Mavis Mullins has a long history in agribusiness. She is a mother of four, a grandmother to 14, and she is a fifth generation farmer, as well as alongside her husband Koro and wider whānau running and being actively involved at every level of the family shearing business over the last 30-plus years. In 2002 she was made a New Zealand Order of Merit. She has won the Rural category at the Westpac Women of Influence Awards and has been inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
The list of organisations that Mavis has been involved in at a governance level across our sector is extensive. From Landcorp, to the Aohonga Incorporation, Two Degrees Mobile to Rangitahi Tu Mai Ra, Atihau Whanganui Incorporation, Agri Women’s Development Trust, Taratahi Learning Institute, the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union, UNICEF Aotearoa New Zealand, the Environmental Protection Agency and Nga Whenua Rahui, just to name a few.. and she’s not done yet.
This blog shares insights into Becks and Mavis’ conversation on The Whole story podcast. This conversation was all about connection – connection to land, connection to each other, and breaking down the barriers between people so that we can harness our unique strength as a primary sector nation – our deep cultural heritage. They discuss how we can lean into that with authenticity to the opportunities for greater understanding and progress. It’s an open and frank discussion, and just the start of the journey.
Throughout this blog, and the podcast episode, there are common terms that will be referred to:
- Te Ao Maōri: the Māori world view. This view encompasses the interconnectedness of our world, from the people, to the whenua (land)
- Mātauranga Māori: this refers to Māori knowledge, learnings and wisdom.
- Mana whenua: this refers to those who have the mana (authority) over the land. It refers to the first people who were on the land, that being the indigenous Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
What sustainability means to mavis
Mavis sees sustainability through a lens of intergenerational considerations.
‘This isn’t just about the now, and I guess we’ve often termed it as living in a space where you’re making mokopuna decisions – decisions that are there for the next future generations. It’s about practices and philosophies that don’t just meet what we need today, but also ensures that you don’t compromise anything that sits in the future.’
Mavis believes that there isn’t any excuse for the primary sector to not think intergenerationally and that it is a natural thing for us to do. She believes that for farming enterprises, intergenerational thinking is a lot more relevant. Whether it be planting trees that are for in 30 years time, or being part of bigger natural cycles like genetics, the applicability for an intergenerational lens to farming is something that Mavis emphasises, as the primary sector is a biological business.
Another interesting take from Mavis on sustainability was around freedom. So often we hear sustainability talked about in a way that is about compliance, or rules, or specific outcomes, however, Mavis challenges that with the notion of freedom and what we can decide when we are in the long-term thinking mindset.
‘I think the other thing is that for me, when I think about sustainability, it almost smacks of freedom. You’re not tied to a 12 month KPI or milestone. You know, you’ve got the freedom to think longer and so your decisions can be different. I just find when we really, truly get ourselves into this space, it’s actually quite liberating.’
Authentic connections and engagement
For many there is an increasing desire and intention to connect back to the views of Te Ao Māori, Mātauranga Māori and mana whenua, when it comes to agriculture. We have such an opportunity to embrace the beautiful cultural connection we have in Aotearoa New Zealand, and there has been some disconnect in this regard along the line in some facets of agriculture. However, it is really important to ask ourselves – How do we authentically engage with Māori? How do we do this in a way that is genuine and authentic, rather than tokenistic? How can we move forward together rather than separate?
So, how do we connect? And I think this really cuts to the core if it, it is about respect. It is about integrity, and it’s about a different headspace of thought…
…And the question often comes up ‘how do we engage with Māori’ and I said, well, it’s the same as you engage with anyone. Go and have a cup of tea, you know, invite them over for coffee or a dinner or lunch or something. You know, it’s not rocket science, and I think we complicate things by forgetting that we’re all people. We’re just people. Connections can be made easily. I guess where we’ve got to though, we’ve got to a point where people have become a little bit fatigued around connections that are often driven from the wrong place. They want to connect because they want to get a resource management consent done. They want to connect because, you know, they’ve got influence with certain people. You know, those aren’t good reasons. They’re not good reasons enough. And this is where, I guess, as primary sector people, as farmers, we need to get on the helicopter, get up high and say, what is the real purpose of wanting to connect and bring a true story about Aotearoa New Zealand to the front? Because our story is magnificent. It is precious, it is unique, it’s true. And perhaps it gets lost because it has its basis often in commercialisation’…
…Don’t connect just because it’s good for business…connect because you have a deep interest in the people that are around you, the people within your community. And that’s when the magic happens.
Coming back to the idea of respect and its importance in how we connect, Mavis emphasises that we must respect that everyone can bring something to the table, we just have to be open to it.
I think Māori do have a wonderful way of being able to relate to land because it’s deep and it goes back. It’s around our own whakapapa (genealogy), but Māori don’t have that on their own. I have a lot of non-Māori friends who are as passionate and as committed to their whenua (land) as I am, so I don’t come with a sense that we know everything and have all the answers, because that’s not true. Everyone’s got part of the answer to the challenges that sit with us as individual farmers, or even as a bigger sector, but we just have to listen. We have to listen to each other and respect that everyone can bring something. Sometimes I think we get almost, I’m not going to say railroaded, but railroaded into a mainstream level of thinking that almost takes away the opportunity to be creative and innovative in terms of finding different solutions. There’s a whole lot of stuff like that were connections are important and connection can take us so much further, faster, but we just gotta be open.
Sustainable Development Goal #17 - Partnerships for the Goals
You know for a start, the word partnership has kind of been wrecked a little bit, you know, I mean, we flip it off the tongue like something and hope that it lands. But partnership is like marriage, isn’t it? You know, it’s hard work, and it takes commitment and it takes effort. You know, it’s not a one stop shop to get to where you want to get to. So I think that’s the first thing, and forming and finding the right relationships is going to be the first part of whatever evolves out of that. But again, I was so impressed at that Global Nature Positive Summit where I felt that there was real acceptance around how coming together has to happen and it’s things like, you know, Western science and Western practice is great, but it hasn’t moved us forward enough. You know, and there’s something missing. And this is where partnerships and relationships with indigenous, mana whenua or whatever you want to call it, can help.
And I guess the Goal 17 around partnerships is really about collaboration. It also talks about no one being left behind. Now, these are all wonderful words, but I don’t see anywhere that has been able to do that, successfully. And so I often think about Goal 17 is find your tribe, find the willing, find the ones that are gonna be the beach head to push forward because it’s not going to be everyone and there will be some that will be less in the lead role and more in the follow role. And then there will be some who won’t follow at all and that’s just us as people. So I think we need to be realistic about what it is we’re trying to do. And so I’m always really much more interested in who’s got the same level of enthusiasm, who’s someone that’s shares the things that I see, and that’s where we start with partnership. We start with the really, the willing and we create the beachhead, the forward momentum for others to either come or not come, and let’s just be honest that there will be some left behind.
The other thing about this, I think perfect, there’s never gonna be there. So just start. Just do something let’s you know, start with the easy thing. Start with low hanging fruit. Start with something that you know you can achieve and then build from there. Because if we look at what these goals are designed to do, it’s like eating the elephant. You know, you just close your eyes and go. I can’t do it. I’ve got a headache. But you know, if you can just find that tribe, find your people who have that same kind of passion and commitment and then just start something and you know, it’ll either evolve or it won’t. But I can almost. guarantee it will move into something and that’s all we need to do. We just need to start and we just need to keep moving because success breeds success.
I think that’s where these catchment groups are really showing their value because they’re voluntary. You know, you don’t have to go, but everyone is concerned about their impact on their place. So you know, it’s a very personal thing to be involved. And what we’ve found is that it might start with quite a basic thing like my impact on my part of the world, but then actually it grows into something more.
The world of Te Ao Māori is integral to aotearoa New Zealand
The conversation in the podcast between Becks and Mavis was one that explored many elements of authentic connections, partnerships and collaboration. Becks held space to ask Mavis if there was anything further she wanted to add to the conversation that they hadn’t covered, and Mavis gave a really insightful, and important, message for us to lean into.
The world of Te Ao Māori (Māori world view) is integral to Aotearoa New Zealand, to its now and to its future, and we shouldn’t be scared of that. I know I have friends who are anxious about this, who are slightly fearful about what does that mean and what does it mean for me and what’s it gonna do? And my words are don’t be fearful, that we have a common goal to live in this most beautiful part of the world in a way that is exemplary for us as people, you know, as individual people, as well as a nation, and it’s so within our grasp. But we have to be brave to do that, and I guess I just want to say if these sort of conversations make you anxious, lean into them. Give me a call. Come and have a coffee. My door’s open. Let’s not let fear stop us from realising our greatest potential as a primary sector nation. Because it’s right in front of us. We’ve got it. We’ve got this. We just have to find some courage. Now too I’m going to say let go a bit, to open our hearts and minds a bit more, and to be open to different concepts and conversations. If we can be brave enough to do that with each other and do it with respect and love, then we’re on.
Mavis' practical take home tip for sustainability
When it comes to sustainability for farming businesses, Mavis’ practical take-home top is to be clear on your impact.
So this I guess talks to the concept of knowing your numbers. Know your impact on the land, know your impact on your community, know your impact on profit – well, we all know that because that’s the first, and sometimes the only, thing that we look at. Know your impact on place. You know, be purposeful about understanding impact because that then helps to define ongoing action. You know, if our impacts are great, then share it, spread it. If our impacts need some tweaking, then at least we’ve been quite purposeful in understanding what that impact is and then find the people who can help to, you know, mitigate or rectify. But knowing your impact, I think is probably the biggest thing. There’s a whole lot of stuff in there, but I think that can speak to farming people because we’ve been really pulled into this whole thing of knowing our numbers. Very important. So know our numbers, but know all the other numbers too.