TE ŌHANGA MAURI - PRIORITY #6 - FEED OUR PEOPLE FIRST
The Irony of Hunger in a Land of Plenty
It is a profound irony that Taitokerau—a region with a subtropical climate known as "The Winterless North"—faces acute food insecurity. We produce massive amounts of agriculture, yet many of our whānau struggle to put healthy food on the table. This exists because of the "Export Trap": our best land is used to produce milk powder and meat for offshore markets like China, while our local people rely on expensive, low-nutrient food imported through a supermarket duopoly.
We call this a "Metabolic Rift". We are extracting the nutrients from our Northland soil and shipping them overseas, while paying a premium to bring in processed food from thousands of miles away. It is thermodynamic insanity to ship a banana from Ecuador to Kaikohe when we could be growing our own kai right here.
10 Steps to Nourish Our Whānau
We can fix the soil of our food system and ensure the North feeds itself first with these actionable steps:
Launch Agrivoltaics: Implement projects like the Papareireia Solar Farm that combine solar power generation with sheep grazing, harvesting both energy and protein from the same land.
Expand Land-Based Aquaculture: Support facilities like the NIWA Ruakākā Kingfish project to produce high-value protein in closed-loop systems that don't deplete the ocean.
Create Māra Kai Networks: Support grassroots gardening initiatives to re-localise food supply chains and share traditional growing knowledge.
Connect the "Photon-Mauri Interface": Use high-tech glasshouses powered by geothermal heat and recycled CO2 to grow fresh produce year-round.
Prioritise Local Distribution: Establish "Economic Pā" food hubs that ensure our best produce reaches local tables before it is ever considered for export.
Direct Iwi Investment: Use sovereign funds like Tupu Tonu to invest in local orchards and food processing rather than global stock markets.
Reduce Food Miles: Incentivise local businesses to buy from Northland growers, cutting down the energy wasted on transporting food across the world.
Support Regenerative Farming: Shift toward farming methods that keep nutrients in our soil and sediment out of our harbours.
Link Schools to Farms: Create/expand programmes where our rangatahi learn to grow and prepare healthy kai as part of their daily education.
Apply the Mauri Model: Use the Mauri-o-meter to ensure our food systems are improving the health (Mauri Ora) of our people and our environment.
Making It Happen
Key Stakeholders: Local farmers and growers, Iwi and Hapū land trusts, NIWA (for aquaculture technology), and regional councils.
Theoretical Minimum Time Frame: 3 to 5 years to establish regional food hubs and scale up local production systems.
Who benefits from things staying as they are?: Large supermarket chains and offshore markets that profit from high food prices and the extraction of our regional resources.
Who benefits from this solution?: Local whānau who get access to affordable, fresh kai; our tamariki who grow up healthy; and our local growers who gain a stable, local market.
