The income generated from forestry land for Te Arawa owners is conservatively estimated at more than $6 million. But most of that is from leasehold arrangements, and not from the forests’ revenue.

The majority of the trees are owned by foreign companies, who lease the land, and keep the profits from selling the trees. That’s a situation Te Arawa land owners are keen to change for future generations. They want to own more of the total package from the land to the final product, and on the way create jobs and career opportunities from the grassroots to management at the highest level.

Forest land owners are among the 20 plus primary sector entities, with more than $1billion worth of assets, which have joined forces to form the Te Arawa Primary Sector Inc. (TAPS).

The collective aims to position Te Arawa for the future by improving the productivity and sustainability of its land-based businesses.

“Generally, the land holdings within the Te Arawa Collective are well managed,” says Chair Tanira Kingi (Ngāti Whakaue).

“For example a recent benchmarking exercise showed that our dairy farms perform on par with and, in some cases, above district averages. And when we add up the collective’s total holdings (around 18,000ha in forestry, 80,000 stock units and 8,000 dairy cows etc.) the numbers are a powerful motivator to look at what’s possible,” he says.

Te Puni Kōkiri has supported TAPS since its inception in 2011. Te Arawa Regional Director Wally Tangohau said the initiative was a perfect fit with the Te Puni Kōkiri desire to better position Māori to build and leverage off their collective resources.

“We wholly support the TAPS aim to establish collective strategies and strategic partnerships which will allow them to increase the value they get from their resources,” he says.

Tanira grew up in Rotorua and gained degrees from Massey University before completing his PhD in agricultural economics and development from the Australian National University. He is currently a Science Advisor with AgResearch and, coupled with his extensive professional experience in the agribusiness sector, is well placed to help Te Arawa develop innovative primary sector initiatives.

For example, the collective is developing a “Red Meat Strategy” that links sheep and beef farms and the meat producing component of dairy farming to processors and food marketers.

“We’re trying to instigate changes to the way the industry works for us. The red meat industry is in trouble, and this year’s drought will push a lot of farmers to the wall. So we’re using our collective scale to have more control of the value chain. This Strategy is a good example of how the bigger entities in Te Arawa can work with the owners of blocks of land that are too small to be an economic unit. The Māori Trustee is working closely with us on this,” he says.

TAPS also aims to improve the governance and management skill level of its members through training programmes, and looking into other land uses like milking sheep and goats.