Mark & Debbie van Beek

Shareholders

As a sharemilker on a Mäori Trust property, nourishment means so many things. You own the herd, but you are the guardian of culturally-held whenua retained for generations to come. So there is a special responsibility to think about how you can nourish the land and keep it in good condition.

For the past 12 years, Mark and Debbie van Beek have managed Mawhera Tuatahi farm in the Arahura Valley, which is owned by the shareholders of Mawhera Incorporation.

Similar to Westland the Incorporation is a co-operative with about 1600 shareholders, descendants of the Mäori tribe, Kai Tahu. It is Mawhera’s obligation to manage the land in a cultural and environmental way that will generate economic and social benefits for its shareholders and future generations.

As sharemilkers, it is the Van Beek’s role to manage the farm in a sustainable way and protect the mauri of the Arahura river and whenua. Community is a big part of this. In everything they do, they must consider how it might benefit or impact on the extended Mawhera whänau. To farm on the West Coast, farmers have to think about practical ways to manage the environmental challenges of high rainfall and rugged terrain.

The Van Beeks are conscious of the special affiliation that Mawhera Incorporation and the wider Arahura Valley community have with the Arahura River. To minimise any effluent runoff into the river they have, with shareholders, installed river buffer zones and planted the margins of the waterways. They also take a ‘little and often’ approach to effluent spreading, so it is easily taken up by plants, rather than seeping through to the river.

Managing effluent in wet conditions is one of the key challenges for most West Coast farmers. The Van Beeks effluent sump has a containment facility for unexpected overflow, and they have installed a diversion at the cowshed to prevent the pond being filled with rainwater. This innovative and pragmatic thinking placed the Mawhera Incorporation in the finals of the recent BNZ Mäori Excellence in Farming Awards. “We love farming on the West Coast, I was raised on a dairy farm just up the road, so it seems natural to be back,” said Mark. “The Coast throws up its challenges, but that just means farmers remain agile and able to think outside of the box for solutions.”