Relationship leads to economic growth

Maori cannot create wealth through capital gain on the corpus land they own. Increased wealth must be driven by greater productivity and/or product value.

Achieving higher value milk from sustainable farming systems is the goal of a collaborative partnership between AgResearch and a Maori incorporation. Wairarapa Moana Incorporation is a large owner of dairy and mixed livestock farms that neighbour the Waikato River. Over the past five years, it has turned to AgResearch for knowledge and practices that allow intensification of its dairy farms and, equally, care for the surrounding environment.

In the first instance, wise use of irrigated water was the goal.

"Through understanding climate variation, soil attributes, pasture growth and farm system efficiencies, irrigation has been introduced to dairying with dramatic results," says AgResearch Commerical Team Leader, Dr Gavin Sheath.

"Now the change is to reduce nitrogen leakage from the farms through better knowledge and management of winter feeding systems."

Parallel to this on-farm development, Wairarapa Moana Incorporation and AgResearch have been researching the production and function of novel milk proteins.

"Both partners recognise the importance of increasing product value, and niche milk is one of the avenues we are exploring," says Kingi Smiler, Chair of Wairarapa Moana Incorporation. "On behalf of the shareholders, we consistently look for economic growth through both short-term earning ability and longer-term intellectual property positioning."

Contact Gavin:

Email: gavin.sheath@agresearch.co.nz  Phone: +64 7 838 5310