Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation chairwoman Mavis Mullins spoke at last year's AGM, with chief executive Andrew Beijeman at left. Photo / Quentin Bedwell
Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation chairwoman Mavis Mullins spoke at last year's AGM, with chief executive Andrew Beijeman at left. Photo / Quentin Bedwell
In a year when Covid-19 affected sales, the Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation still managed to pay down $700,000 in debt, chief executive Andrew Beijeman says.
The incorporation has more than 9,000 Whanganui iwi shareholders and manages 34,800ha of land, mainly in the Ruapehu District.
The incorporation's dividend last year was 80cents a share, an increase on the usual 50-60 cents. But it's about more than money.
"It is about staying true to who we are as a people as we grow the business. It is about understanding and being committed to the legacy of our tipuna," chairwoman Mavis Mullins said.
Covid-19 made the 2020-21 financial year difficult in all kinds of ways.
"Everything from how people shop or don't shop, how domestic and global markets have shifted, how we move products to markets, has been severely affected."
Despite that, the incorporation had done well, she said. Its five-year strategy of diversification was providing a buffer against change.
"Our production is improving and we have a very strong focus on quality, not quantity."
Increasingly the business is about getting in front of law changes without losing revenue, and about understanding who buys its products and responding.
Covid cut into sales during the peak of the 2020-21 season, Beijeman said. Overseas restaurants weren't open and there were also transport problems.
"It took quite a bit of revenue out of our business, and it also had an impact on the people we normally sell honey to."
Total revenue for the year was $23.3 million, down from $27.2m in the previous year. Paying off $700,000 in a tough year was a good result, he said.
The incorporation has a mix of revenue streams - sheep and beef meat, forestry, wool, honey and milk. Prices for red meat were below their five-year average - but are back up now.
Honey production was up during the year, but its earnings were down because it was revalued at a lower rate.
More than 3000 beef calves were born across incorporation land in 2020-21. Photo / Gareth Gardner
Also affecting earnings from livestock is a continuing trend toward drier autumns. Beijeman's response has been to adjust stock policies, buying fewer lambs and focusing more on adding weight to them.
Grass growth was hit last financial year by an infestation of porina moth caterpillars. One or two to each spadeful of soil will eat the equivalent amount of grass to one ewe per hectare, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries.
The reasonable milk price and a dividend from the one-third owned Te Hou Farms helped compensate for lower meat and honey prices.
Te Hou did take a hit when more than 1,000 of the blueberries in its 2ha of tunnel houses had to be replaced by the nursery that provided them. Returns from berries were also likely to be impacted by reduced air travel, Beijeman said, because most were exported by plane.
The incorporation harvested some pine plantations during the year and will replant them. It also planted 181ha of mānuka.
Each year it takes on up to six new cadets in its Awhiwhenua training school.
Its charity arm, Te Āti Hau Trust, distributed $364,112 over the financial year. Most of that ($222,000) went on education.
The incorporation will have its first-ever virtual AGM on December 10, and Mullins is asking people joining online to be patient if things don't run smoothly.
This year two of the incorporation's board, Keria Ngakura Ponga and Dr Tiwha Puketapu, are retiring by rotation. Both are standing for re-election.
Sarah Bell, Kemp Dryden, Murray Haitana and Jenny Tamakehu have also been put forward - a pleasing level of nomination, Mullins said.
