Dairy NZ

“Maori Land” or “Maori Freehold land” is land that is registered in the Maori Land Court.  The Maori Land Court is empowered by the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 which establishes the court and the Maori Authority administration structures designed to manage collectively owned Maori land.  Primarily the Maori Incorporation and Ahuwhenua Trust structures are the instruments used by Maori organisations involved in Dairy farming (many Maori Authorities own limited liability companies as subsidiaries and of course there are many individual Maori involved in dairy farming privately). 

The Act has a focus on the management, retention, and protection of Maori Land in the hands of the original Maori owners.  Some say that the Act can be restrictive to development, particularly with regard to raising debt – however, in practise Maori Authorities are working and growing very well within the Act and the financial fraternity are very accommodating.  Furthermore, because of the structuring nature of the Act – Maori Authorities are well versed in the processes and procedures of corporate dairy farming and dealing with the issues associated with large herds.

Some useful statistics on Maori land (note – there are large areas of general title land that are not considered in the tables below):

Table 1: Area of Maori Land by Maori Land Court District (ha) 1996

(Adapted: www.maoriland.govt.nz/STATS/Landarea.htm, 28 November 2000)

Table 2: Maori land held in management structures

(Adapted: Kingi, T. 1998. An Evaluation Of The Financial Performance Of Maori Authorities. Unpublished thesis, Palmerston North, Massey University.)

Tauhara Moana Trust is an Ahuwhenua Trust:

Tauhara Moana vision and values (interim)

• To nurture the whenua (land) consistent with the principles of sound stewardship
• To manage the whenua (land) consistent with world-class practices
• To develop the whenua (land) to maximise the commercial return.