Pouarua Farms, Hauraki

Pouarua Farms takes a long-term outlook when it comes to managing the land. For the five iwi who own the largest dairy platform on the Hauraki Plains, that means making decisions that will sustain the whenua and create an intergenerational asset.

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Video

Learn how the team at Pouarua Farms are looking after their whenua for future generations, including farming with fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Transcript

Duration: 8:39

JENNA SMITH:

In 2013, five of the Hauraki iwi, as part of their settlement process purchased the land back from the Crown.

That was some 35 years of Treaty negotiations that led to that. So it's been really hard fought for, and hard won. And I think that puts a really interesting lens on what we do with it in the future.

The first five years of the agreement, Landcorp was still here as 50/50 sharemilkers. The platform remained as a sole dairy operation.

In 2019, that sharemilking arrangement came to an end and so Landcorp exited. And the iwi owners took on the full operational ownership of the platform. So that's when we could really sink our teeth into what good looked like for us.

It's the intent that's changed, so we're not looking with a short-term lens on the land. It's a taonga asset, it will never be sold again. We have to make sure it's here for the future generations.

Our business plans look a little bit further than most; they're probably thinking 25, 50 to even 100 years out. So that is the intent that sets the business plan for what we change.

So, the main changes have been diversifying land use into the highest and best uses. So, moving away from dairying in some places where we felt that it wasn't sustainable both environmentally and economically. And moving into other food producing types.

That's the beauty of when you take away that you're not a product farmer and that you're actually a whenua farmer. You know, you're farming the land and what you can bring from that. Then it opens up your thinking to what the land can do for you.

We've now got a 9ha fully canopied blueberry orchard, which is fertigated and irrigated. And that'll be extended out by double in the coming 2 years.

We've moved another 150-200ha away and that's gone into arable use. So that's producing maize grain for food grade. That goes into things like corn chips and starch which is going really well for us.

And we've also seen some places where we've just gone actually there is no viable land use for these areas. They've probably been twisted and turned and tried to be something that they'll never be. At the end of the day, all that land wants to be is a peat swamp. So - let it. It doesn't make any economical or environmental sense to keep pursuing it to be something else.

So, it's really nice to have that area now. In the four years since we stopped putting nutrient and chemical in, and I guess effort into making it be something it doesn't want to be, it's fully reverted to a peat wetland. Which is just amazing to see.

And kind of gives us reference to what we are doing with the rest of the whenua. Because that's ultimately, we are stopping it being a peat swamp land every day. So, if we are going to do that, we need to make sure that we're doing that really well and with, I guess with some pretty gentle gloves on.

[loud music]

[laughing]

QUINN MORGAN:

That's the radio.

As a farm manager, being able to produce food for the world is quite a cool badge to wear.

Making sure we're doing the right thing for our environment and our whenua, is icing on the cake.

For people that are mana whenua here being able to: (1) earn a living; (2) look after the whenua and be a steward of that whenua where you're from is massive.

Being able to do a good job at it makes you walk a little bit taller. You feel like you get to contribute in a powerful way.

JAHN DE THEIERRY-TE MOANANUI:

It makes me feel really proud to be able to work on lands that I'm from. And especially my iwi, and to be able to represent that is pretty cool.

STEVEN TUKERANGI:

I'd say I feel proud to be working on our land. To probably be a role model for other younger generations, to take on this type of mahi.

[cow sniffs camera]

JENNA SMITH

We felt like we had a responsibility to our shareholders to go out and find the best deal for us and that also meant the best relationship. We shopped our milk widely. Lewis Road (Creamery) met all the same sort of values. They had the same sort of aspirations, and it was just a really nice natural fit for us.

PREM MAAN

Our Jersey milk and A2 protein milk comes from Pouarua. And we also have a once-a-year partnership where we launch a horopito flavoured milk to celebrate Matariki.

It's a great partnership that we have with Pouarua Farms.

We had discussions with them, and we found that we have a similar philosophy to life and farming.

Part of that partnership is looking at the way we want to look after the land, the whenua, for future generations. So, we share the same philosophy, and that philosophy goes back to looking after the soil. Looking after the soil, means thinking about biodiversity and thinking about climate change, and protecting the land for future generations.

So, the consumers we talk to, they care about the planet on a holistic basis. They care about many things. Climate change is one thing, they also care about biodiversity. They care about animal welfare. They care about their own health, so for example antibiotic stewardship is something that they care about.

So, it's actually thinking about a whole lot of things. And marketing all those values together.

JENNA SMITH

Reducing the stocking rate wasn't entirely purposeful for greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

That made sense for an environmental reason, it made sense for an efficiency reason, and it made sense for an economical reason as well.

Typically, most things when you're talking about emissions reductions, they have other flow-on effects that are positive in many ways in your business anyway. Land use changes, smarter fertiliser usage, our planting programs, our breeding techniques – all of those things have all played in. But again, not with the sole intent to reduce emissions.

It's just been part of good business planning and good business decisions for the land that we have.

It's nothing extraordinary, I think it's what people would mostly set out to do. It's just, you know, you've got to record it and prove it and have evidence-based decisions behind it.

We shouldn't be afraid that our customers are expecting this from us. And we shouldn't be afraid that we're not already doing it.

And I think that's a real fear for some people. That they're letting the fear drive them. "Well, maybe I'm not good enough" or "I need to change a whole heap of things in my business". It's probably not true. Yeah.

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Download a copy of the Pouarua Farms story here [PDF, 731 KB] . 

About Pouarua

Pouarua Farms is jointly owned by Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Tara Tokanui and Te Patukirikiri. Jenna Smith is Chief Executive. 

The farms are located on the Hauraki Plains, just southwest of Ngatea within the whenua Māori blocks known as Ngarua, Waitakaruru and Puhangateuru.

In 2018, operation of the land was fully undertaken by its Iwi owners. At that time, the whole property was in dairy. Now, the whenua comprises eight dairy farms, a dairy beef unit, various cropping (maize) blocks, and a horticultural  unit growing blueberries. 

"The whenua is a taonga to its owners. It will never be sold again," says Chief Executive Jenna Smith. "We have to make sure it is here for future generations, which means working out what the best thing for the land is."

The table below shows the enterprise mix. 

Table 1: Land use at Pouarua

Enterprise Land area (ha)
Dairy 1,775
Cropping 225
Horticulture 10
Dairy-Beef 200
Wetland 10
Retired land 23
Non-productive (races, drains etc) 7
Total 2,250

The land is flat, based on drained peat lands, and vulnerable to drying out over the summer. There is one split calving and one autumn calving block. The remainder are spring calving. The herds are a mix of straight jersey A2 and cross-bred A2 with the cross-bred herds moving to A2 jerseys in the near future. 

GHG numbers

Biological greenhouse gas emissions across all Pouarua Farms have decreased by 14% since the five Iwi took over full operation in 2018, as shown in the table below. 

Table 2: Pouarua greenhouse gas emissions 2018-2022

  2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Methane (total T CO2e)  10,095 10,443 12,235   11,818 9,676 
Nitrous oxide (total T CO2e)  3,227 2,863  3,081  3,212  2,489 
Total tonnes CO2e  14,803  13,168  14,041 14,698  12,760 

There have been some fluctuations in the numbers over the years, related to the level of production achieved. For example, the 2021 emissions climbed on the back of increased cow numbers and a very good production year, as shown in Table 3. 

Table 3: Cow numbers and production

  Cows kg MS kg MS/cow
2018 4,851 1,431,202 295
2019 4,623 1,446,694 313
2020 4,595 1,539,676 335
2021 4,743 1,658,866 350
2022 4,311 1,440,226 334

Within the individual farms, most have shown a reduction in emissions since 2018. The two farms that showed the largest decreases (45% and 39% respectively) achieved this largely by reductions in farm area and diversification into other land uses e.g. cropping or retirement.

Average emissions per hectare have decreased, as has the emissions intensity (emissions per kg of milk solids). This is shown in Table 4. 

Table 4: Total emissions and emissions intensity numbers for Pouarua since 2018.

  Emissions/ha (T CO2e/ha) Emissions intensity (kg CO2e/kg MS)
2018 7.5 9.1
2019 6.6 9.0
2020 7.1 8.8
2021 8.3 8.8
2022 7.2 7.9

OverseerFM was used to model the farms' greenhouse gas numbers shown in this case study. To find out more about this tool and others, see our Know Your Numbers page. 

On-farm actions

Since 2018, a number of changes have been made that have led to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. These changes were not made on all blocks, but were applied where the land use decisions made sense. These include: 

Rows of blueberry plants in a paddock under a canopy.

Blueberries under the canopy at Pouarua. (Photo: Dave Allen Photography)

  • Reduced cow numbers (350 total) and improved per cow production (increased by 39 kgMS/cow).
  • Increased the area of maize cropping (for internal use and for sale).
  • Removed 200ha from one block's dairy platform to develop a dairy-beef block.
  • Retired unproductive dairy area to develop a 10ha blueberry unit.
  • Moved one herd to once-a-day (OAD) milking.

In addition to the resulting reduction in emissions, Pouarua are seeing increased profitability and better cow condition, which in turn is improving reproductive performance. The shift to OAD milking on one of the blocks has reduced time for cows and staff in sheds, leading to happier, less stressed staff. The areas that have been retired have native vegetation and bird life coming back, improving biodiversity.

To read more about what actions to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, see our Current Actions page. 

What led to the changes?

Pouarua are focused on ensuring that the land is used in a way that provides long-term sustainability for the whenua and its people. The changes made reflect this mindset, making sure that land use is appropriate for the available land and water resources. 

Close-up of wetland plants at Pouarua Farm - a mix of flax and manuka

Riparian planting at Pouarua. (Photo: Dave Allen Photography)

Some of the changes made were also driven by being proactive in response to expectations around freshwater resources and Pouarua's proximity to important wetland ecosystems. Other changes were driven by a need to improve profitability and labour efficiency, e.g. reduced walking time for cows, reduced inputs, feeding animals better to improve performance. 

Pouarua has further plans for continuing to refine how the whenua is farmed, for example doubling the area of blueberries under canopy.

Actions for climate resilience

Farming is not only having to transition to a future where fewer greenhouse gases are emitted, but also one where resilience to the impacts of a changing climate is strengthened. The following actions are helping Pouarua build resilience into their system:

  • Continually assessing land use in relation to inherent characteristics of the land and water resources, alongside market and regulatory drivers. 
  • Riparian areas are retired and planted with natives. 
  • Other retired areas are regenerating into native vegetation.
  • All pasture and summer brassica are direct-drilled.
  • Diverse pasture species are used, e.g. chicory, fescues, plantain etc. 

Advice for other farmers

Below are some suggestions from the Pouarua team to help other farmers get their heads around the opportunities and challenges in reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate: 

  • Rather than continuing to farm the land the same as always, reflect on what is right for the land and your values as a farmer to help determine if your land use is appropriate. If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.
  • If you are looking at changes, and trying to make the numbers work, don't be afraid to bring in some outside advice or support to provide a different perspective.
  • Consider what happens to your product beyond the farm gate. Don't just farm the animals on your land, you need to understand the market you supply to and the responsibilities that come with that. 
  • Don't be driven by fear - there are plenty of scaremongers out there. Focus on what you can do and what you can control. 

"We shouldn't be afraid that our customers are expecting this from us," says Jenna. "And we shouldn't be afraid that we're not already doing it."

Know your numbers and have a plan

By now, all farmers and growers must have a record of their annual on-farm greenhouse gas emissions (methane and nitrous oxide). By the end of 2024, they'll also need to have a written plan in place to manage them. These requirements are part of the He Waka Eke Noa partnership and are intended to help get farmers ready for agricultural greenhouse gas emissions to be priced from 2025. To find out more on how to do this, see our Know Your Numbers page.