Mangaroa Farms to Purchase Berkett’s Farm in Whitemans Valley
We are happy to announce we have reached an agreement to purchase the Berkett’s farm, located at the southern end of Whitemans Valley. The ~330Ha farm is a beautiful mix of gentle hill country, steep gorge, native bush, and river corridor along the Mangaroa.
We are honoured to steward such a special piece of land.
We are still working out our plans with the land, but we’re focused on:
Bush Reserve - The majority of the farm is covered in nicely regenerating bush, with some old growth pockets. First priority is to protect these areas: fencing and pest control will be early priorities.
Riparian Zone - Continuing our plantings along the Mangaroa River. The farm has over 1 km of river corridor, flood zone, and erosion prone areas.
Finishing Farm - Additional grazing area for cattle, which will especially be helpful to increase our herd size and some needed economy-of-scale. It will also keep our community more resilient in the face of increased droughts/floods.
Pine Forest Management - The farm has 33Ha of mature pines. We’ll be working out the best approach in-conjunction with the rest of our mature pines. This might be an ideal area for a “low footprint” harvesting strategy that we’ve seen and would like to trial (rather than clearfell).
Longer term, we’re thinking about:
School Camp - This is still tentative, but we think the farm would lend itself well to education and training programs. Local school camps are in demand, especially offering holiday programs. More research needs to be done.
Bird Sanctuary / Biodiversity Corridor - Due to all the hard work being done by our neighbors in the Orongorongo catchment (Wainuiomata), there is a growing population of native birds spreading in the southern end of Whitemans Valley. This even includes the first confirmed kiwi in a long time. Protected bird breeding habitats, intensive predator control, and establishing bird gardens are all ideas for the farm that can make Whitemans Valley even more of a haven for bird life.
Housing Cluster - Over time, a few homes will be built. We’re thinking of a slow, small, organic clustered development of “~10 homes over the next ~10 years”.
To say a bit more about housing, since it’s such a hot topic:
No, we do not intend to carry forward the planned subdivision outlined in the last Plan Change 50 draft.
Yes, this does decrease, by ~90%, the impact on new housing stock, in the face of a housing affordability crisis. Some may argue that continuing to use this land for agriculture is backward “NIMBY” behavior. “People need houses, there aren’t enough, and there is plenty of room for sheep in Wairarapa…”
We understand this sentiment, but the development of housing over most of the Berkett Farm would do little to alleviate the strain felt in the regional housing market. 100 houses makes no real impact on the Wellington region, but would have a huge impact in our small area (traffic, water impacts, bush loss, etc.).
Furthermore, we believe that the loss of one of the best farms left in the Wellington region would come at a higher cost to local food resilience and production. Once a farm is subdivided for residential development, it’s effectively forever. Future generations will need open land, forests, and farms.
We are not blind, however, to the acute need for housing. To that end, “10 homes over 10 years” will help address the existing local community’s needs for increased housing capacity. We are wary of subdivision, as it often detracts from the wellbeing of the local community and environment, which is opposite our mission. However, especially if people who work in the valley cannot afford homes in the valley, it will be a major headwind for localising our food system and economy (it already is).
A lot will depend on how Plan Change 50 works out and where we are allowed to build homes. We don’t think the Berketts is a good site for intensive housing, due to infrastructure, character, and water impacts. We are committed to working constructively with all our neighbors and UHCC in our collective planning journey.
In conclusion, we are grateful for the opportunity to steward this epic bit of Earth. Our focus will be on the trees, the soil, the water, and the animals.
We want to thank Jeff and Noeline Berkett for their support over the years. We also want to thank Malcolm and the Gillies Group for working with us to find this win-win outcome.
And most of all, thanks to you, our community, for continued support and engagement. Without your encouragement and farm shop patronage, we wouldn’t have the courage to take a big leap like this.
Onward!
Brian Monahan,
on behalf of Mangaroa Farms
