Profit in view despite low payout

The chairman, James Russell, says this is because the farm does not hold a lot of debt and manages its operation carefully.

The incorporation's Tahu a Tao farm runs about 830 Kiwi cross cows on its 216ha property near Ashburton. The cows produced 371,294kgMS last season. The farm was converted to dairying in 1996 and has always operated with 50/50 sharemilkers. The current sharemilkers are Mark and Julie Cressey.

Russell has been involved in the farm since the idea of converting the land to dairying was first raised. He says the move to run cows was a big leap of faith for the whanau of Rakaia and now he's extremely pleased with the outcome.

"I've been involved for 23 years. I was the deputy chair and I proposed we move into dairy. The chairman at the time passed away and I was elected chairman at the time of the conversation. It was a big leap but my family had a small dairy farm on the West Coast during my younger days and I was in another incorporation on the West Coast called Mawhera, near Greymouth."

Russell says the effort on the present farm has paid off and the incorporation has bought another farm near Culverden and is looking at buying a third farm. The management committee works hard at communication, every year inviting shareholders to a day on one of the two farms.

Russell is full of praise for the farm staff – supervisor John Donkers and sharemilkers Mark and Julie Cressey – who have made the farm profitable.

And he applauds the role of the Ahuwhenua competition.

"The Ahuwhenua trophy is portraying that more Maoris will go into farming, be it dairying, sheep and beef or horticulture. The success of Maori agriculture is not widely known and it is up to the Maori organisations to promote that. They are not promoting it as well as they should be."

Russell says he was delighted with the turnout to the field day: it was better than they had expected.