The search is on to find the top Māori sheep and beef farm with entries now open for the 2025 Ahuwhenua Trophy competition.
The competition is open to individual Māori farmers along with trusts and other entities around Aotearoa. Details on how to enter, including the judging criteria are on the Ahuwhenua Trophy website linked here. The competition alternates between dairy, sheep and beef and horticulture, with the 2025 competition being for sheep and beef.
The competition is the most prestigious agricultural competition in Aotearoa. It was inaugurated in 1933 by the then Governor General Lord Bledisloe and one of te ao Māori’s greatest leaders Sir Apirana Ngata. The objective then, and still is to foster the growth and development of Māori in livestock farming and horticulture.
The announcement heralding the start of the competition was made at the annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management (NZIPIM) in Hamilton. Speaking to the large gathering of rural professionals, Nukuhia Hadfield, Chair of the Ahuwhenua Trophy Management Committee says it very appropriate that the 2025 competition was launched at the NZIPIM conference. She says rural professionals have and continue to play a significant role in the development of Māori farming in Aotearoa, adding it’s great to see NZIPIM taking the initiative to boost the capability of qualified Māori agri professionals.
She urged rural professionals to promote the competition and to encourage Māori sheep and beef farmers to enter saying they also stand to gain in having an innovative and successful Māori agribusiness sector.
Nukuhia Hadfield and her husband Bart are previous winners of the Ahuwhenua competition for sheep and beef and she says as farmers being just entrants, let alone winners was hugely beneficial to them. “As part of the judging process, each farm is carefully evaluated by an experienced team of rural professionals and as part of the process they offer insightful comments that will benefit the owners. We certainly found this to be the case and others who have entered the competition have said the same thing,” she says.
Nukuhia Hadfield says the competition is an opportunity for Māori to showcase the excellence of their sheep and beef farming operations. She says that Māori farming makes a significant contribution to the country’s economy, with Māori contributing to more than 15% of the total earnings of the sheep and beef sector.
Jo Finer, the CEO of NZIPIM, says her organisation was delighted to host the launch of the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition for 2025. She says the goals of the competition align well with the aspirations of the NZIPIM, where in the Māori Agribusiness conference session they seek to share the insights and initiatives from the industry experts they collaborate with. She says NZIPIM members wish to work and grow with people who will engage effectively with Māori landowners and whenua Māori entities involved the primary sector in Aotearoa.
Initial judging of entrants will take place early in the new year, with the eventual finalists announced at Parliament in late February. The finalists then stage field days at their respective farms during late March and early April. The winner of the competition will be announced at an awards dinner on Friday 6 June 2025 in Palmerston North.