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Te Tumu Paeroa chief executive Charlotte Severne says Māori want to help reduce agricultural emissions, but rural communities must thrive for this to happen.
In an unusual move, the Māori Trustee and chief executive of Te Tumu Paeroa Dr Charlotte Severne says she'll be making a submission on the Government's agricultural emissions proposals.
Severne administers as trustee or agent for approximately 1,800 Māori Land Trusts and other Māori entities. This is about one third of all Māori Land Trusts. Te Tumu Paeroa is therefore effectively a major Māori land owner.
Speaking exclusively to Rural News at the recent Ahuwhenua Trophy Awards she noted that the pressures on the sheep and beef sector now are real and she wants to see the rapid development of good well-qualified leaders. Severne is concerned about the way Māori are treated by some government departments.
"I believe that big parts of government don't understand Māori land. They think we are group of farms that are doing really well, whereas - in fact - most Māori land is on a lease portfolio and in small parcels," she told Rural News.
"Yes we have really great big farms, but a lot are small steep support farm and we are not being categorised well."
Severne says many Māori farms are disadvantaged - a fact borne out during the floods on the East Coast of the North Island in the middle of the year which saw many Māori farms over represented in those badly damaged by floods.
She says the hype and celebration of the Ahuwhenua Awards, while great, often blinds people to the reality of Māori farming.
"We are not characterised well by this government," she says.
Severne says Māori want to help reduce agricultural emissions, but she wants to see rural communities thrive and says that will be the key element of her submission.
In a few weeks the winner of the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Māori dairy farm will be revealed at a gala dinner in Hamilton. In the past couple of weeks, the two finalists in this year’s competition have been holding on-farm field days to showcase why they are finalists. Peter Burke has attended both field days.
Competitors from Oamaru, Ashburton and Tirau are all vying for this year’s prestigious Young Māori dairy farmer of the year title.
The finalists in this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy competition to select the top Māori dairy farm in the country are now busy planning and organising field days at their respective properties.
The search is on to select the top dairy farm for the main Ahuwhenua Trophy competition.
Entries are open for the 2024 Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award, for up-and-coming young Māori working on dairy farms around the country.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
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