Kaikohe Berries

Duration: 2:13

Ambient music.

[Panning shot of workers picking strawberries in a covered berry farm]

[Logo appears: Kānoa Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit]

Tracey: It's an inspiration to work here.

[Mid-shot of Tracey Clausen, a Māori woman who stands in front of the berry tunnels. There are rows of strawberry plants behind her. She wears a yellow hi-vis vest and a sunhat]

[Text: Tracey Clausen – Supervisor, Kaikohe Berryfruit]

Tracey: You know, it's been a long time for some kind of work for us to have in Kaikohe for our people. I love it because every day I look at Putahi maunga, which is the maunga of Kaikohe, my grandmother's house that I was brought up in. 

[Drone footage of the Kaikohe Berryfruit farm from above, with the hills in the distance]

Tracey And so I've run up and down those roads and hills, and I love coming to work and seeing that every day and it's just a pleasure to be here and have work for our people.

[Various shots of workers picking strawberries in the berry farm]

Tracey: Whether they're young or old. We're all out here doing it.

[Mid-shot of Kim Timperly, a Māori woman who wears glasses and a yellow hi-vis polo shirt]

[Text: Kim Timperly – Supervisor, Kaikohe Berryfruit]

Kim: My family is buried in the urupa at the cemetery, just a few hundred metres down the road. So this place is really close to my heart. I walked all around here dragging firewood up when I was a little kid with my nan, dragging it to the house, cut it with a handsaw, going around the back of the school, in the dam, picking the watercress.

[Various shots of Kim at work. She’s moving crates of berrys on the back of a truck and checking things off a list on a clipboard]

Kim: So yeah, this really means a lot to me, to me, my whānau is looking at me here, at what we're trying to accomplish.

[Mid-shot of Wayne Rogers, a Maori man who wears a check shirt. He stands inside the cafeteria at Ngawha Innovation & Enterprise Park]

[Text: Wayne Rogers – Ngāwha Innovation & Enterprise Park]

Wayne: I get motivated when I see them coming out of their work happy. And then returning back to their family. That they've got work local. I think that's the that's real significant for me, because I've been here in Kaikohe when times were very tough and we lived through those times when my mum and dad were alive. And so to be able to have something that would be of benefit for people locally is truly a blessing.

[Drone footage moving through the tunnels of the berry farm. There are rows and rows of strawberry plants with ripe berries]

Kim: We do everything from laying weed mat to planting plants to picking. Variety, everything. You can be doing something one day and then something totally different next day. Just everything.

[Mid-shot of Kim as she continues speaking]

Kim: I haven't quite had that before. You know on the job, I've always solidly being a supervisor. But here I can get dirty, I can get patu again. I love it.

[Drone footage of the Kaikohe Berryfruit farm from above, with the hills in the distance]

[Logos appear: Kānoa Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Hīkina Whakatutuki, Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa New Zealand Government]

Music fades.

[Fade to black]

Duration: 1:52

Ambient music.

[Panning shot of workers picking strawberries in a covered berry farm]

[Logo appears: Kānoa Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit]

[Mid-shot of Todd Jackson. He is a pakeha man wearing a blue checked shirt. He stands in amongst the rows of strawberrys in the shade tunnels at the berry farm]

[Text: Todd Jackson – General Manager, Kaikohe Berryfruit]

Todd: The biggest impact I've seen is the pride of what the community has in terms of what we're doing here because we're employing so many people, so many local people.

[Mid-shot of Tracey Clausen, a Māori woman who stands in front of the berry tunnels. There are rows of strawberry plants behind her. She wears a yellow hi-vis vest and a sunhat]

[Text: Tracey Clausen – Supervisor, Kaikohe Berryfruit]

Tracey: It's very, it's a great opportunity. And I myself didn't think I'd become a supervisor. And I'm just really rapt to have that opportunity to work with the people that I work with. And good for our little town of Kaikohekohe.

[Various shots from inside the shade tunnels of the berry farm. The strawberry plants are laden with ripe berries, and workers pick them.]

[Mid-shot of Kim Timperly, a Māori woman who wears glasses and a yellow hi-vis polo shirt. She stands under the shade tunnels at the berry farm]

[Text: Kim Timperly – Supervisor, Kaikohe Berryfruit]

Kim: I'd like to think our mokos will have a good footing in a job, their children will have a footing in jobs up here. To me, it's really important to make it work. It's not for me, I've kind of done my thing.

[Various shots of Kim at work. She’s moving crates of berrys on the back of a truck and checking things off a list on a clipboard]

Kim: But it's for our kids, our mokos, other people, you know, it's opportunity.

[Drone footage from inside the shade tunnels of the berry farm focusses on the healthy strawberry plants and ripe berries. A handful of workers in hi-vis pick berries]

Tracey: My hope is that it keeps going, it keeps expanding. And we have more of our families be employed, especially in Kaikohe.

[Mid-shot of Tracey as she continues speaking]

Tracey: It's enjoyable, it's fun, we laughing all day in and that's what it is. You want to wake up in the morning, you want to be happy. Yes, I want to go to work.

[Drone footage showing the berry farm and shade tunnels from above with the hills in the distance]

Todd: At the moment, we've got three hectares in production and we've got 35 people on site.

[Mid-shot of Todd as he continues speaking]

Todd: And this time next year, we're going to have 10 hectares of strawberries in operation and production and we will have 100 people on site.

[Mid-shot of Kim as she speaks]

Kim: Kaikohe is going to be a whole different place in a few years. It's what we need.

[Footage of a Māori man at the berry farm stacking crates of strawberries into a truck.]

Kim: And some have worked forever, some haven't, some are young and starting off.

[Mid-shot of Kim as she continues speaking]

I'd like to stay here until I'm 68 and had enough, I told Todd.

[Drone footage of the Kaikohe Berryfruit farm from above, with the hills in the distance]

[Logos appear: Kānoa Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Hīkina Whakatutuki, Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa New Zealand Government]

Music fades.

[Fade to black]