Te whakatipu whenua mo te iwi
Cultivating our land for the people
Rakaia Incorporation is a Maori farming enterprise made up from the original 27 owners in 1886. There are now approximately 300 shareholders, spread throughout New Zealand and overseas who receive dividends from farms. Rakaia Incorporation currently owns three dairy farms – Tahu a Tao in Dorie, Hororata in Hororata, and Pahau in Culverden. Tahu a Tao is Maori Freehold land and is subject to the Maori Reserve Act, meaning it cannot be sold without a substantial portion of shareholders approving such a decision. Pahau & Hororata are Investment Land.
Committee Members
Hohepa Johnson
Chair
Hohepa was elected to the committee in 1999 and is the longest serving member of the current committee of management. He acted as Deputy Chair from 2010 until his appointment as Chair in 2016.
Tim Reriti
Co Chair
Tim was elected to the committee in 2014. He hails from Ngāi Tuahuriri me Ngāti Waewae and is currently a Māori Cultural Capacity Case Manager for ACC based in Christchurch. He has four tamariki and one mokopuna and is a Director of KP Holdings NZ Ltd which focuses on economic development for Māori. Tim is also a current Board member of Mawhera Incorporation.
Richard Witheford-Smith
Committee Member
Richard joins the committee with a lifelong interest in NZ farming, He studied Agriculture and Horticulture at Massey University in 1980-83 after working on sheep and beef farms in the Gisborne region where he grew up. He has taught Science Agriculture and Horticulture at College level and at NZ Correspondence school as well as being involved in employment training programmes for disadvantaged youth. Most recently he has been Keeping Porirua Beautiful with Graffiti Reduction programmes, organising mural artwork and native tree planting programmes. Richard is proud of the history of Rakaia Inc with which he made his first connections while at Teachers College in Christchurch in 1985. He is keen to see the farms run productively with happy cows and staff and to find ways of creating meaningful connections between the next generation of owners and the farms.
Richard was elected to the committee in 2021.
Laura Dunlop
Committee Member
Laura was elected to the committee in 2021.
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Ko wai au?
Ko Te Ahu Pātiki tōku mauka
Ko Te Waihora tōku roto
Ko Takitimu tōku waka
Ko Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu ōku iwi
Ko Ngāi Tūāhuriri tōku turangawaewae
Ko Ngāti Moki tōku marae
Ko Laura Dunlop ahau
No Ōtautahi ahau
Kei Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Trust ahau e mahi ana
Kia ora,
I am Laura Dunlop and I work at Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Trust. My background is in early childhood education where I have been involved in this sector since late 1990. During this time, I managed an early learning centre, and I am currently on a Board for a small community preschool.
I have had the privilege of growing up in Ōtautahi, and my dad, Barrie Dunlop, was on the committee for Rakaia. He always took an interest in what was happening at Rakaia, but he never got to see how far we have come as an incorporated society and how the Rakaia whenua has changed since his passing in 1993.
I look forward to working alongside the other COM members and building on the legacy that has been left for us by those who have come before us and for those yet to come.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
Tamai Sinclair
Committee Member
Tamai is a descendant of Hoani Kōrako Kere. He has been a committee member since 2016 and committed to a kaupapa Māori perspective to the management of the Incorporations assets. He is employed as a Senior Advisor for Te Puni Kōkiri and work in the housing, community development and Whenua Māori Fund areas.
