At 180,787 hectares, Molesworth is slightly larger than Rakiura\/Stewart Island and bigger than 10 of New Zealand\u2019s national parks.<\/p>\n
Five applicants are competing to run Molesworth Station as the Department of Conservation weighs new plans for farming, conservation, tourism and public access. (Source: BNZ Business Breakfast)<\/p>\n
DOC Deputy Director-General of Regional Operations Henry Weston said Ng\u0101i Tahu Farming stood out because of its experience managing large-scale high-country farms and its long-term financial strength.<\/p>\n
“This decision ultimately came down to Ng\u0101i Tahu Farming… having the strongest experience of farming at scale in the high country of those who applied,” Weston said.<\/p>\n
“Ng\u0101i Tahu have strong financial and business foundations offering long-term security for the Crown, making them the best applicant for the opportunity to negotiate the concession.”<\/p>\n
‘An ancestral landscape’<\/p>\n
Ng\u0101i Tahu said the decision reflected the iwi’s proven capability in farming, conservation and commercial management, as well as its longstanding connection to Rangitahi Molesworth.<\/p>\n
Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101i Tahu chief executive Ben Bateman said public access, biodiversity and ecological stewardship would be central to how the station would be managed if the concession was granted.<\/p>\n
“For us, Rangitahi is not simply a farming opportunity. It is an ancestral landscape woven into the whakapapa of Ng\u0101i Tahu, Ng\u0101ti Kur\u012b, Ng\u0101ti M\u0101moe and Waitaha. To be entrusted with its stewardship is a responsibility we approach with humility and determination,” he said.<\/p>\n
While farming would remain the station’s primary commercial activity, Weston said Molesworth was also “a nationally important drylands ecosystem with significant biodiversity, heritage, recreational and cultural values”.<\/p>\n
Ng\u0101i Tahu Farming, a wholly owned subsidiary of Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101i Tahu Group, currently operated three high-country stations covering about 36,000 hectares as part of the 100,000 hectares of farming and forestry land it managed across the South Island.<\/p>\n
![\"Sedgemere](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sedgemere-lakes-taken-from-mount-tarndale-TQ7DC3F4VZGMRKQ77NZYVDHEIU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Sedgemere Lakes, taken from Mount Tarndale. (Source: Department of Conversation)<\/p>\n
The appointment was not yet final. As the preferred operator, Ng\u0101i Tahu Farming would now be invited to apply for a concession \u2014 the formal permit required to carry out commercial farming on conservation land.<\/p>\n
The concession application would be publicly notified, allowing people to make submissions before a final decision.<\/p>\n
DOC said the concession would set out how public access, along with weed and pest management, would be maintained or improved.<\/p>\n
Weston said the department received several strong applications.<\/p>\n
“DOC ran a thorough process, weighed up a range of expert advice and materials, and made a decision in the best interest of Molesworth, one of New Zealand’s truly special places,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I want to thank the five parties who submitted applications as a lot of work clearly went into them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new operator has been announced for the country’s largest farm, with Ng\u0101i Tahu Farming chosen by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1122599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3843],"tags":[51,3928,728,471,305617,70,16,15],"class_list":["post-1122598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-business","tag-conservation","tag-environment","tag-farming","tag-marlborough","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117015963891830546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1122598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1122599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}