OUR PURPOSE IN ACTION

This section of the Annual Report is strategically focused and future oriented. It highlights the value Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation places on the taiao, our people, and how our tikanga and the way we work can help us farm better. It focuses on how we create value through relationships with others, extending beyond merely preserving or preventing the erosion of the values on which we base our business.

This section provides an organisational overview, setting the context in which Ātihau operates, including external factors such as economic conditions, the global pandemic and climate change. It reports on how governance is supporting the incorporation to create value and details the organisation’s strategy and resources before, finally, examining the risks and opportunities of the year ahead.

TOITŪ TE MANA

Key Strategic Projects

The Āti Hau Way

The past 12 months has seen the finalising of the Āti Hau Way, a philosophy that recognises and defines the way things are done at Ātihau, setting expectations for our actions and behaviour.

The name has changed from the AWHI Way to reflect alignment between the incorporation and Te Āti Hau Trust. These two entities together will be referred to as the Āti Hau Group, and the Āti Hau Way will sit across both. The acronym AWHI was also associated with branding, at times causing confusion across the organisation.

In May, a workshop with staff, governance and a small group of shareholders identified the key elements of the Āti Hau Way as being purpose, connection and belonging. This was tested with staff and then translated into four value statements. The value statements are:

• Kia Āti Hau te titiro - Applying an Ātihau lens over everything we do, honouring those that have been before us and adding to their legacy.

• Ohotu ki uta, Ohotu ki tai - Connecting to create strong relationships, understanding the impact of our decisions on others.

• Mōrehu Whenua, Mōrehu Tangata - Caring for our place, caring for people.

• Mā te rahi Āti Hau - Working together we can achieve our collective aspirations.

These value statements will now be translated into a set of behaviours to be decided upon and adopted by each individual team. In turn, these team behaviours will be used to set in place collective behaviours across the organisation.

As part of the process, a culture workshop was held in August 2021 with Dana Blackburn to help staff better understand the history of the incorporation, the resumptions programme, and Dana’s key learnings while he was part of the incorporation.

Workshops with staff will now be held to introduce the values and behaviours and allow kaimahi to become comfortable with the concepts. In addition to this, the Āti Hau Way and its associated value statements will be shared with our shareholder whānau over the year ahead through the usual communication channels.

Te Reo Māori

Our investment in te reo Māori capability continues, with tutor Goldie Akapita working with kaimahi at the Ohakune office and with our farm and apiary te reo champions. The classes encompass not only te reo Māori but also tikanga and local history as we continue working to integrate te reo me ōna tikanga into our work places.

Taiao Workplan

The Taiao workplan was signed off by the Committee of Management during the year in review and will now be implemented.

The new role of Taiao Manager was established and Ātihau uri Courtney Haywood has been employed in this important position.

Planning has been completed to reduce methane emissions by 10%. Toward this, in a significant project during the past year, baseline measurements of gross emissions from 2020/21 and 2021/22 have been taken.

The plan to reduce methane emissions centres primarily on reducing livestock numbers through land use change to mānuka and forestry. Other measures encompass productivity improvements, predominantly on the finishing farms.

TOITŪ TE WHENUA

Key Strategic Projects

Land Use Change to improve farm performance

The Land Use Change initiative, funded by the Whenua Māori Fund through Te Puni Kōkiri, has been under way for several years to discover the best use for Ātihau land. This work has been completed during the past 12 months.

The project has considered which Ātihau whenua is less productive and what is the best use for that land.

A work programme was set across the organisation to understand the profitability per hectare of our sheep and beef farms, and to identify areas of the farms that are less profitable under sheep and beef farming, and more profitable under honey or forestry.

We identified areas that are producing less grass in areas where the whenua is steeper, has lower soil fertility, or is higher in altitude and therefore colder. This whenua is better suited for honey production or forestry.

At the same time, the project considered what could be done to bring the rest of the farm to its full potential. Development opportunities on farm have been identified and performance targets set for the next six years. A business case will be completed to support the development.

The changes align with one of the goals of our Taiao Strategy – to achieve 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions partly through reducing stock numbers in lower performing areas, and partly through increased performance across the rest of the farm – and will be completed in tandem with the Taiao work programme and targets.

An on-farm discussion group has been formed to support the achievement of performance goals.

In addition to this, the Farm and Environment committee – which includes independent specialists in this area – provides another layer of rigour and advice to support the achievement of these targets.

Investment Policy and Opportunities

Ātihau has worked with Koau Capital to develop a Statement of Investment Policy and Objectives (SIPO), which sets investment priorities. It was signed off during the year in review.

Ātihau generates profit in two ways: through capital gain and through cash. Ātihau is over-weighted toward growth assets (those that generate both capital gain and cash profits) and needs to invest in more cash-generating assets to balance the portfolio and deliver consistent and higher returns. This will enable reinvestment in the business and/or greater distribution to shareholders.

To make this change will require the Capital to invest, with possible sources including carbon sales, exiting Te Hou Farms Limited Partnership or milling of some forestry.

There is potential under the Land Use Change plan outlined previously to plant pines in areas that are easy to access for harvest (this would account for less than 2% of Ātihau whenua) and to generate funds through the sale of carbon credits.

Building an investment fund may also include exiting Te Hou Farm, our joint investment in the Bulls area with Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa, and the milling of Papahaua forest.

While a capital fund is being created, a number of potential alternative investments which would generate cash rather than capital gain are being investigated. Possibilities include alternative power generation and tourism opportunities across Ātihau whenua. Further investigation is also under way into the possibility of residential development on Ātihau land on the outskirts of Ohakune.

TOITŪ TE TANGATA

Key Strategic Projects

Awhiwhenua apprenticeship programme

The Awhiwhenua farm apprenticeship scheme has undergone review and changes. It will now take on fewer farm cadets – two sheep and beef farm apprentices each year – and will expand to include apiculture (bee-keeping), aiming to take on two apprentice apiarists each year.

The apprenticeships are now paid and will focus on supporting in-residence apprentices to complete a three-year on-farm or apiculture programme.

The benefits of investing in the apprentice programme are beginning to return to Ātihau, with past cadets returning to the organisation to take up leadership roles on farms – one recent example being Te Paenga Station’s new Head Shepherd, Jade Johnson.

With the establishment of a new governance committee, the Committee of Management now has direct oversight of the programme.

He aha ōu whakaaro mō te koporeihana o Ātihau-Whanganui?

During the year, we canvassed staff to discover their views on how Ātihau is performing. Using a tool called Ask Your Teams, we asked several questions to find out how organisational culture is tracking and where the incorporation can do better. Staff responses were kept anonymous.

The results of this first survey are pleasing, giving clear insight into opportunities for the organisation to lift its game and improve the experience of our kaimahi.

A total of 78% of staff gave feedback and Ātihau received an average rating across the agree/ disagree framework of 69%, which is above average compared to other groups that take the test. It was particularly pleasing that the highest-ranking response related to the statement “I enjoy working at Ātihau”, with 88% of staff either agreeing or strongly agreeing.

When we asked why people enjoy working for Ātihau, common responses were the care shown for staff, the strong purpose and values of Ātihau, a whakapapa connection, the people within the immediate team, and teamwork.

Other top 10 responses indicate that people have access to the information they need to do their job properly, managers’ actions are consistent with the Āti Hau Way, and health and safety and the environment are priorities at Ātihau.

The lowest-rating responses are an indication of areas where improvement is needed. The three areas we will work on in the year ahead are:

• Pay structure, seen as below the market across all business units except the apiary.

• Performance management, including managing poor performers, holding people accountable, and providing informal feedback.

• Connection between individual teams across Ātihau – while kaimahi feel connected to their own team, greater connection is needed across all teams so that people understand and feel involved in the wider organisation’s goals.

These areas are being addressed in several ways including reviewing staff salaries against industry benchmarks, providing leadership training to our people leaders, bringing teams together more to connect, and creating more transparency across the organisation.

Implementing these actions will take at least nine months but early progress will be apparent in the next month or so. As we work through the changes, we will follow up with kaimahi through questionnaires to assess the level of improvement or if more work is needed in a specific area.