Peter Little Member of the NZ Order of Merit

For services to Māori land development and administration

Mr Peter Little has had a career in the development and administration of Māori land since the 1960s, beginning his career with the former Department of Māori Affairs and Island Affairs in Taumarunui.

Horticulture signs up to prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy

Horticulture today signed up to be part of the prestigious Ahuwhenua Trophy Te Puni Kōkiri Excellence in Māori Farming Award, which recognise excellence in Māori farming.

Today, Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman and Kingi Smiler, Chairman of the Ahuwhenua Management Committee, signed an agreement that will see a horticulture Ahuwhenua Trophy in 2020. Each year the awards recognise a farming sector and horticulture will be on a third-year rotation, after dairy (2018) and sheep and beef (2019).

“There are significant Māori holdings in horticulture, so it is great for our industry to be able to join the legacy that the Ahuwhenua Trophy holds,” says Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman.

Ahuwhenua Trophy Competition Launched

There is a call for Māori sheep and beef farmers to enter the Ahuwhenua Trophy, Te Puni Kōkiri Excellence in Māori Farming Award 2019 for Sheep and Beef.

Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee Chairman, Kingi Smiler says Māori sheep and beef farmers throughout the country are doing great things on their land and the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition offers them a great opportunity to showcase their efforts to their peers and all others in the primary sector.

Kingi Smiler says many Māori farmers are leading way in terms of developing and implementing long term sustainable practices on their land as kaitiaki, as well as embracing new technologies. He says it is important that the wider community understand this and there is no better way of doing this than by entering the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition.