The best knowledge/technology is coming together for Tahamata Incorporation and shareholders’ coastal farm, Kuku, Horowhenua. Not only is Tahamata Incorporation aligning itself with Whenua Haumanu program run by Ministry for Primary Industries and Massey University to explore diverse pastures and regenerative management practices for lower North Island coastal farming, but this dedicated iwi-led research team will communicate with shareholders/board/operations via mapping and visuals at winter wānanga.  

The project team will participate in a working week of ground-based preparations on the coastal farm, followed by two-day wānanga on former pā sites, led by iwi researchers with long track record of impactful research. On these ancestral sites by the Ōhau River and Kuku Stream, iwi researchers continue work with landscape architect/ GIS and LiDAR expert and a hydro-ecologist/artist to help raise discussions around what enhanced management practices might look like for a case study farm. 

Extending on previous research, this project aims to bring together mātauranga Māori/local intergenerational knowledge of place with environmental, economic, hydro-ecological and mapping technologies to enable discussions about whole-of-farm approaches with Tahamata shareholders/board/farm operations; develop comprehensive plans via GIS and LiDAR mapping for better monitoring of all paddocks; discuss regenerative farming practices, and inform on farming emission reductions within current climate change precarities.  

Research Lead(s) and Team  

Professor Huhana Smith 

Moira Poutama  

Hayden Fowler 

Nathan Galluzzo