A glimpse into the colonial legacy and Māori culture and agriculture
One of the perks of being Executive Director of Nuffield Ireland is that each year in early March, I get to accompany our new cohort of Scholars to the week-long Contemporary Scholars’ Conference (CSC), the first opportunity Scholars of the year from all over the world have to come together and start their network. It is also the annual opportunity for my international fellow-Directors and I to meet in person, and exchange information and experiences to help each other better run the programme within our own country.
One of the greatest values of the event, which is each year hosted by a different Nuffield country, is the unique exposure it gives us all to the cultures and agricultures of the host country.
The last three CSC (2023, 2024 and 2025) were held in countries of the “New World”, where European settlers have had hundreds of years of fraught colonial relationships with First Nations – Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand. CSC 2025 was hosted by Nuffield New Zealand, and as an outsider, admittedly on the basis of very short visits, it struck me that the culture of New Zealand’s Fist Nation, the Māori people, appeared far more ingrained in daily lives and given greater recognition and respect than those encountered in the previous two years in Canada and Brazil.
Official language
Not without controversy in the previous decades, Māori became an official language of New Zealand as a result of the Māori Language Act of 1987. A bit like what you would see in our Irish Gaeltachta, a lot of signage around New Zealand, and the names of official institutions, are bilingual. And, it would seem, just like here, the language benefits from official supports to arrest its decline, but is not fluently spoken by the majority of Māori people either. That said, when you meet a person of Māori heritage in Aotearoa (New Zealand), they will introduce themselves officially with their mihi (greeting), by giving their name, their ancestry, and by identifying their mountain, and their river. It is their connection to place, to community, to heritage and tradition – it is what defines them.
It is quite interesting that now, most New Zealanders, even of European settler heritage, also introduce themselves in this manner in official settings – say when speaking in public.
When you visit the All-Blacks Experience in Auckland, you realise just how influential Māori traditions and values are in the playing, training, team ethos and day to day philosophy of the best rugby team in the world.
The Treaty of Waitangi: a foundation document of the state of New Zealand
Beyond what the outside visitor sees, hears and experiences in a short visit, we had the chance to gain a better understanding of how the colonial legacy is impacting Māori’s ability to exercise their land rights and participate in primary production and other land uses.
A presentation by Jessica Smith, Deputy CEO of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for New Zealand on the history of Māori land rights, and their involvement in the New Zealand economy and agriculture, made a particularly strong impression.
The first Māori settlers arrived from Polynesia to New Zealand approximately 800 years ago, the first people to inhabit and farm Aotearoa. The first European to arrive was Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642, hence early Dutch mapmakers named the country Nieuw Zeeland in reference to their own Zeeland province in Holland. It took another 127 years for the next European to arrive – Englishman Captain James Cook arrived in 1769. A motley and disorderly crew of European whalers, seal hunters and traders followed, and the British government (the Crown) decided to put some order and secure the land for the Crown by promoting the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The Treaty was taken all around the country for signature by over 500 Māori chiefs.
While this should have secured sizeable swathes of land for the Māori people on the basis of “full, exclusive and undisturbed possession”, the British Crown showed itself untrustworthy and its colonial policies soon started eroding the Treaty in the decades that followed. Large areas of land were confiscated or unfairly purchased through legal mechanisms such as the Native Land Court established in 1865, leading to fragmentation and massive loss of lands from Māori ownership.
Less than 5% of NZ land in Māori hands
By the early 20th century, Māori land ownership had declined dramatically, reducing their ability to farm economically at scale. Today, Māori land represents only 4.8% of the total land of New Zealand, is essentially concentrated in the North Island, and consists overwhelmingly of poorer quality land. According to this 2014 report from the Ministry of Primary Industries on the impact of land tenure, around 80 percent of Māori land held in freehold is classified as non-arable and 30 percent is landlocked and remote which reduces the options available for its use.
Most Māori owned land and farms located on the North Island, specifically the regions of Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Northland.
Since the 1990s, the New Zealand government has negotiated Treaty settlements to address past injustices. Some settlements have included the return of land or financial compensation, enabling iwi (people, nation, tribes) of landowners to reinvest in farming, agribusiness, and environmental restoration.
The Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (also called the Māori Land Act 1993) was enacted to ensure the retention of Māori owned land within the Māori community. It does so by imposing legal restrictions and protections that do not apply to general land. Lands held in freehold title are in many cases owned by multiple descendants of the original owners. Often, those descendants are not living, nor earning their livelihoods from the land in question, and securing agreement from all owners is tricky.
While those transactions are overseen by the Māori Land Court, the legal protections involved for all the right reasons often slow down processes for development and can impact negatively Māori’s ability to optimise the economic benefit of land use.
The rising weight of the Māori economy
Despite the relatively small land holding, and the challenges to land use decisions and investment from the complex ownership structures, the Māori contribution to the New Zealand economy is not insignificant, and it is are rising rapidly.
When it comes to primary production, Māori control 50% of fishing quota, and own 10% of NZ dairy farms. Māori farms account for 4.3% of total sheep, 5% of total beef. (source, Stats NZ). Māori growers produce 10% of the country’s output of Kiwi fruit.
While the average Māori farm size is almost 3 times the average, and carry more stock than average, too, many are collectively owned, as explained above, and many feature less productive land. Still, their involvement in primary production is growing.
But the Māori economy is not all about agriculture. In fact, only around 34% of the total Māori asset base comes from their share of land, agricultural, fishing and forestry activity. 66% comes from diversified occupations in real estate services, manufacturing, transportation, construction and others.
The Māori economy is worth an estimated NZ$70b, an increase of 60% in the last five years, projected to reach NZ$100bn by 2030. The World Bank puts New Zealand’s 2023 GDP at NZ$ 435b – hence the Māori who make up 17% of NZ population, generate a proportionate level of economic activity – this for a First Nation which, for hundreds of years, has been hampered in their economic and social development.
Showing the way in sustainability
Māori traditional values are well aligned with sustainable farming – the respect of the land, the concept of stewardship (Kaitiakitanga) which preserves cultural and environmental values, the relationship between genealogy and land. So much so that New Zealand agricultural leaders are taking note, and learning from it to help agriculture face climate and environmental challenges.
I understand mine is an outrageously superficial look on this topic. But the very fact that our introduction to the Māori culture warranted more than a display of traditional haka and included a presentation by a senior Māori government official of her people’s land right history, political evolution and economic weight in the country, spoke volumes to me. My very short visit led me to believe that, while there are still significant inequalities in housing, education, employment and health with the Pākehā (white settler descendants), Māori people are rightly asserting their political, social and economic weight in New Zealand.
© Catherine Lascurettes, Cúl Dara Consultancy
