Thriving communities

Small-scale growers contribute significantly to thriving communities. Growers reach into hyper-local communities, creating connections and developing relationships and support systems that assist whānau and communities to prosper socially, culturally, economically and physically. This helps them to be resilient to local disasters and challenges e.g., COVID-19, and to develop reciprocity and support within a sharing economy. Support for small-scale growers is an effective contributor to the wellbeing of communities.

Equity

Small-scale growers, and the ethos of a regenerative food system community, contribute to increased local food access and local food security for communities. This has the potential to address issues of equity, particularly for food insecure communities.

Cultural Recognition

Users of land in Taranaki need to acknowledge and respect the tangata whenua, and the impact of colonisation and dispossession of land that has occurred in this place. These memories continue to frame the mindset of many people in the region.

Growing Te Taio through Mahinga Kai

Small-scale growers include Māori communities which enable the expression of tikanga, Maramataka and mahinga kai. This creates space for Māori practices to flourish and connection to wairua and whenua.

Collaboration

Small-scale growers are predisposed to collaborating and creating a connected network. In Taranaki, there have been some examples of this, and there is a clear interest in achieving a state of ‘collaborative autonomy’ – supporting common aims and working together, while retaining autonomy over their own enterprises. This connectivity exists mostly conceptually, but there is further potential to increase this and to also look for physical ways of connecting growers, eaters and distribution points.