The Long Game: Farming for Future Generations

Taking a long-term approach to farming, the five iwi behind Pouarua Farms have reshaped the farm system to better reflect the needs of the whenua, future generations and the realities of farming on peat soils.

On-farm successes:

• 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2018

• Up to 100% increase in profitability in some blocks

• 350 fewer cows with improved per-cow production

• Diversified into blueberries, dairy beef and cropping

"We have to make sure it is here for future generations, which means working out what the best thing for the land is."

Chief Executive Jenna Smith

Watch this story

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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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."

As for the herd, 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.

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 challenge

The Hauraki Plains are highly productive dairy country, but farming peat soils comes with challenges. The land is vulnerable to drying out during summer, subsidence over time and environmental pressures linked to intensive farming.

For Pouarua, the challenge wasn’t simply reducing emissions. It was building a farm system that better matched the land itself — while remaining profitable and resilient for future generations.

The results

On-farm progress

• 14% reduction in biological greenhouse gas emissions since 2018

• Emissions intensity reduced from 9.1 to 7.9 kg CO2e/kg MS

• Up to 100% increase in profitability on some blocks

• Improved biodiversity through retired land and riparian planting

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.

What changed on-farm

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.

Next steps
Explore practical actions farmers are trialling on farm.

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 changes were also made proactively to support outcomes and respond to the farm’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.

Farming for resilience

Pouarua is continuing to refine the farm system to support long-term resilience while responding to changing environmental and market expectations. Actions helping build resilience include:

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.

Lessons for other farmers

“Consider what happens to your product beyond the farm gate... you need to understand the market you supply to and the responsibilities that come with that.”