Business Central July 2021

40 | Tararua - Akitio Investments Attitude and enterprise at Akitio T T Richard Loader There are now 1700 hectares of plantation forestry at Akitio with another 500 hectares up the road. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T he Kight family have lived and breathed by an attitude that just because some- thing has gone well it doesn’t mean it cannot be done differently or better. With its historical family roots in the South- ern Hawke’s Bay locality of Akitio stemming back to 1876, the family’s integrated portfolio of business interests include farming, forestry and trucking. Embracing 3600 hectares, Akitio Station is bounded by the coast on one side and neighbouring land that is mostly bush on the other and is about 75 kilometres southeast of Dannevirke, its closest service town. South of Cape Turnagain, and about 22 nautical miles north of Castlepoint, both very visible landmarks from Akitio’s farmland, the farm sits east of the Manawatu Gorge. Ed Kight makes the point that on either side of the gorge there are wind farms, and asks rhetorically why they erect wind farms. “Because its windy, but those wind mills, I’m afraid, they don’t stop the wind. It carries on out to us. We’re very wind swept. We had a gust the other day that was 162kmh!” Apart from boarding school, Ed’s childhood was spent on Akitio Station where his father, Michael, was the farmer and owner of the property. Ed says becoming a farmer was probably something he was always going to do. “Right from when we were eight/nine year old kids we worked on the farm. The land wasn’t flat — it was all steep. “My mates were horrified when as a 14-year-old I used to come home in the holidays and spend most of my time on a bulldozer either crushing scrub or discing paddocks. My mates thought it was madness. I didn’t think it was madness at all, that’s what we did.” After leaving school Ed completed a com- merce degree, majoring in marketing and accountancy, and went to work for Burroughs Corporation selling computers, a job that he loved and was very successful at. In 1978 Ed and Jenny were married and came to the farm the following year where, at 26, Ed took over its management, working with his father. With his computer and accounting back- ground Ed set about computerising the accounts, while helping his father develop land bought in the ‘60s & ‘70s that was mainly scrub. “We were developing those blocks to bring them into livestock production, with tonnes of superphosphate to the acre, tonnes of lime, fencing, whatever.” There was a special bond between father and son and Ed recalls an incredible aspect to that which occurred around 1980. “I told my father I disagreed with the way he had been focused on how he farmed. “I said to him I thought we needed to do it another way. Even though it was his business, he said to me, if you can justify it, you can do whatever you like. “That was an extraordinary lead for a father to give his son aged 27/28 at the time. So we were always striving to do things differently.” Ed’s father died in 1986 aged 60. Initially leasing the farm from the Family Trust, Ed and Jenny took the deep plunge and bought the farm in 1994 and have continued its operation and development ever since, though the pastoral side of the operation is now in an equity partnership. Of Akitio Station’s 3600 hectares, 1200 hectares is used for pastoral farming and the business also includes 1000 hectares a few kilometres up the road, including 200 hectares of river flats, providing a finishing component to the livestock enterprise. “That provides great balance because Akitio Station is mainly coastal hill country with a lit- tle bit of flat. Three years ago I bought another 500-hectare property that had once been part of Akitio. So the business now covers 5200 hectares.” Between Akitio Station and the 1000-hec- tare property, which are run seamlessly, the operation is home to 9500 ewes, 2700 ewe hogget replacements, 300 beef cows and 250 T T to page 42 “I said to him I thought we needed to do it another way. Even though it was his business, he said to me, if you can justify it, you can do whatever you like.” R2’s and around 300 weaner calves. While some ewes are mated specifically for replacement females, the balance are mated to a terminal whose progeny are finished along with any lesser replacements. There are also a number or trade lambs bought and sold through the year. The planting of trees came about after Ed and his father and been clearing scrubland for pastoral use. Faced with getting scrub cutters back when the scrub returned a few years later Ed suggested forestry might be a better way to go. In 1976 Ed started planting plantation trees with more trees planted in 1980 and more from ’82 through to ’86. There are now 1700 hectares of plantation forestry with another 500 hectares up the road. This winter 130 hectares will be planted in the 1000-hectare block. Insure Hawke’s Bay INSURANCE BROKERS It’s what we do. Commercial insurance specialists Rick Behague: rick@insurehb.co.nz Dalton Street, Napier. 06 651 2366 www.insurehb.co.nz Very proud to support Akitio Ltd • Local owned, and operated • Dedicated, passionate and experienced staff • Insurance Advisernet Broker of the Year 2020/21 • Client focused insurance solutions We are proud to supply rural supplies to Akitio Ltd. Mark Jones Technical Field Representative markjones@pggwrightson.co.nz M 027 590 1454 P 06 374 4630 AH 06 374 8235 19-21 Barraud Street, Dannevirke 4930 PO Box 42, Dannevirke 4942