About us

Mānuka Farming New Zealand was established in 2016 as the commercial arm of MPI’s High Performance Mānuka Plantation Research Programme. 

Our purpose is to provide New Zealand beekeepers and landowners with the unique intellectual property developed during the Programme.  This includes the sale of best-in-class mānuka seedlings and the provision of best-practice establishment services.

To read the Programme’s Final Report click on the link provided.  

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/37392-High-Performance-Mānuka-PGP-programme

Client testimonials.

Roera Nominees Limited

Roera Nominees Limited (RNL), Rotorua, is proud and honoured to have partnered with Mānuka Farming in establishing the Royal Whānau's property on the shores of Lake Ōkāreka. The company's Managing Director, Taiaroa Royal, worked alongside the Mānuka Farming team of Bronwyn Douglas, Rob Tiopira and Maggie Olsen, with extended contractor Stef Kincheff (Harwood Management), to plant out their remaining land in top grade mānuka and native trees. With financial assistance from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, and in consultation with Andy Dick (BOPRC), Mānuka Farming set up spraying, crushing and mulching schedules to rid the property of 'old-man' gorse. Over 2019, and 2020 under the appropriate COVID-19 conditions, 120,000+ mānuka seedlings and 6,000 mixed native trees were planted in the pasture areas and those areas that were heavy in gorse.

Mānuka Farming specifically chose seedlings to suit the environment of the Õkareka district, and after 18 months the 2019 mānuka is growing extremely well, as are the 2020 seedlings after 8 months (June 2021). Although the gorse is returning in force, the mānuka is standing its ground. 

The project was a huge success, the result from RNL and Mānuka Farming building a trusting and productive relationship.

Although the project is now completed, RNL has kept the relationship with Mānuka Farming alive, seeking ongoing advice and guidance for the newly planted mānuka block.

Taiaroa Royal (RNL.; Managing Director)

Anna and Shane Grayling

My husband and I are very privileged to be working with a partnership to establish a large property into mānuka and mixed native forest. 

In 2020, Mānuka Farming NZ provided several thousand mānuka seedlings. We planted in August and in just over six months some specimens were over a metre tall and half a metre in width. We sourced mānuka seedings from other nurseries at the same time, and while they have done well, they are significantly smaller and less dense than the Mānuka Farming NZ cultivars.

We cannot attribute the exceptional growth of the MFNZ mānuka to any exceptional aspect of the site; it is not particularly sheltered, of easy contour, and does not have the best soils. Nonetheless, the growth of the MFNZ seedlings has been exceptional, so we do believe the plants’ specific genetics must be playing a major factor. This is also a testament to the consultation that Bronwyn provided, and the recommendation of a seedling variety that would be best-suited for our site.

We have been involved with restoration projects for 20 years and have seen many successfully established native plants but can honestly say that the growth and virility we have witnessed from the 2020 manuka supplied by Mānuka Farming NZ has been outstanding.  

Anna Grayling (BSC Ecology and Biodiversity;  LLB; PGDip Management)
Shane Grayling (Bachelor of Science)