As the chairperson of Te Waka Kai Ora, the National Maori Organics Authority, Percy Tipene is a passionate advocate of environmental and cultural sustainability. His organisation not only promotes the production of pure, safe and healthy organic products, but is also developing Hua Maori – an internationally recognised organic certification and labelling system.
The animals on Percy Tipene’s farm don’t eat any old grass – they feast on gourmet salad. Twenty four different species of plants including blackberry, wiwi and fern root grow on the pasture of his Motatau property which is untouched by agri-chemicals and managed by companionship gardening methods. “My cows have a healthy diet because of the variety of trace minerals contained in their kai. I don’t need to do any drenching because their immune systems are strong enough to repair any deficiencies within their bodies.”
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“Percy has a steady market for his organic beef and he says a major attraction for his regular clients is that they can trace the whakapapa or geneology of what they are eating, and how the animals are managed. But as Percy explains, it wasn’t money that initially motivated him to get into the organics industry, but rather passing on his knowledge. ”When I first went into it I wanted to educate young people about how to grow good quality kai for themselves. Now I believe there is a golden opportunity for Maori to take a major lead in the production of organic kai which is based on our distinct cultural point of difference.”
“Percy is positive about the future for Hua Maori and says tribes with lots of unproductive lands, which are chemical free, are the sleeping giants of the organics industry. Te Waka Kai Ora sees the priority for organic producers to be the sustainability of people and the land. If we can bring that into our marketing strategies, Maori could benefit a lot, says Percy. “A priority for us is the sovereignty of our kai. People say when you talk about the sovereignty of the cow, we never brought them here. But it’s not the sovereignty of the animal alone, it’s the sovereignty of how we manage the whenua and provide goodness for both. That kind of philosophy has true Maori added value.”
