North & South – June 2019

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98 | NORTH & SOUTH| JUNE 2019

Y

ou’llfindPātangataon

GoogleMapsif youlook,

thoughit’sbarelya town,

moreofanintersectionwith

a tavernbesidetheTukitukiRiver,

notfarfromHavelockNorthwhere

thevineyardsandplainsofHawke’s

Baygraduatetorollinghillcountry.

Here,theSmithfamily– Duncan

Smith,AnnabelTapley-Smithand

theirchildrenTabathaandRupert

• farmseveralhundredhectaresof
  rollingcountryandirrigatedflat
  land,eithersideoftheriver,finishing
  AnguscattleandSuffolk-Texellambs
  ongrassratherthangrain,and
  producingmeatofuncommonquality.
  TheSmithfamilyhas been
  farminginHawke’sBaysince
  beforeWorldWarII,whenDuncan
  Smith’sgrandfather, Robert, left
  Wellington– wherethefamily
  owned the department store James

Smith– fora farmatŌmakere,on

thecoastofHawke’sBay.“Itwas

hillcountry,”saysDuncan,who

grewupfarmingtheproperty

withhisfatherandgrandfather,“a

breedingandfinishingoperation.”

Thecoupletookoverthefarm

shortlyafterSmith’sfatherdiedin

2002 ; inthe 17 yearssince,their

farminghasevolved.Notlongafter

movingback,theyboughtanother

property,Paihia,gentlyrolling

countryborderingtheTukitukiRiver,

followedbyanother,smallerparcel.

Eventually,theyboughtPātangata

Station,ontheothersideofthe

TukitukifromPaihia,andthenthey

soldtheoriginalfamilyholding.

So far,sofamiliar.Smartfarming,

beautifulcountry,a bettercutof

steak.Butwherethestorygets

interestingisthat,twoyearsago,

theyboughttheWaipawaButchery,

foundedin 1948 andstillowned

bythesamefamily.TheSmiths

hadalwaysshoppedthere,and

jumpedassoonasthey heardit

wasforsale.Tellingthetale,they

makeit soundlikeanentirely

logical,straightforwardmove.

“Asfarmers,you’realwayslooking

todiversify,”saysTapley-Smith.

“Havingsomethingthatrelated

tothefarmingintheprimary

industriesisa reallyniceoffshoot.”

Butit’snotthemostlogicalmove

• notreally.MostNewZealand
  farmsarebasedarounda muchmore
  traditionalmodel:raiseanimalsto
  weight and sell them, receiving a

DuncanSmithandAnnabel Tapley-Smith

weren’t satisfiedwithproducing meat

of uncommonquality.So theybought

a butchery.SimonFarrell-Greentalks

to the Hawke’s Bay farmer-retailers.

WELL BRED

THEGOODLIFE

FOOD

Simon Farrell-GreenisNorth&South’sfooddirector.

Photography by Richard Brimer.