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Hikurangi te toka ahuru Hikurangi te toka whakairo Tu tonu mai, tuohu ko nga uri e. Tena tatau te hunga whaipanga ki te Pakihiroa ki Makarika me Puanga, nga pamu kei raro i te maru o Pakihiroa Farms Ltd. Anei ra e rarangi iho nei nga whakamatautau o tenei mea te ahuwhenua ona piki ona heke, heoi ano kua pe nga ringa i roto i nga mahi me kore e puta he oranga mo Ngati Porou.
Despite the challenges of the past, this year we managed to maintain our overall profitability at $459,976. The net profit from farming activities was $890,154. This was lower than the previous year’s result of $950,126. Company administration costs were up this year due to the inclusion of costs related to the Tairawhiti Agri-Hub. These costs were reimbursed to the company. As well as the small improvement in this year’s surplus the company strengthened its balance sheet by reducing total debt by $562,915 to $4,851,520. This has lifted equity to $6,317,326 (57% of Total Assets).
During the year we have tried to define what success looks like for the Ngati Porou Agri-Business sector. This allows us to decide how Pakihiroa Farms Ltd (PFL) can best contribute to this. For us, success looks like “a thriving Ngati Porou economy”, with people having jobs, a farming sector doing well, new and innovative products, easily accessible services, and a landscape that is healing. PFL’s Mission is: “From the edge of the world we deliver the finest sustainable farmed produce.” If we can deliver this promise, then by 2020 we expect to create 11 new on farm jobs, increase our earnings and grow our balance sheet.
The underpinning “pou” are:
• to have access to good flat country to complement our hill country,
• to continue with on-farm innovations such as the use of drought tolerant species including Lucerne as well as novel forages that enable higher levels of animal productivity and to mitigate the consequences of droughts.
• to ensure we have adequate resources to properly execute our growth plans including investing in our current and future farming people.
• to continue to deliver great results for the class of country we farm today.
• to leverage partnerships for the mutual benefit of our partners as well as ourselves.
We want to be part of a community of “artisan” food producers taking our food products to consumers through new channels to market. Our immediate priority is to recruit around 2500 hectares of land through a range of “mana sharing” options (lease, joint ventures, including partnerships). This land is for finishing prime lamb and prime beef to feed into our market channels. For each 200 ha. of land recruited into the program we will require an additional two labour units for stock work as well as fencing and water maintenance. We will also require contracting capability as growing forage crops will be part of this program.
We recognise that much of the land we are targeting requires further investment in terms of fencing and water and we will need to address environmental concerns such as establishing riparian strips and erosion control. Consumer insight work has identified a consumer segment capable and willing to pay higher prices to those who produce outstanding products in a natural way with minimal chemical use and in an environment that is flourishing, who also address the needs of the animals and support the communities in which they operate.
Last year, Luke Scragg resigned and along with his wife Jane and daughter Ashley moved to a larger farm. During his time Luke undertook the significant redevelopment of Pakihiroa. Improved lambing, reduced losses, heavier stock for sale, and the renewal of much of the station infrastructure occurred during his tenure. The board is pleased to welcome Rob Andrew who along with wife Mary and their two boys now manages the on-farm team. Along with Rob we also welcomed Patrick Allan, Makarika block manager and General Manager, Dylan Young. Rounding off the team is Jay Neho the stockman at Pakihiroa and our contract fencer, Rob Tuari. The past year has been difficult for farming. A dry spring followed by drought-like conditions during early summer resulted in feed levels collapsing.
To be able to feed our breeding stock we started to sell down at the lower prices on offer and adjusted our spending plans. Rain in late February signalled the start of almost 4 months of very wet conditions. With this came a welcome lift in stock prices and feed levels recovered. Both sheep and cattle prices surged to record levels with cattle prices attracting a premium of 25–30% above the five-year rolling average.
This year we supported three young men in the early stages of their farming careers. Eparaima Kaihe, Cody Pahuru and Piriaka Huriwai have all chosen to pursue farming careers. We are interested in talking to those who want to pursue a farming career whether it be at an on-farm level or through formal tertiary study. We also have access to various scholarships through our supplier relationships.
Around us, the primary sector is being criticised for the impact of farming practices on the environment. The need to extract greater value and reduce our impact on the environment is becoming more urgent. The impact of 150 years of farming activities is evident within Ngati Porou. Indiscriminate clearing of the land has created a significant erosion problem – the impact is scarred hills and wide braided river systems that continue to erode more land at each flooding event. This erosion feeds into our rivers and causes massive sedimentation along our coastline.
The consequences of our volatile farm revenue streams have seen a reduction in the number of people who are directly employed on farm. This in turn sees fewer services and trades people who were once readily available in all our rural communities. These trends will continue unless we find an intervention that creates an environment that enables people to come home to real jobs and the lifestyle. There are signs of emerging opportunities that offer new and innovative revenue opportunities including tourism, horticulture, honey and emerging crops such as hemp. We are also seeing new channels to market that will enable a closer connection between the farmer and the consumer.
S T Parata
Chairman
Pakihiroa Farms Ltd
H E Collier
General Manager
Pakihiroa Farms Ltd
