38 | HORTICULTURE Ngai Tukairangi Trust NZ’s largest Māori-owned kiwifruit business What began with a few hundred shareholders and a bare block has grown into a substantial horticultural operation. T T Kelly Deeks Ngāi Tukairangi Trust’s success as New Zealand’s largest Māori-owned kiwifruit orcharding business can be traced back to a much bigger challenge than growing New Zealand’s most valuable export fruit: finding a way to keep its whenua in the hands of its people. Today, the Tauranga-based Trust is harvesting another strong kiwifruit season from orchards across the Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay, while using the returns from its horticultural operations to invest in education, employment, community initiatives, and new business opportunities. Trust chair Ratahi Cross says that connection between commercial success and the wellbeing of the people has remained at the heart of the business since its beginnings. Ngāi Tukairangi emerged in the early 1980s when several Māori land blocks in Matapihi were amalgamated in response to growing urbanisation pressures. Horticulture was identified as a way to retain the land and make it economically productive, with the first kiwifruit vines planted in 1982. What began with a few hundred shareholders and a bare block has grown into a substantial horticultural operation, with more than 1700 shareholders in recent years and orchards in the Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay. Ratahi says the early years were anything but straightforward. The Trust had to prove itself to lenders at a time when Māori borrowers faced significant barriers to accessing finance, and the wider kiwifruit industry was still finding its feet. The Trust kept going, eventually benefiting from the growth of gold kiwifruit and making significant investments in orchards and other businesses. Its history includes responding quickly to PSA, expanding into Hawke’s Bay, establishing investment company Tukairangi Investments, and developing interests beyond kiwifruit. That growth has created the financial base for a much broader vision. Ratahi says the Trust’s greatest achievement is not measured by orchard size or revenue, but by what it has been able to do for its people. Thousands of whānau members have benefited from education support, while initiatives such as helping young people gain their drivers licences are designed to remove practical barriers that can affect their future. YOUR EQUIPMENT SPECIALIST WE ARE THE ONE STOP SHOP FOR ALL EQUIPMENT HANDLING NEEDS. SALES QUALITY BRANDS LEASE & RENTAL FLEXIBLE SOLUTIONS 24HR ONSITE SERVICE KEEPING YOU MOVING LEADING BRANDS YOU CAN TRUST QUALITY EQUIPMENT EXPERT ADVICE RELIABLE SERVICE BUILT FOR YOUR BUSINESS WWW.ECRL.CO.NZ 0508 367 554 233 RUAHAPIA RD, HASTINGS PROUDLY SUPPORTING NGAI TUKAIRANGI TRUST
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