took Tātaiwhetu two and a half years to gain organic certification, and in that time returns increased to beat what the farm had been producing with more cows.
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