Bay of Plenty dairy awards see repeat winners
Bay of Plenty’s top share farmers Andre and Natalie Meier are no strangers to the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards winning circle.
A new Maori-owned new dairy factory is being planned for the Kawerau region, modelled on the first Maori dairy company Miraka, near Taupo.
The new plant, to make milk powder, will use geothermal power owned by Putauaki Trust, one of the Maori trusts in the project. Miraka has just such a deal with one of its geothermal power-owning partner trusts.
Maori leader Tiaki Hunia, a leader in the development, is chairman of the Putauaki Trust which has dairy farms around Te Teko and Kawerau. One of the farms, Himiona, named after his late father, was a finalist in the Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Maori dairy farm in 2014.
Hunia is a solicitor and is the general manager, trusts, for Te Tumu Paeroa. He is also deputy Māori trustee and a director of trusts, companies and iwi authorities. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and the New Zealand Law Society and is highly regarded in Maoridom and the agribusiness sector.
“We are very excited about the project,” Hunia says. “We have seen what Miraka has done and we’d like to emulate this. The idea is... to utilise what we have -- clean natural resources with dairy farms locally.”
There has been a tradition in eastern Bay of Plenty of Maori trusts working together to scale up their dairy operations for greater economic viability. Hunia says they intend to work together.
“I am involved because the factory will be built on our land, but six or seven other Maori trusts will be involved in the project, from Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and down to Opotiki.”
Hunia says at this stage they expect to have 15-20 farms -- about 9000 cows -- supplying the new factory. But he emphasises it’s early days and the governance structure of the new entity has still to be finalised with all the interested parties. And they must finalise finance and get resource consents.
Leading the project is Poutama Trust, Rotorua, supported by Te Puni Kokiri; it could produce its first milk powder by 2019.
New player
The Putauaki Trust is a relatively new entrant in dairying, having bought Himiona farm in 2006.
Until then its main activity was raising beef and grazing dairy cows on its land near Kawerau, a forestry block and an interest in geothermal power, also at Kawerau.
The enterprise mix has expanded to include dairying, maize growing, manuka for honey, industrial land uses and a composting business.
The farm is situated on the Rangitaiki Plains between Te Teko and Edgcumbe
The original land purchase was just 57ha – barely economic -- but since 2006 the trust has acquired leases from several smallholdings and built up the milking platform to 180ha running 570 Kiwi cross cows.
In 2015 Putauaki Trust converted its drystock property at Kawerau into a 650-cow dairy farm. This included a $1.5 million 54-bail rotary cowshed. The property is partially irrigated.
OPINION: Ministry for Primary Industries' situation outlook for primary industries report (SOPI) makes impressive reading.
Sheep and beef farmers Matt and Kristin Churchward say using artificial intelligence (AI) to spread fertiliser on their sprawling 630ha farm is a game changer for their business.
Commercial fruit and vegetable growers are being encouraged to cast their votes in the Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) board directors' election.
A unique discovery by a Palmerston North science company, Biolumic, looks set to revolutionise the value and potential of ryegrass and the secret is the application of ultraviolet (UV) light.
A New Zealand company is redefining the global collagen game by turning New Zealand sheepskin into a world-class health product.
With further extreme weather on the way, ANZ Bank is encouraging farmers and business owners impacted by the recent extreme weather and flooding to seek support if they need it.
OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.