When nature flourishes,
we flourish

Awhi is an ancestral collective of close-knit Māori families. Our place is a remote wilderness in New Zealand’s North Island, at the foothills of Mount Ruapehu. In this spectacular landscape, we nurture the lands that have been home to more than 25 generations of our ancestors

Connected to the land

In te reo Māori (the Māori language), Awhi means to care for, nurture, embrace and cherish, which sums up the way we see our place in the world. The Awhi way is about being connected to the land. It nourishes us, and we treat the land and everything on it with care and respect

Together as family

The Awhi collective is made up 9,000 tribal members, but we believe in treating everyone we deal with as ‘whānau’ – as family. That means forging deep, long-lasting relationships with all our customers around the world, and creating products they can trust

Rejuvenative farming

At a time when modern farming aims to extract as much as possible from nature, we walk a different path. Our goal is not just to farm our 41,000 hectares (about 100,000 acres) of land sustainably, but to rejuvenate it

We protect nature by:

Retiring erosion-prone land from sheep and beef farming and replanting it with Mānuka bushes, which are farmed only by bees

Placing 10 percent of the land under a covenant (agreement) giving it legal protection from development for 25 years

Fencing off delicate ecosystems and waterways from stock

Creating a wildlife corridor stretching from our mountain (Mount Ruapehu) to our river (the Whanganui River), by controlling predators and building up populations of native plants and birds

Using fertilisers and nutrition supplements sparingly, and only when unavoidable

The Five Freedoms

We believe all life is connected – people, land, trees, animals, birds and insects. We’re all in this world together. That’s why we follow the Five Freedoms, globally-recognised standards for the care of animals.

Freedom from hunger and thirst.

Our animals have access to fresh water and a natural diet

Freedom from discomfort.

We have designed the shelter belts, raceways and sheds on our farms to protect our stock from the elements

Freedom from pain, injury or disease.

Our management plans promote the health of our animals and they are checked every day for injury or illness

Freedom to express normal behaviour.

Our animals live in the open, natural environment of rural New Zealand with plenty of room to roam

Freedom from fear and distress.

We are gentle when handling our stock and provide the best possible care at all stages of their lives