NZ Dairy Spring 2021

| 71 nz dairy The Governance and operations team with the 2021 Ahuwhenua Trophy Award (top). Miles Hurrell, Fonterra CE standing at the gate (left). DAIRY PEOPLE » Tataiwhetu Farms The importance of taking pride in what you do every day • from page 69 Get in touch for your obligation free chat Address: 5 Richardson Street, Whakatāne | Postal: P O Box 304, Whakatāne 3158 Email: admin@arrowaccountants.co.nz Telephone: +64 7 308 7155 Arrow Accountants is an independent boutique chartered accountancy based in beautiful Whakatāne, New Zealand. We partner with our clients to help make their enterprise better, whether they are a Trust, small or medium sized business, or a multinational company. Arrow takes the headache out of accounting FARM MACHINERY AND ENGINEERING SPECIALISTS CONGRATULATIONS TATAIWHETU FARMS A/H 07 308 9349 M 027 263 3322 25 Tuhoe Street, Taneatua 3123 P 07 312 9248 W wjdippie.co.nz E dieson@xtra.co.nz Congratulations to Tataiwhetu Trust and your recent win of the Anuwhenua Trophy! Awahou Road, Taneatua - 027 478 1605 admin@haywardcontracting.co.nz BayVets Clinic Phone: 07 304 9184 40 Bridge Street, Edgecumbe. Proud to be associated with Tataiwhetu Farms AFFCO is proud to support Tataiwhetu Farms In 2010, the Trust received the Ballance Farm Environment Award for the creation of special places on the farm, including the protection and enhancement of wetlands, landscape features, and historical places. A year later, in collaboration with Tuhoe Putaiao, the Trust received the Green Ribbon Award for protecting biodiversity. In 2014, the name was changed to Tataiwhetu Trust to better identify the true descendants of the original six families, and in the same year, the Trust was presented with the Fonterra Gold Grade Free Certificate in recognition of excellence for consist- ent supply of the highest quality milk. In 2015, Tataiwhetu Trust transitioned from con- ventional milking to organic, and is now fully Assure Quality certified. “If you’re serious about looking after the environ- ment, you have to go that way,” Paki says. “It’s not about intensive farming and getting every dollar you can out of every square inch of the property. Profit isn’t the primary motive for us, it’s the benefit of environmental alignment.” Tataiwhetu Trust knew it had to be prepared to take a hit by going organic, and cut herd numbers by 150, having grown to 580 cows by this point. “And we are happy with that. It is proving intensive farming isn’t the way to go if you want to be environmentally aligned. You have to be prepared to reduce your stock units if you’re going to reduce your carbon emissions and nitrate leaching.” Tataiwhetu Trust’s efforts have this year secured the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy for the top Maori dairy farm. Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee chairman Kingi Smiler says while the standard of all finalists was particularly high this year, Tataiwhetu Trust has a very special farm and is an example of Maori working innovatively and focusing on key strategic objectives. Since winning the award, Tataiwhetu Trust has bought another farm and is thinking about diversifi- cation for the future.