Farm Cadet profile

Teina Matiaha
The first cadet in the Te Pouakani Farm Cadet programme

In February 2006, Teina Matiaha, son of shareholder Tame Matiaha, arrived at Pouakani to start as the first cadet in the Te Pouakani Farm Cadet programme.

Teina received his secondary education at Wainuiomata High School, Wellington, where he was Head Boy, captain of the school’s First XV, Gridiron captain and Waka Ama captain. Away from the sporting field Teina found time to complete NCEA Levels 1 and 2, gain a Level 2 Certificate in welding and complete Year 13.

Having just left school, Teina was keen to find out what it was like to be a farmer and through an association with Nelson Rangi who helped start the programme, he was placed on Farm One.

At this time there was a lot of activity on this farm with the installation of the new irrigation system, a cropping programme and some land development. In addition, the day-to-day activities of milking cows, attending to fencing and water maintenance areas, Teina soon became actively involved in all of these.

He worked alongside the manager and two other farm assistants and through the assistance of the Agricultural Training Organisation he gained a scholarship to commence an agricultural training programme. The basis of this is to cover introductory aspects about farming and this was followed up by small tasks that he has to complete on farm and have checked with his manager.

To date, Teina has done extremely well with all of this and has progressed to a stage where he is now considered a very capable young farm assistant. When opportunities arise more responsibilities will be given to him to ensure his progress is on-going.

Outside the farm gate he has become actively involved in a local rugby club and Young Farmers Club, which he has enjoyed.

He freely admits that when he started he was a green city slicker, however, now his proud and cheerful smile highlights his new-found interest in farming at Pouakani. His aim is to gain some tertiary qualifications after two years on farm.

The cadetship comprises on-farm training in conjunction with study through the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation (Agriculture ITO). To qualify for a Modern Apprenticeship you must be a farm employee, enrolled in an Agriculture ITO course and aged between 16 and 21 years.

A training pathway for a career in agriculture could commence at college with Agriculture Unit Standards that can be taken in year 10, 11 and 12 programmes.

Any inquiries with regard to cadetship training should be directed through the Wairarapa Moana Trust office.

Teina is a descendant of Muretu, Mokai Matiaha and Hemi Te Oka Matiaha.

Teina at work