RERE KI UTA, RERE KI TAI
Honouring the mana and mauri of soil
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Who are we
Rere Ki Uta, Rere Ki Tai is a collaborative research project that aims to build more resilient, profitable and healthy farms for our whenua and te taiao (land and environment), whānau (families) and farming communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Together, our collective of Māori, conventional and organic kaimahi pāmu (farmers) and researchers is sharing our knowledge, experience, and science to test ideas at the forefront of soil management. We want to know whether farming in ways that honour the mana and mauri of soil might be better for everyone, and if so, how to do it.
Our goal is to reignite hope and pride in farming in Aotearoa, honouring the Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership between Māori and Pākeha to help restore and strengthen connections between the people who eat food and those who grow it, and between farmers and the whenua (soil) they love.
This research project is funded for two years by Our Land and Water National Science Challenge as part of the Revitalise Te Taiao research programme and is hosted by AgriSea.
Kotahi te kowhao o te ngira e kuhuna ai, te miro maa, te miro whero me te miro pango.
There is but one eye of a needle, through which white, black and red cotton are threaded.
The multiple threads reflect the weaving together of multiple knowledge, our collaborative approach and strength when woven together for a shared outcome.
(Proverb by Kingi Potatau Te Wherowhero)
Our mission is to identify farming systems that enhance the mana and mauri of the soil.
We draw on the knowledge of tāngata whenua, intergenerational farmers and scientists.
Ten pāmu (farms) from Waikato and Bay of Plenty are involved in this kaupapa.
Our mission
Our Tāhuhu
Our mission is to identify farming systems that enhance the mana and mauri of the soil. Our tāhuhu (mission) is to empower land managers, kaitiaki, and kaimahi pāmu (farmers) to support and implement farming systems that continue to grow the mana and mauri of soil.
Rere ki uta rere ki tai. from sea, to soil to society
Through shared knowledge and connection with the land (whenua), we are restoring the mana and mauri of soil (oneone).
Miru Young
Maavic Farm, Bay of Plenty
“Kikuyu’s a big problem in our district and every year we battle it with an extensive cropping regime. This year I’m trying something different. When we soil-tested my worst-performing paddock last spring, it was full of kikuyu. There was no life, no worms, and the topsoil was shallow. I sprayed out, applied seaweed and other bio-stimulants, then direct drilled a diverse summer crop. Looking at it four months later, the soil is richer and darker, and it’s full of worms. It smells better too. I’m extremely grateful to be part of this project. It’s given me a chance to farm outside the square; away from the conventional monocultural practices that are degrading the soil.”
Matt Rout
Rout Dairies, Waikato
“We’re reducing nitrogen, using soil biologicals and trialling diverse summer crops. We had a compacted paddock, it was open and moss was growing on the
ground. We sprayed on fish and seaweed and now there’s all this clover. I can’t remember seeing clover here before, and we probably haven’t sown clover here
for 30 years. The cows raced over, were straight in and it was evenly grazed. Such a difference. I reckon the soil’s livened up and now the clover’s been able to take
over.”
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Get updates on our research progress, findings, and tools that you can apply on your land.