Winner of 2023 Ahuwhenua Trophy announced

Gisborne-based Wi Pere Trust was announced as the winner of the 2023 Ahuwhenua Trophy at an awards evening recently held in Tauranga, making it the second year that the Trust have taken out the top award. In 2022 it won the Trophy for its sheep and beef farm, while this year it won for its horticultural developments.

The announcement was made by Minister for Māori Development Hon Willie Jackson at the event that was attended by over 900 people. Other guests included Hon Jo Luxton, Sir Tumu and Lady Susan Te Heuheu, representatives of the Kingitanga, diplomats, representatives of central and local government, agribusiness leaders and finalists’ whānau.

Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa Massey University has been a sponsor of the Trophy since 2017. School of Agriculture and Environment Kaitautoko Māori Michael Smith and Whenua Haumanu Research Operations Manager Eru Tait-Jamieson attended the event on behalf of the College of Sciences.

The university’s support of the awards began as a result of its commitment to excellence in Māori farming and support for continuing education in the agricultural sector.

Mr Smith says the awards are a great example of mātauranga Māori because of their celebration of Māori concepts and practices within a business framework.

Chair of the Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee, Nukuhia Hadfield, says it has been a difficult year from most growers and farmers in the primary sector, but especially hard for all the finalists in the competition. She says a combination and accumulation of events such as frosts, floods and other unseasonal conditions created major problems for all the entrants. She says despite this adversity, all the finalists remained in the competition and put together exceptionally good field days to showcase their respective orchards.

The Ahuwhenua Trophy is the most prestigious award for excellence in Māori farming and horticulture, and was inaugurated 90 years ago by the great Māori leader, Sir Apirana Ngata and the Governor General at the time, Lord Bledisloe. The objective was and still is to encourage Māori farmers to improve their land and their overall farming position with an emphasis on sustainability. On a three year rotational basis, the Trophy is competed for by Māori in the sheep and beef, horticulture and dairy sectors.

History of the Ahuwhenua Trophy

The Ahuwhenua Trophy competition was introduced to encourage skill and proficiency in Māori farming. Sir Apirana Ngata realised the importance of retaining and improving what remained of Māori land was critical. He led the renaissance of Māori land developmentwhich had been decimated during the colonisation of New Zealand by forced sales and lack of opportunity and access to development capital.

The inaugural 1933 competition was open to individual dairy farmers in the Waiariki Land district and was won by William Swinton from Raukokore, Bay of Plenty. The following year the competition was extended to include entrants from North and South Auckland, Gisborne, Whanganui and Wellington.

In 1936 the cup was won by Henry Dewes, a sheep farmer from Tikitiki. The Trophy was displayed in the Waiapu Farmers store which two weeks later caught fire and destroyed the cup. It was replaced with a new cup in 1938 but six years later that trophy was lostduring a rail trip from Rotorua to Wellington. It was eventually found in 1946 in a Frankton store after being mislaid with someone’s personal belongings at the railway station.

The inappropriateness of comparing dairy with sheep and beef farms became increasingly evident and in 1954 the competition was divided into two separate awards, each with their own trophy. Once again, Lord Bledisloe, a man with farming interests, donated the companion cup.

The competition continued up until the 1980s but interest started to wane and the last of the original competitions was held in 1990. It was Gina Rudland and Wayne Walden who, along with Meat New Zealand chairman John Acland, re-launched the awards in 2003. The awards took into account the changing face of Māori farming and the increasing importance of Māori Incorporations and Trusts in the agribusiness sector.

In 2005, the Ahuwhenua Management Committee decided on a new structure for the competition with sheep and beef and dairy competitions being run in alternate years. In recognition of Māori involvement in the horticultural sector, it was decided that in 2020 the competition would be opened up to also include horticulture. A new trophy was designed and made and there was excellent support for this initiative.

The Ahuwhenua Trophy competition Trustees are the Minister for Māori Development, the Minister of Agriculture and the Chief Executive of Te Puni Kōkiri. They delegate their authority to the Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee to manage and supervise the competition.

An award for young Māori farmers was introduced in 2012 and successive winners have demonstrated that young Māori have the leadership and management skills to take Māori agribusiness forward in the 21st century. Māori success is centred around the need to provide for future generations and so this competition is about ‘future proofing’ Māori businesses.

Today, the Ahuwhenua Trophy remains the pre-eminent accolade to win in Māori farming and is recognised as the most prestigious and comprehensively judged award in New Zealand. The entrants, finalists and eventual winners all share and live the enduring values, goals and vision of Sir Apirana Ngata and the competitive spirit of Lord Bledisloe.