Mangarara Farms in Hawkes Bay: Pioneers of Regenerative Agriculture

Greg Hart - Regenerative Pioneer at Mangarara Station, Hawkes Bay.

Zeb's just been up at Mangarara Station planting trees with our friend and ally Greg Hart — doing the good work and learning from one of the pioneers of regenerative agriculture in Aotearoa.

Mangarara is leading the way in farm-to-market meat sales, agritourism, and innovative agroforestry. The planting shown here is part of a silvoculture system — instead of separating forestry from agriculture, it integrates the two for stacked benefits.

Greg’s approach involves tree rows spaced 20 metres apart, leaving wide pasture alleys that still support his beef grazing system. Within each row, exotic hardwoods like poplar, willow, ash, and oak are planted at 6-metre intervals, which meets the density threshold for carbon credit eligibility under the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme). Even better, he boosts biodiversity by planting native, fruit, nut, or pollinator species between the poles.

As many farmers know, the ETS has unfortunately driven a wave of agricultural land conversions into monoculture radiata pine — a model that lacks the ecological benefits of more diverse plantings. But systems like Greg’s show what’s possible: carbon sequestration, improved soil health, shelter and feed for livestock, pollinator support, and water cycle restoration — all while maintaining, and potentially increasing productive pasture.

We’re excited to bring these ideas back and implement systems like these on Mangaroa Farms. Hopefully seeing more examples of ecologically considerate integration of trees into agricultural land around New Zealand moving forward.

Learn more at https://mangarara.co.nz

Zebulon Horrell, founder of Future Whenua Initiative, and Chief Regeneration Officer at Mangaroa Farms.