Wairarapa Moana chair Kingi Smiler is crediting a mix of Western science with mātauranga Māori for a second Ahuwhenua Trophy.
Farm 4 of the incorporation’s 12 dairy unit operation near Mangakino in south Waikato won the coveted award for Maori farming excellence, 19 years after one of its sheep and beef farms took home the silverware.
Mr Smiler says ecological sustainability is a priority for the incorporation, which tries to b in the forefront of trends in the dairy sector.
“It’s really important that we can start utilising technology to try and simplify some of these processes and so it’s absolutely vital that our land use that we put it to over time as important. It is still, significantly the material backbone of New Zealand’s economy so it’s really important that we’re able to do both these things because it’s needed to continue to develop the living standards for New Zealand,” he says.
Wairarapa Moana Incorporation represents shareholders and descendants of the original owners of Lake Wairarapa which was taken by the crown in 1896.
