There are no outward indications Mangatea is different from the thousands of dairy farms in Waikato.
Like other farms in the heart of dairy country, there are the cows heading to the milking shed—some mosey, some in a rush, while others are more focused on grazing pasture by the fence post. Tractor trailers rattle up the gravel drive to deliver the cows who have wintered off pasture up the road, while a hundred or so two-week-old replacement calves are hand-reared in the nearby sheds. This hive of activity, all done to maximise inputs and outputs, is mirrored across the sector. What sets this farm apart is how they measure success, the quadruple bottom-line.
Mahitahi
Mangatea, with its 170 effective hectares, is iwi-run and part of Tainui Holding Group’s 2,760 hectares of managed farmland which includes dairy, drystock, sheep and beef farms, and forestry operations.
“Success at Mangatea, and our other properties, is not just measured by economic outcomes. It is about meeting our economic, cultural, social, and environmental aspirations. This is our quadruple bottom-line,” explains Mike Pritchard, Dairy Operations Manager for Tainui Group Holdings.
Māori agriculture goes beyond production, profitability, and short-term returns. It is about tāngata (people), whenua (land), whakapapa (lineage), and kaitiakitanga (stewardship) for this and all future generations.
“Mahitahi is teamwork, collaborating, working together to achieve our goal, which drives everything we do,” says Mike.
At Mangatea, and Tainui’s other farms, looking after their environmental aspirations includes a Taiao (environment) manager to oversee native plantings along waterways or adopting technology and innovations to improve environmental and animal welfare outcomes like GPS-enabled collars, herd homes, or introducing a beef integration strategy.
Social responsibility is reflected by procuring goods and services from tribal members and training the next generation of farmers through Tainui’s Tua Whenua Rural Cadetship.
“For two years, we train our cadets through all aspects of our agribusiness portfolio, so at the end they are ready for full-time employment. The challenge is convincing some of them to choose dairy farms over drystock,” Mike laughs.
The cultural bottom line touches everything. He Manawa aa Whenua (lifeforce of the land) framework combines economic performance with iwi tikanga (values) such as kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga (care and generosity), and whanaungatanga (family/community).
Around 100 calves are hand-reared at Mangatea Dairy Farm.
“It is intergenerational thinking. The question is not, ‘will it deliver a return this year?’ but rather, ‘what will it mean for our mokopuna (descendants) in fifty or a hundred years,” says Carlos Cressy.
“This thinking influences everything from land-use to environmental management, workforce development, and investment strategies.”
Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tāngata
After 15 years as PGG Wrightson Te Kuiti Store Manager, Carlos Cressy joined the Māori Agribusiness Team as Kaiwhakahaere Hononga (Iwi Relationship Manager) in May 2025.
“Our team knows that when the land is well, the people are well. So, it is our role to listen, to understand the collective aspirations, and offer solutions honouring our shared cultural values and help deliver commercial success,” says Carlos.
This is a role, Mike knows well. Before joining Tainui Group Holdings, he held Carlos’ role for over four years.
“Max Cumpstone, out of Morrinsville, is our TFR on the dairy front, Bex Whitehead, from Te Awamutu, is our TFR for all our dairy and grass silage support blocks. Carlos is the glue holding it all together,” says Mike.
The Māori Agribusiness team works across all PGG Wrightson’s business units from dairy farms to kiwifruit to livestock genetics to wool sales, to meet the needs of iwi. Together they are redefining what success looks like.
“It is a privilege to work alongside Mike and his team. Here economic performance, environmental responsibility, cultural integrity, and community wellbeing are not competing priorities, but interconnected outcomes,” Carlos explains.
Iwi Relationship Manager Carlos Cressy works with Mike and Tainui to help Mangatea meet its' interconnected outcomes.
Te Ao Māori
Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) is a holistic approach in which everything is connected, particularly people and nature. Nothing is in isolation. While this informs their approach to farming, it does not change the fundamental challenges every farmer in New Zealand faces.
For Mike, meeting these challenges is getting the essentials right from the beginning.
“Mangatea has gley soil. In summer, it is concrete, in winter, the water does not go anywhere and affects our dry matter consumption. Much of which must come through the gate. Up the road, at another of our dairy farms, the soil is completely different,” he says.
“Getting the right infrastructure, getting the right tools and people in place—the attention to detail—is half the battle.”
Whanaungatanga
Being part of the iwi, a tribe of collective ideals, identity, and aspirations, is grounded in kaitiakitanga, kotahitanga (collective success), and a responsibility to past and future generations.
This approach shares the challenges across their community.
“We are working together towards the same goal. We can rely on each other in good times and bad.”
"Of course, a lot of the time, we end up talking about the footie or golf," laughs Mike.
