Farm's saviour is rocket science

Onenui Station is a sheep and beef station run by the proprietors of Tawapata South and it's here that sheep and cattle graze around a high-tech rocket launch pad - and probably wonder what this is all about.

Onenui Station runs 15,000 stock units including 6,000 breeding ewes and 600 breeding cattle on 17000ha (eff.). About three quarters of the land is classified as steep North Island hard hill country and the remaining 350 hectares is productive flat land.

According to the chair of the organisation, Lester White, his goal and the goal of the previous chair and committee was to 'diversify'. He says there was a realisation that their operation was not in a particularly good space financially. This was because of relatively poor returns for meat and wool.

"But in 2016 we struck it lucky when the large international space company Rocket Lab asked if we'd be willing to allow them to launch their rockets from our farm. What was special for us was it was owned by a New Zealander, Sir Peter Beck. This changed our position dramatically," he told Rural News.

Rocket Lab has leased land from the Māori owners and has established a launch pad at Ahuriri Point, right on the tip of Mahia Peninsula, from where their rockets are launched.

White says the relationship with Rocket Lab aligns with their strategy to diversify income opportunities while still maintaining the integrity of the whenua/land. He says Rocket Lab has brought investment to the region, creating jobs and fostering innovation.

"Rocket Lab takes a small footprint of our whenua but returns on that investment means a lot to our operation. We are able to do a lot of things operationally that we may not have been able to have done before and so it helps the financial position of our farming operation," he says.

White says the partnership with Rocket Lab has been an amazing journey with benefits to both parties.