A new operator has been announced for the country's largest farm, with Ngāi Tahu Farming chosen by the Department of Conservation as its preferred option to run Molesworth Station.
The Crown-owned 180,000ha cattle station sprawling across inland Marlborough had been operated by Pāmu — formerly Landcorp — for more than two decades under a lease arrangement with the Department of Conservation.
With the lease expiring on June 30 this year, DOC ran a competitive allocation process, receiving five applications to run the commercial farming operation.
At 180,787 hectares, Molesworth is slightly larger than Rakiura/Stewart Island and bigger than 10 of New Zealand’s national parks.
Five applicants are competing to run Molesworth Station as the Department of Conservation weighs new plans for farming, conservation, tourism and public access. (Source: BNZ Business Breakfast)
DOC Deputy Director-General of Regional Operations Henry Weston said Ngāi Tahu Farming stood out because of its experience managing large-scale high-country farms and its long-term financial strength.
"This decision ultimately came down to Ngāi Tahu Farming... having the strongest experience of farming at scale in the high country of those who applied," Weston said.
"Ngāi Tahu have strong financial and business foundations offering long-term security for the Crown, making them the best applicant for the opportunity to negotiate the concession."
'An ancestral landscape'
Ngāi Tahu said the decision reflected the iwi's proven capability in farming, conservation and commercial management, as well as its longstanding connection to Rangitahi Molesworth.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu chief executive Ben Bateman said public access, biodiversity and ecological stewardship would be central to how the station would be managed if the concession was granted.
"For us, Rangitahi is not simply a farming opportunity. It is an ancestral landscape woven into the whakapapa of Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kurī, Ngāti Māmoe and Waitaha. To be entrusted with its stewardship is a responsibility we approach with humility and determination," he said.
While farming would remain the station's primary commercial activity, Weston said Molesworth was also "a nationally important drylands ecosystem with significant biodiversity, heritage, recreational and cultural values".
Ngāi Tahu Farming, a wholly owned subsidiary of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Group, currently operated three high-country stations covering about 36,000 hectares as part of the 100,000 hectares of farming and forestry land it managed across the South Island.
The appointment was not yet final. As the preferred operator, Ngāi Tahu Farming would now be invited to apply for a concession — the formal permit required to carry out commercial farming on conservation land.
The concession application would be publicly notified, allowing people to make submissions before a final decision.
DOC said the concession would set out how public access, along with weed and pest management, would be maintained or improved.
Weston said the department received several strong applications.
"DOC ran a thorough process, weighed up a range of expert advice and materials, and made a decision in the best interest of Molesworth, one of New Zealand's truly special places," he said.
"I want to thank the five parties who submitted applications as a lot of work clearly went into them."
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