In 16 years the Pukepoto Farm Trust near Taumarunui has never failed to make a profit for its more than a thousand shareholders, descendants of Ngāti Maniapoto, RNZ's Gianina Schwanecke reported in Farmers Weekly. The trust prides itself on that record because it lets it give back: dividends at first, then education grants and, most recently, kaumātua grants.

"We can't do a lot on 1,000 effective hectares, but we can certainly do a little bit," trustee Weo Maag told RNZ's Country Life. Pukepoto, meaning "little hill", was established by the Māori Land Court in 1978; Maag inherited his shares through his mother's whakapapa and says the land should provide for its people.

The profit comes from careful planning. Each season the trust draws up production plans and expectations from the last one, deciding what to produce and what it can sell. "We can't control what the prices are, we're at the mercy of the processors, but we can control what we produce," Maag said. Benchmarking gives the trust a yardstick and a way to explain results to shareholders: without something in writing, he said, "you're just flying by the seat of your pants".

The farm joined Beef + Lamb New Zealand's Hub Farm Programme in October 2025. The programme follows a farm business over several years so that other farmers can see what change looks like in a real system, and Maag expects it to give the trust accurate grass-growth measurements to set beside its historical soil-moisture and stock records. He also sees it as a store of tested information for future trustees who may come with governance and finance skills rather than farming ones.

About 80 farmers, trustees and rural professionals attended the field day at which early results were shared. Trust chairperson Aloma Shearer said the wider benefit is sharing knowledge with other farmers, and the day showed how the trust is lifting performance through genetics, better land-use decisions and technology such as Gallagher's new eShepherd virtual-fencing collars. "We're always looking for an edge just to get ahead, to make more money, grow more grass," she said.

Reported by Gianina Schwanecke of RNZ, published by Farmers Weekly.

Source: Farmers Weekly NZ