Masterton’s Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre sale not finalised

The Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre was established in 1919 as a training farm for men returning from World War II.

By Monique Steele of RNZ

The future of the Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre in Wairarapa is still up in the air, seven years after it was put into liquidation.

The Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre was established in 1919 as a training farm for men returning from WWI.

The centre near Masterton was known as the Wairarapa Cadet Training Farm until its name change in the early 1980s.

Declining student numbers in recent decades saw the private training establishment and agricultural education provider put into liquidation in 2018.

While its commercial dairy farms continued to operate, various groups have tried to find a suitable buyer since.

Liquidators said in a report last September, there was $15.2 million owing to 248 unsecured creditor claims.

There was still a “significant amount outstanding” to the secured creditor and pre-liquidation payroll taxes to Inland Revenue, too, they said.

Liquidators said at the time, they were in contact with a potential buyer, and a sales and purchase agreement had been drafted.

“A sale and purchase agreement has been presented to this party, and while discussions with this party have been positive, we have not received a signed agreement,” it read.

Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds said a deal had not yet been completed.

“The liquidators continue to work with a potential buyer on purchasing the land, but a deal is still to be finalised,” she said.

A sale would be subject to the Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre Act, which would have to be approved by the Minister of Agriculture.

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said he was aware of options for the resolution of the centre’s liquidation, but details were commercially sensitive.

Meanwhile, the government was looking to replace workforce development councils with industry skill boards to develop qualifications and standards for their industries.

Simmonds said while this would not directly impact Taratahi, a food and fibre industry skills board will likely be established.

“It is likely there will be an Industry Skills Board covering the food and fibre (primary) industries, but the Government has not yet made a decision on how many Industry Skills Boards will be established and what industries each will cover.”

Simmonds said tertiary education providers would use the qualifications and standards developed by industry skills boards to deliver programmes to learners in a range of contexts, including at specific facilities like Taratahi.

The liquidator has been approached for comment.

- RNZ