38 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Matai Pacific Iwi Collective Join the movement to Mpac NZ’s fastest growing packhouse www.mpac.co.nz (07) 547 4400 T T Hugh de Lacy Collective enjoys another standout year Matai Pacific has more than 100ha of kiwifruit under canopy producing about 1.5 million trays a year. The most prestigious awards in Maori agriculture, the 93-year-old Ahuwhenua Awards, have seen the innovative Bay of Plenty kiwifruit collective Matai Pacific make the final after another year of setting standards for Maori growers nationwide. Matai Pacific has more than 100ha of kiwifruit under canopy producing about 1.5 million trays a year, up from just 79 canopy hectares and 970,000 trays when it was established by three iwi in 2016. The current capital value of the orchards is $130m, but that’s expected to climb to $150m by 2035, a rate of growth that had Matai Pacific also winning a finalist’s place in the Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards for 2026. The Ahuwhenua Trophy was launched in 1933 by the great Maori political leader Sir Apirana Ngata and the Governor General at the time, Lord Bledisloe, to highlight Maori achievement in land-based industries — achievements that reflect hard work, fortitude and innovation in the pastoral and horticultural sectors. It’s held annually, and was originally confined to dairy, sheep and beef farming, but later expanded to horticultural industries. “We’re enormously proud to win the Atuwhenua Awards nomination because it reflects Matai Pacific’s determination to be a leader in Maori kiwifruit orcharding,” says the company’s CEO, Charles Russell. “We’re a collective that’s jointly owned by Te Arawa Group Holdings, Ngati Awa Group Holdings and the Rotoma No. One Incorporation, and we saw an opportunity to break into the kiwifruit business when the industry was still struggling to get over the PSA outbreak in 2010.” T T to page 40
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