Skip to content
Search
START TYPING AND PRESS ENTER TO SEARCH

Capacity for Transition

Storying Kaitiakitanga

Sharing kaitiakitanga values and practices in the Māori agricultural sector to enhance productivity and identify new niche markets

Yvonne Taura, landowner Mere Whaanga, Jo Smith, Jessica Hutchings, Pahauwera Kaumatua Richard Allen at Taipōrutu, Māhia, NZ

PROJECT DETAILS

Challenge funding: $248,190

Research duration: December 2017 – July 2019

COLLABORATORS

, , ,

 

You are here: Capacity for Transition / Storying Kaitiakitanga

What Did We Do?

He kai aku ringa. (There is food at the end of my hands.)

Kaitiakitanga values of guardianship and responsibility make an important contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand’s agriculture and food sector. Applying these values more widely could help ensure future generations benefit culturally and ecologically from whenua (land) and awa (water) resources underpinning agriculture and food production.

This research project raised the profile of existing and emerging Māori food production practices that contribute to a kaupapa Māori food story. Case studies show how food production can be done differently and encourage innovation.

In a highly competitive global market, communicating and employing kaitiakitanga values and practices could enhance productivity and help identify new markets for Aotearoa New Zealand food, while meeting economic, environmental and cultural objectives.

Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi. (With your basket and my basket the people will live.)

PICTURED ABOVE: Yvonne Taura, landowner Mere Whaanga, Jo Smith, Jessica Hutchings, Pahauwera Kaumatua Richard Allen at Taipōrutu, Māhia NZ

How Can The Research Be Used?

  • Interviews with Māori agribusiness and food producers – including marae-based initiatives, small-to-medium business entities and Māori-led corporations – were distilled into reader-friendly stories that show the diverse practices and distinctive tangata whenua (people of the land) and awa relationships that exist in the Māori agribusiness and horticulture sectors. See summary sheets, below.
  • This research identified 8 common values practiced by Māori food producers: kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, mauri, wairua, moemoeā, whanaungatanga, tūranga and rangatiratanga (click links for English translation).
  • Māori agrifood sector practices are informed by deep understanding of the interconnections and interdependencies between land, food, people and waterways. This research shows that these practices occur within diverse Māori economies at whānau, hapū, iwi and national levels, and result in a holistic, systems-based approach to farming and food that can create an 'upward spiral' of connected outcomes, such as oranga (well being), tatai hononga (building social capital), tiaki taiao (maintaining and enhancing natural capital), and ōhanga (growing prosperity, economic capital).
  • Understanding and incorporating holistic Māori approaches into a national approach to farming, food and hospitality could improve land, water and food systems across Aotearoa, New Zealand.
  • This research highlights Māori understandings of food as part of a cycle of reciprocity (tau utu utu) that must always benefit land, water and people.
  • Adopting the ethics of kaitiakitanga more widely could drive transformations in land and water. Education about the concept of kaitiakitanga should always highlight the mutual obligations of guardianship and the physical, emotional and spiritual connectedness to place.

In the Media

Biofarm organic yoghurt: milk, cultures & kaitiakitanga

Radio New Zealand, 2 December 2019

Cathy Tait-Jamieson, who runs BioFarm with her husband Jamie, talks to Kathryn Ryan about their innovative approach to farming. Their story is one of vision, dedication and kaitiakitanga.

VIEW ARTICLE →
How Māori kai producers are decolonising the New Zealand food story

The Spinoff, 15 November 2019

“Matauranga Māori is a complete intact indigenous knowledge system. It’s not floating around to be picked out – ‘oh I’ll take manaaki, I’ll take a bit of Matariki because I understand that, oh I know what whanaungatanga means so I’ll take that’. It has to weave a relation to everything else.”

VIEW ARTICLE →

Team Snapshot

Jo Smith
Research Co-Lead

Jo Smith

Victoria University of Wellington
Dr Jessica Hutchings
Research Co-Lead

Dr Jessica Hutchings

Tiaho
Yvonne Taura

Yvonne Taura

Manaaki Whenua
Shaun Awatere

Shaun Awatere

Rōpū Tikanga Rangahau
Garth Harmsworth

Garth Harmsworth

Rōpū Tikanga Rangahau
Desna Whaanga-Schollum

Desna Whaanga-Schollum

DWS Creative

Research Outputs

REPORTS

Enhancing Maori Agribusiness Through Kaitiakitanga Tools

J. Hutchings, J. Smith, N. Roskruge, C. Severne, J. Mika, Dr J. Panoho
Massey University, July 2017

This report focuses on Māori agribusinesses and their dynamic and holistic approach to natural resources that seek to balance commercial and cultural imperatives. An overview of the Māori agribusiness sector is provided, as well as kaitiakitanga (guardianship) tools operating in the Māori environmental and resource management sectors. The Māori agribusiness sector could be enhanced and strengthened by employing Māori science and knowledge systems.

BOOK

Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore: A Māori Soil Sovereignty and Wellbeing Handbook

Edited by Jessica Hutchings (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa, Gujarati) and Jo Smith (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha)
Harvest: Fresh Scholarship from the Field (Free Range Press, August 2020)

In te ao Māori, soil is taonga. It is also whanaunga – it holds ancestral connections and is the root of tūrangawaewae and whakapapa. It is the source of shelter, kai and manaakitanga. This collection of essays, profiles and recipes shine a light on Māori relationships with soil and the connections between soil and food security, and frames these links within tino rangatiratanga from a variety of Māori perspectives.

Digital Tools

Storying Kaitiakitanga – A Kaupapa Māori Land and Water Food Story

The project website offers further information about case studies and contributors.

Summary Sheets

Awanui Huka Pak

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Read about the largest Māori kiwifruit entity operating in Aotearoa. Featuring the kōrero of Te Awanui Huka Pak chairperson, Ratahi Cross, we learn about the cultivation areas around Mount Maunganui, the importance of observing, listening to, and engaging with the lands you hold mana over and how tikanga makes kaitiakitanga.

Cathy Taite-Jamieson and BioFarm products

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Her organic yoghurt is available in most supermarkets in Aotearoa but she only milks around 100 cows. Read more here about the Māori and biodynamic values that inform Cathy Taite-Jamieson’s sustainable dairy farming practices in the Manawatū.

Hapī Clean Kai Co-Op

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

More than just another cafe in Napier, Hapī Clean Kai Co-op offers nutritional and delicious food and drinks that celebrate the wellbeing dimensions of kai. With a committment to sourcing the best organic and ethcially-grown produce possible, Gretta Carney and her team offer food that has hauora benefits. Read on for more about Hapī’s values and practices.

John Reid

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Senior Research Fellow Dr John Reid has worked for many years in the area of Māori land development, historical trauma and sustainable iwi development. Taking care of the relationships between lands, waters and peoples is a primary focus for John. Learn more about his work with Ngāi Tahu and his hope for a rise in kaitiakitanga practices that move beyond guardianship to acknowledge the mutually binding nature of landscapes, waterways and peoples.

Koukourārata

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Food has always been cultivated at the Koukourārata Gardens on Banks Peninsula. Today, people like Manaia Cunningham are reviving the cultivation of Māori potatoes and are developing hapū gardens as a pathway to greater kai sovereignty and freedom from the idea that a high-paying salary is what one needs to have a good life.

Onenui Station

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Read about a sheep and beef station on an East Coast Peninsula who express kaitiakitanga by diversifying their land-use practices and by entering into collaborations that will bring long term benefits to their people.

Taipōrutu

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Kōura is an endangered freshwater species that is experiencing an increased national profile. Te Māhia Peninsula landholder Mere Whaanga, with the help of fellow resident Richard Allen, are developing kōura ponds on Mere’s whānau lands, Taipōrutu. Read on to find out more about Mere’s vision for her whenua and her whānau and the role kōura will play.

Whenua Honey

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Learn how an enterprising whānau are contributing to the honey industry through whanaungatanga values. Laney and Eugene Hunia involve their children in all aspects of their beekeeping industry and they also help foster relationships between East Cape Māori landowners and existing beekeepers keen to access the mānuka grown on whānau land blocks.

Poutama Trust

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Read about the role of a Māori business development service provider and how Māori values such as manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga have a role to play in supporting innovation in the Māori food and beverage sectors. Poutama CEO Richard Jones talks about the networking and collaboration opportunities they provide. Collaborations between Māori as well as with non-Māori entities helps build scale, expand market opportunities and develop operation practices that hold kaupapa at their heart.

Caleb Royal

Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth, Shaun Awatere
Research Summary

Learn more about how a strip of land near the Kāpiti Express motorway is being run sustainably by local Māori who have reclaimed this land to help feed their marae and to foster the health of wetlands and tuna. Read on for more about how Caleb Royal acts as a kaitiaki for his people and their whenua on the Kāpiti Coast.

Have a Question?

We are happy to answer any questions about this research and how it can be used.

Please fill in the form below

Thank you for your enquiry. Your question may require information to be gathered from the research team, so please anticipate that it may take us up to 10 days to prepare a reply.

We appreciate your interest in our research.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Capacity For Transition News

VIEW ALL NEWS
Scroll To Top