Farming for a better future

Nestled alongside the Mangaroa River in the Hutt Valley, Mangaroa Farms is on an inspiring journey of stewardship for the next generation.

It is safe to say that there is very little that’s ordinary about Mangaroa Farms – and that goes right down to the smallest organisms in the soil.

The farm is located beside the mighty Mangaroa River in the Hutt Valley water catchment.

It is a resilient community food hub and education centre with 2000 acres of living laboratory for transitioning dairy and pine into regenerative agriculture and native forests.
The business came about when brothers Matthew and Brian Monahan, along with wife Catlin Powers, were all motivated to join the global effort for ecological restoration and connection through food.

The farm has been operating since it changed hands in 2013, with a transition from dairy to beef and sheep. A market garden and weekly vege bag service began in 2022.

Today the business has up to 12 full-time staff and contractors, and it serves the local community in Mangaroa, Whitemans Valley, as well as Upper Hutt.

But getting back to the true point of difference for Mangaroa Farms, the answer truly lies in the soil.
“Our point of difference, thanks to our farm conductor Jules Matthews from IntegritySoils, is our focus on soil health,” explains Graedon Parker, the farm’s creative lead.

“Soil quality and soil regeneration is at the base of everything we do on the farm. We’re creating a holistic system prioritising the health of the smallest organisms in the soil which really matter the most.
“Through learning experiences at Mangaroa Farms, we also try our best to support other food resilience initiatives and small community gardens,” he says, “like Kai Cycle, Common Unity, and the Learning Environment in Whanganui.

Not-for-profit

Graedon says Managaroa Farms was established with generous support from Matthew, Brian, Catlin, and their family. “The project is structured as a not-for-profit within Biome Trust, a parent charitable trust,” he explains.

Currently the farm’s business model is selling produce from the market garden, meat from livestock on the farm, and eggs from farm chickens.

Recently, the farm began selling its market garden greens to a number of small cafes in Upper Hutt, including Dough Bakery and Get Fixed Bicycle Cafe, and it is now stocking all four Cameron Harris Butcher shops with its coriander, to be featured in their award-winning coriander sausages.

“There is much more scope for future revenue too as our systems and processes develop and when our farm shop, Kete Kai, opens in early 2023,” explains Graedon.

The pandemic’s lessons

Graedon says the business coped fine during the pandemic. They deepened their health and safety practices on the farm and moved to contactless pickup methods as needed.

“We realise a lot of families out there are struggling. We are motivated to keep improving so that we can offer more people fresh, healthy, local food at an accessible price.”
The pandemic did deliver some lessons for the business however. “The more we can strengthen local economies, which includes producing our own food, the better we will be able to respond as a nation to crises and shortages,” says Graedon. “We love seeing more gardens and more growers.”

Loco for local

Graedon says it has been a joy to add value to the community by providing access to quality food right at their neighbours’ doorsteps. “Most of our customers are local, so it is a great way to get to know the surrounding community,” he says.

Mangaroa Farms may have started as a prototypical New Zealand dairy farm and pine plantation, but it is now well down the road of a long-term journey of stewardship for the next generation.

“In the short term, we are still working on a lot of our basic infrastructure and team building to create a high-performance farm,” says Graedon. “And always seeking to learn how to be in a better relationship with the land.

“In the long term, we hope this place can become a reliable food hub and education centre for the local community.”

He says the Wellington City Council has also supported them with the planting of 7000 native trees along a small river catchment that feeds into the greater Mangaroa River.

“This has been a great part of our total effort in planting more than 40,000 native trees, mostly riparian style along the Mangaroa River, in the past year.”
 

Farm fare
Mangaroa Farms weekly $35 vege bag from its small market garden led by Grow-Lord Sam Gibbins is full of fresh produce for pickup on Thursdays between 4pm and 5:30pm.

The Farm Shop Kete Kai (Food Basket) at 108 Whitemans Valley Road, opens for business in early 2023. “This will be a shop open to the public, stocking our vegetables, meat, poultry and other goods for our local community,” says Graedon..
“Currently we have an honesty box with fresh veges updated daily at 9am at 108 Whitemans Valley Road which anyone can visit at any time, and our weekly vege bag is available on our website https://mangaroa.org