About Matarau
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Mahia te kaheru matarau
"Utilise the spade of a hundred blades"
We're helping whānau to navigate the many facets of land use decision-making. We've created pathways to help whānau explore land use opportunities that align with their aspirations and priorities.
By connecting them with data and information about whenua in one place, we support whānau making decisions that nurture the future.
We want to support you to have conversations about land use options with more confidence. To make robust decisions, many elements need to be considered together and discussed.
We're aiming to present research from Whitiwhiti Ora, combined with other datasets. Matarau provides one place for whānau and decision makers to get a view of their whenua and some opportunities and considerations. Matarau surfaces up information relevant to your whenua and your circumstances.
Whānau may already have observations and insights about their whenua. We want to support people to understand the potential of their whenua and realise the aspirations of their uri through data and information. We hope Matarau will support whānau with understanding more about the opportunities and challenges associated with their whenua and help whānau make informed choices.
The more we learn about whenua and crops, the more we would like to deliver current content to share with whānau. This comes with large costs, so supporters of Matarau will be working hard to provide more information and data about other uses for whenua.
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About the tool
Decisions about the future use of whenua are complex and there are a lot of factors to consider. This tool brings together data and information curated for the needs of Māori landowners in one place. The sections below explore a range of those factors and why they are important in the journey of land-use decision making.
The information provided in Matarau is to help Māori landowners get ahead faster and be better informed before moving into land-use feasibility assessments. It does not constitute a detailed business case. Undertaking targeted feasibility assessments with a suitably qualified professional is important prior to investment.
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Understanding the natural characteristics of your whenua
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Any decisions relating to the use of your whenua require you to have a relationship with and understanding of your whenua. This can be a complex process, but building a solid foundation will support you and your whānau in the long-term to make well informed decisions. Different ways that you can work on your relationship with, and understanding of your whenua include:
Cultural and historical knowledge
- The history associated with your whenua over time.
- Whakapapa related to your whenua.
- Wāhi tapu and cultural sites of significance.
- Purakau and intergenerational kōrero related to your whenua.
Building cultural and historical knowledge usually requires whānau based rangahau.
Biophysical attributes
- Your local climate, temperature, rainfall patterns, and growing season length
- The properties of your soils, things like whether they are prone to be waterlogged or free draining, stony and difficult to dig or crumbly textured, or lacking in nutrients
- The slope of your whenua (for example, rolling or steep) and the direction that the slopes are facing.
- Water access on your whenua.
Where possible, we have tried to connect you with publicly available data that may help you better understand biophysical attributes of your whenua. You will find this information in the ‘Taiao’ section of this tool, and by selecting your whenua in the ‘whenua location’ screen you will pull up information that is relevant to your location.
You will see that we have included information about the potential impacts of climate change to help you think about how your environmental conditions might be different in the future. However, the climate change information is predictive only and is based on modelled outputs, so it’s indicative only and needs to be applied with caution.
The information provided is drawn from national and regional datasets and is intended to provide a high-level guide only. We suggest you consult a suitably qualified advisor for specific paddock-scale information. For example, soil chemistry analysis will confirm the ratio of different nutrients in your soil which can be important to know for growing crops with specific nutrient needs.
Building a picture using the above information will support you to assess the suitability of different land use options and will help you to be more active in conversations with consultants who you may eventually engage with in your evaluation processes.
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Understanding whether alternative land use opportunities might fit with your aspirations and priorities
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Māori landowners have a range of aspirations that impact on land-use decision making. We have identified four broad groups of common aspirations for Māori landowners including:
- capability (skills, knowledge, and relationships)
- whānau (jobs, wellbeing, identity, and culture)
- environment (mauri, wairua, and ecosystems), and
- financial (profit, resilience, and productivity)
By identifying the relative importance of these aspirations in Matarau, the potential land use options will be presented in a way that prioritises the outcomes that you said were most important to you.
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Understanding whether land use opportunities that fit with your aspirations are sustainable and practical given the natural characteristics of your whenua
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The natural characteristics of your whenua will play a key role in determining which land use opportunities are likely to be feasible options for your whenua. For example, crops like hemp and onions do not perform well in waterlogged soils, and truffles require specific soil conditions to grow successfully.
By selecting your whenua in the ‘whenua location’ screen, you will have prioritised the land use opportunities that are likely to perform well given the natural characteristics of your whenua/region.
Our land use factsheets give you high-level information about the biophysical requirements (including climate, soils, and water) for individual land use opportunities. Where we have data available, we have also included information like the expected investment required along with potential economic returns. Market conditions are dynamic, and it will be critical to invest in gaining up to date information about things like the supply chain, market trends, and risks.
This information does not constitute a detailed business case and we recommend that you consult a suitably qualified professional prior to investment.
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How to use this data safely
The information provided in Matarau is to help Māori landowners get ahead faster and be better informed before moving into land-use feasibility assessments. It does not constitute a detailed business case. Undertaking targeted feasibility assessments with a suitably qualified professional is important prior to investment.
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Locate and explore different uses for your whenua
Explore your optionsTell us a bit about your whenua and priorities you and your whānau hold. Our tool will present some different uses for your whenua that may help you achieve these.
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Matarau Governance Group
Matarau is overseen and directed by a group of Māori researchers and practitioners experienced in whenua Māori. Members of the Governance Group currently include:
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Ariana Estoras
Ngāti Maniapoto
Ariana is currently the Kaiārahi Matua, Director Māori Strategy, Research, and Partnerships at AgResearch (a Crown Research Institute). She has over 15 years of experience in agribusiness policy, economics, and research and is passionate about enabling Māori economic development through growth in the agrifood sector.
Along with her team, she is committed to building long-term partnerships with a range of Māori organisations, embedding Te Ao Māori competency across science, and delivering a Māori-centred research portfolio that integrates Mātauranga Māori and science.
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Francene Wineti
Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa
Francene is a senior executive and leader who is driven and passionate about research, science and innovation and its commercial potential to drive economic development. Francene has a wealth of experience in iwi/Māori development and strong relationships in the government, science and innovation sectors with established iwi/Māori networks, across all faces of Māori business.
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Dr Tanira Kingi
Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Rangitihi, Te Arawa
Dr Kingi is an agricultural economist with over 30 years’ experience in New Zealand’s primary industries as a research scientist. He holds several government and Ministerial advisory group appointments on Māori land tenure and environmental policy reforms. Tanira is involved in a range of research programmes centred around land use change for whenua Māori.
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Reina Tamepo
Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa
Reina is a Sustainable Value Chains System Researcher in the Te Ao Māori Research Group at Scion Research. Research capability includes value chain modelling, spatial modelling, nutrient modelling and farm systems. She is passionate about empowering Māori in land use decision making and development in ways that achieve intergenerational aspirations.
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Dr Nikki Harcourt
Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto
Dr Harcourt is the Kaihautū Māori Research Impact Leader for Manaaki Whenua (a Crown Research Institute). In her role she works with Māori partners to ensure that land use decisions can be made based on best advice that is relevant to Te Ao Māori perspectives. She is passionate about utilising her skills and knowledge to develop novel solutions in ways that benefit Māori.
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Naomi Aporo
Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tahu
Naomi was the previous Kaihāpai Māori for the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge that funded the build of Matarau and funded key research Projects from which Matarau draws data and information. Her term of the Matarau Governance Group is transitional while Matarau is rolled out and established.
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About Whitiwhiti Ora datasets
Many of the datasets provided in the “Land Use Fact Sheets” and the “Whenua Considerations” came from a multiyear research programme called Whitiwhiti Ora (funded by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge). These datasets are publicly available. However, Matarau helps to provide an easily accessible interface that makes those datasets accessible without additional software, while also helping to support deeper understanding of what that data means for your whenua. The Whitiwhiti Ora datasets provide a broad understanding of the benefits and consequences of a range of land use opportunities. They include information and data on a variety of vegetable, fruit, arable, animal, plant and tree crops, with links to climate change, socio-cultural, environmental and economic data.
The datasets were created between 2020 and 2023. They have been used in Matarau to help whānau explore whenua uses, looking at suitability of their land, impacts on soil and waterways, and factors to consider.
You can view the Whitiwhiti Ora “data supermarket” here.
The National Science Challenge
The National Science Challenges were established in 2014 and aim to tackle the biggest science-based issues and opportunities facing New Zealand. These were identified with input from the general public and scientific communities.
The country’s top scientists are working collaboratively across disciplines, institutions and borders to achieve the Challenges' objectives.
Our Land and Water are supporting both Whitiwhiti Ora and Matarau and they're one of the 11 National Science Challenges. Our Land and Water aims to protect and preserve the land, water and associated ecosystems for future generations, while continuing to produce value. The research programme under Our Land and Water recognises change is needed and looks at:
- Future landscapes
- Incentives for change
- Pathways to transition.
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