Ohakune farm wins regional farming award

27 March 2007

Ohakune farm wins regional farming award

Pah Hill Station near Ohakune has won the Southern regional competition in the 2007 Bank of New Zealand Maori Excellence in Farming Award. The three regional finalists will compete for the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy.

A distinctive medal and a prize valued at over $15,000 comprising farm goods and services and cash donated by sponsors will be presented to Whatarangi Murphy -Peehi, Chairman of the Atihau Whanganui Incorporation at a field day to be held on the property on Thursday 3 May.

Whatarangi Murphy-Peehi, a former regional winner of the Maori Farmer of the Year Contest in 2003 for his family property said news of this year’s win for Pah Hill was “very exciting”.

“This has been a team effort from everyone. It demonstrates a 3-5 year commitment to a development strategy to lift the overall performance of our organisation. We couldn’t be happier,” he said.

Pah Hill, situated about 15kilometres southwest of Ohakune, is part of the Atihau-Whanganui Incorporation. The 1900 (effective) hectare sheep and beef farm supports 20,800 stock units. Last year the farm recorded a lambing percentage of 129 per cent.

The Atihau-Whanganui Incorporation (AWI) was formed in 1970 to manage 101,000 acres of land vested into the Aotea Maori Land Council by Whanganui Maori in 1903. AWI now manages 10 stations and one dairy farm on behalf of its 7072 shareholders.

Bob Cottrell, Chairman of the Competition Executive Committee said the three-man judging panel was impressed with the standard of entries from the Southern region. The judges can see that Maori farming is really on the move and this is hugely significant for the New Zealand pastoral industry as a whole,” he said.
"The judges described AWI As a very well organised company with all governance and shareholder issues under control. They noted that intangibles such as bush and native wildlife conservation, cultural and spiritual values were recognised and given appropriate attention.

Commenting on Pah Hill Station they said it had “consistently outperformed all other entries from the region. They said Manager Larry Walker had a “can do attitude” and a very clear sense of direction about what needed to be done to continue improving performance on the farm.

Runner-up in the Southern region was Tiroa Station, a property owned by Tiroa E Trust, chaired by Murdoch Pahi. The station comprises 2000 (effective) hectares and is in a development phase focusing primarily on breeding performance, while finishing progeny born on the property. Approximately 8900 ewes and 1050 cows and heifers, along with other stock are wintered on this property, located near Benneydale.

Meat New Zealand resurrected the competition for the Ahuwhenua Trophy in 2003 following discussion with Maori on how to enhance the delivery of services to Maori. Farming over 720,000 hectare collectively, Maori are the largest group of pastoral farmers in New Zealand.

The competition, re-inaugurated in 2003, provides for participation from Maori farming operations throughout New Zealand with the country being divided into three regions and the winner of each region going on to compete for the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy and prizes valued at more than $40,000.

A successful competition for dairy farmers was held last year and it is intended that the two events will alternate in future years.

To assist in transferring information more widely, a field day will be held at Pah Hill Station starting at 9.30am on Thursday 3 May. The focus will be on the systems management and governance, which have resulted in the station being selected as the regional winner.

"Our three aims for the competition are to recognise excellence in Maori farming, to utilise the competition to highlight successful approaches to the wider Maori farming community and to highlight the contribution of Maori farming to the New Zealand economy.”

The national winner for 2007 will be announced at a dinner to be held in the Rotorua Convention Centre on Friday 15th June 2007. Tickets are now available from Phyllis Mangin, Meat & Wool New Zealand 0800 647 000 or phyllis.mangin@meatandwoolnz.com

The Bank of New Zealand Maori Excellence in Farming Award is sponsored by: The Bank of New Zealand (platinum sponsor), Te Puni Kokiri, Meat & Wool New Zealand, AgResearch (gold sponsors); Ballance Agri-Nutrients and PGG Wrightson (silver sponsors) and AgITO and Suzuki as bronze sponsors. In addition a number of other sponsors have offered generous support including AgriQuality, PPCS, AFFCO Group, Landcorp, Poutama Trust and DB Breweries.

Notes for editor

The regional boundaries and field day dates are as follows:
Region 1: North Central - including Auckland, Northland, Manukau, Coromandel, Thames, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, King Country
Field day, Thursday May 10
Region 2: Eastern – including East Coast, Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa
Field day, Thursday May 17
Region 3: Southern – including King Country, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, Horowhenua, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, South Island, Chatham Islands Field day, Thursday May 3.

ENDS

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