Homman Tapsell: Growing a Legacy on His Ancestral Land
Homman Tapsell greets Masahiro Abe | Photos courtesy of Zespri
Homman Tapsell stands proudly among the young Organic SunGold vines he and 540 others own, feet wide on the ground his ancestors have always inhabited.
As the orchard manager for Otama Marere Trust on the outskirts of Paengaroa, Homman has been working on his ancestral land since retuning home from over a decade overseas. He and his team oversee a 21-hectare block of conventional and organic Hayward and SunGold G3 fruit, both established and developing.
The land is his tūrangawaewae; literally the place where his feet stand, more figuratively his spiritual home. He can officially trace back nine generations of his whanau owning the land, while he also has a firm eye on those that will follow his footsteps.
“The Maori people have always been very close to the land and we see ourselves as ‘kaitiaki’ (guardians) — the land is a part of our lives and part of nature,” he explains. “That’s one of the big reasons why we’re converting to organic - it ensures we return what we take from the land. If you look after the land, it looks after you.”
The Orchard
Otama Marere was one of the first Maori-owned orchards to grow Organic SunGold, starting their transition two and a half years ago. With seven hectares now dedicated to organic and plans to convert a further 2.1ha this year they are considered leaders, with Zespri inviting overseas visitors to tour the orchard.
Just across the back fence of the Otama Marere Trust land, nestled against a bend in the Kaituna River, is the historic site of the Otama Marere Pa.
Inhabited by the Ngati Whakaue tribe, the area was an important stopping point for coastal tribes heading inland to the Rotorua Lakes, a place of trade amid flourishing alluvial soils. The surrounding wetland was full of freshwater crayfish and eels which were traded for seafood and birds from inland.
In a nod to this history, the orchard now features a restored three-hectare wetland area, with the aim of regenerating eel and freshwater crayfish stocks. The wetlands are home to 7600 natives planted by Homman and his team. “It catches the leaching from us and neighbouring orchards before it reaches the Kaituna River. As a result the water is remarkably clear, and we are almost in a position to re-introduce crayfish.”
“The area was used for many things over the years”, says Homman. “It’s so wet, we decided that returning it, so it can function to its full potential, just made sense.”
The sustainable, organic direction, while promoting kaitiaki principles, also made economic sense.
“We want to keep improving on what we have and that’s another reason we’ve gone into organics — besides having that love for the land, we want to follow where consumer demand is going and that’s towards organics. Organics is just growing and growing and growing”.
Customer Connections
All this was music to the ears of Masahiro Abe, manager of a multi-million dollar home delivery service marketing Zespri Organic kiwifruit in Japan, when visiting Homman at the Otama Marere orchard.
“My business is a cooperative and is based on home delivery — we sell through a brochure with our customers reading the description of the product and making a decision based on that,” said Mr. Abe. “Our customers are a bit more discerning and through the catalogue we give them the message of where their fruit comes from and the care with which it is grown, highlighting our connection with Zespri Organic growers like Homman.”
Giving to the People
Just as they take care of their land, Otama Marere take care of their people. “While we get most of our workers through Seeka, we employ as many whanau as we can on a semi-permanent basis. Giving them a place of employment is part of our contribution to them.”
A percentage of profits are designated to the people of Otama Marere through a variety of avenues, from giving away education and kaumatua grants, to sponsoring sporting events.
“We get an immense sense of pride from helping our people. Our education funding has helped people achieve at all levels – including a few doctors and engineers.”
In 2020 Otama Marere are finalists in the Ahuwhenua Excellence in Maori Agriculture award “It has reminded us of what we have accomplished and to be pleased with what we have achieved”.