Kaupapa | Projects
Learn more about the kaupapa Māori food sovereignty projects and communities we are involved with. Our projects are both research led and practice based.
Seeds of Unity Short Film
For thousands of years, India has been a trading mecca. Dr Jessica Hutchings (Tūhoe, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa, Gujarati) has been travelling there for the last 30 years and seen first-hand the impact of monocultures and chemical agriculture on local food systems and farmers.
Yet for that entire time a regenerative movement led by Indigenous women in India has quietly been fighting back against these extractive practices. In her most recent visit, she and Dr Jo Smith (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu) travelled from Aotearoa to just north of Delhi in Dehradun to visit the Navdanya Conservation and Biodiversity Farm with a group of Māori seed, soil and food growers. Together they presented the Mana Wāhine Declaration for Hineahuone to Dr Vandana Shiva and her community as part of World Food Day.
Seeds of Unity is a short film that follows this hīkoi, exploring the deepening of these Indigenous relationships and their key in reclaiming land and preserving cultural heritage by taking care of the soil, saving seeds and planting traditional kai. Produced and directed by Māoriland Films, it amplifies the power of mana wāhine to foster a world where cultures thrive and Earth is respected and preserved for future generations.
“For us to have kai, we have to have seeds. Every life form must come from a seed,” says Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae trustee Hineamaru Ropati (Ngāti Hine), who was part of the rōpū. “We’ve got to educate ourselves to get ourselves back into the māra. To be the true kaitiaki of our whenua. There is a type of aroha of a kaitiaki - to look after the most precious things on our planet, our seeds and our soils. And then Papatūānuku will look after us.”
This film is a part of Seeding Hope: He Kākano Ahau – a three-year, Indigenous-led, kaupapa Māori research project.
New TV series launches on Whakaata Māori on 4 November
Hua Parakore - Rebuilding our Broken Food System is an eight-part television series made by Papawhakaritorito Trust, Storybox and Maoriland Productions.
It screens on Whakaata Māori, with the premiere taking place on Monday 4 November 2024 at 7.30pm.
Following Dr Jessica Hutchings as she travels from Aotearoa to India to meet Hua Parakore whānau, we learn about the role of Māori Food and Soil Sovereignty in creating meaningful solutions to the climate crisis, food insecurity and ecological breakdown and to highlight how broken our current industrialised food system is.
The series offers a way forward for all whānau by exploring how growing food and restoring soil is an act of tino rangatiratanga and a revitalisation of Māori ancestral knowledge in practical ways.
From remote, rural māra kai to urban marae to commercially successful farms, each episode is a deep dive into place and the personal stories of whānau who are living and practising Māori Food and Soil Sovereignty in unique ways.
These are stories of regeneration, of engaging and inspiring rangatahi and the wider community through growing, farming, gathering, composting, cooking and eating kai. Interwoven with the social and political context of the Food Sovereignty movement, the character-driven narratives connect viewers with the ancient vibrations of this land and the food-growing and earth-caring practices of our tūpuna.
Made with support from NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho. Acknowledging Te Waka Kai Ora as the kaitiaki of Hua Parakore and thank you to the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
This series is based on the book “Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore: A Māori Soil Sovereignty and Wellbeing Handbook”, edited by Jessica Hutchings and Jo Smith and published by Freerange Press. The book is available for purchase here.
To watch the show on demand, new episodes will be available on Māori+ each Monday from 8pm onwards.
Mana Wāhine Declaration for Hineahuone - Māori Women’s Declaration for Soil and Seed
A rōpū of over 300 peoples gathered on the whenua of Navdanya in North India to celebrate Earth democracy. Our Māori delegation presented our Mana Wāhine Declaration for Hineahuone. This is a Māori Women's Declaration for Soil and Seed. The Declaration was collectively signed by those at the event.
This Declaration acknowledges the way Indigenous knowledge can be utilised to change the way we grow, farm and eat.
By saving seeds, taking care of our soil and growing our own kai, we have all the tools we need to regenerate the earth and honour Papatūānuku and Hineahuone.
He Mātai i te Taiao
He Mātai i te Taiao is a two-year research project, in collaboration with the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge and Manaaki Whenua.
This project looks at how kaitiakitanga and kaitiaki-led monitoring and reporting systems can lead to better biodiversity outcomes.
As part of this rangahau, the research team conducted case studies with six different kaitiaki and mana whenua-led groups around Aotearoa to understand how they are making a real difference to the health of te Taiao.
Click the buttons to read the full report and a summary of each case study.
Resisting genetic engineering in Aotearoa
As part of the He Whenua Rongo 2024 wānanga, we investigated the rise of biopiracy in Aotearoa through the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
These organisms are created using genetic engineering - a Western scientific process that can change the ancestral ways of all living things. This essentially plunders nature and knowledge.
The following overviews detail the topics of what biopiracy is, how to protect Indigenous worldviews and seed, soil and food sovereignty movements globally and why GMOs are perpetuated by the passing of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). These overviews are designed to help us all understand the implications of allowing GMOs to infiltrate Aotearoa and the world.
Kai Atua
Kai Atua: Food for Hope and Wellbeing is a three year kaupapa Māori research project funded by Te Apārangi (Royal Society of New Zealand) Marsden Fund.
This project is grounded at the flax roots with diverse Māori food growing communities and examines how kaupapa Māori approaches to building resilient and sovereign food systems contribute to imagining new food nation futures.
He Whenua Rongo
Building Māori kai and soil resilient communities through knowledge.
He Whenua Rongo is a 7 month kaupapa Māori research project that has been conducted by Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust led by Dr. Jessica Hutchings in partnership wih Te Waka Kai Ora (National Māori Organics Authority) with support from AATEA Solutions, a kaupapa Māori research, facilitation and translation consultancy.
The project has been resourced by the Ministry for the Environment.
Read the summary and full report below.
He Kai Te Rongoā, He Rongoā Te Kai
Released in October 2022, this report covers the evidence presented by Te Waka Kai Ora to the Waitangi Tribunal's inquiry into the Wai 262 claim and brings it together into a single document.
The purpose is to amplify the evidence of Te Waka Kai Ora with regards to: 1) the harmful impacts of GM, 2) ongoing use of organo-chlorines and pesticides and 3) the lack of protection for Hua Māori and Hua Parakore.
Feed the Whānau māra at Taita College
Papawhakaritorito Trust has been supporting the establishment of an urban farm at a high school in Lower Hutt. Lani Rotzler Purewa has been working alongside students of the
Ahi Ka class, who have been working with the whenua over the last years.
Te Awa Kairangi Māori Food Growers Hui 2021
In October 2021 Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust hosted a one day hui with Māori food growers based in Te Awakairangi (Hutt Valley). The aim of the hui was to share kōrero about how to support, instigate and sustain flaxroots-led kai and soil growing practices. From the hui emerged a name for our roopū, “Feed the Whānau”.
Poipoia Te Kākano Kia Puāwai
Our project intends to support rangatahi (youth) leadership and skills in seedling production through a partnership with the Feed the Whānau project and by providing seedlings to help establish a māra at Taita College. We hope to eventually extend our seedling resource guide to include tips on native seedling propagation to help re-cloak Papatūānuku.
Māori Kai Sovereignty Aspirations in Te Whanganui-a-Tara
In December 2021 the Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust hosted a wānanga on behalf of the Wellington City Council to explore existing and potential Māori kai initiatives in Wellington city. The event offered an invaluable opportunity for whakawhanaungatanga and produced some high level outcomes based on the Hua Parakore framework that have fed into the WCC Sustainable Food Action Plan.
Hua Parakore and Biodynamic Two Day Workshop 2021
In late November 2021 a two day Hua Parakore and Biodynamic Workshop was held at Papawhakaritorito, a Hua Parakore-verified food farm in Kaitoke, just north of Wellington.
