{"id":2178,"date":"2018-05-06T17:30:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T05:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2018-07-01T20:11:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T08:11:27","slug":"arama-kukutai-on-israel-agritech-and-nz-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2018\/05\/arama-kukutai-on-israel-agritech-and-nz-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Arama Kukutai on Israel Agritech and NZ opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In part 1 of our\u00a0focus on Israel <\/a>agritech\u00a0we gave a brief overview of some of the links between Israel and New Zealand. Arama Kukutai is at the forefront of some of those links and spoke with the Israel Institute of New Zealand:<\/p>\n

What’s your background and how did you get involved with Israeli technology?<\/h3>\n

My whakapapa goes back to Ngati Tipa, (Tainui), Maniapoto and Te Aupouri on my father’s side; and Scottish roots on my mother’s side. Our whanau was fortunate to retain farmland in Waikato and we still have an operating farm in the Port Waikato area on our ancestral land. Many of my whanau were followers of the Parihaka leader, Tohu Kakahi<\/a> having immigrated to Parihaka in the years of the NZ Wars. My grandmother’s whanau was brought up in Taranaki and I have strong linkages there. Parihaka and Turangawaewae were the maraes I spent most time at when I was growing up.<\/p>\n

I attended high school in the Waikato and went to Victoria University and my working life began at the Westpac Banking Corporation at a time when M\u0101ori organizations were beginning to actively develop forestry, farming, and fishing assets. In Taranaki I was elected to the Board of PKW Incorporation, where we developed more active farming rather than just long term leasing. Around the same time we had a settlement after many decades of our families activism for recognition of land rights by the New Zealand government, which was and remains a complex process with many stakeholders.<\/p>\n

For over a decade I was actively involved in developing the dairy farming platform with PKW, based around converting land into dairy and consolidating smaller dairy farms plots into efficient, larger scale operations. The economic goal was to move away from being passive rent takers and to become active farming participants. PKW has a 25,000 hectare portfolio with shareholders from Iwi and hapu groups across Taranaki in particular. This was a time when relationships between M\u0101ori and local farmers were transforming, from one of antagonism over occupied land, to a scenario of a close collegiality, particularly as PKW were now active buyers for farm improvements as well as the long term landlord. The government helped to facilitate the settlement – farmers, PKW, and broader Iwi played a role in creating a collaborative approach to developing assets and creating a platform for our people to come back into farming. A significant amount of revenue from commercial enterprises goes back into a charitable trust for purposes such as educational scholarships, marae grants, reinvestment back into infrastructure, environmental projects, and PKW investments like Fisheries.<\/p>\n

During this period I was exposed to the many new technologies coming out of agriculture, which led to my involvement with Israel. In the late 90’s, on my first trip to Israel I got to see what Israeli dairy and agricultural technology companies were doing to improve efficiency and quality animal husbandry, especially in health status. Also Israeli trade and commerce interests.\u00a0facilitated by their Ambassador and trade attaches were very active in NZ promoting Israeli technology\u00a0from companies like Afimilk and SCR as well as other sectors, like energy. In fact the Tuaropaki Trust in Taupo was a first mover in this area, with their Trustees creating a partnership with Ormat to develop one of the leading private geothermal stations in NZ<\/a> – creating jobs locally and sustainable revenue for their people.<\/p>\n

After 10 years in finance and Iwi development I was appointed Regional Director of NZTE, Santa Monica.\u00a0I had helped NZ Trade develop their first M\u0101ori Enterprise team to start export businesses which included the first M\u0101ori owned winery, Tohu<\/a>, and working with the burgeoning fisheries sector. These interests in resources and agriculture made me aware of how technology could transform sustainability and profitability which led to the journey I am now on. \u00a0I decided at the end of my role to stay in the US to explore opportunities in Agtech and was fortunate to meet my co-founder at Finistere, Dr Jerry Calder.\u00a0 We started Finistere as a vehicle to invest in and explore the agriculture technology investor space. Based on the thesis that technology in agriculture can help create greater capability to feed a growing population, but do so sustainably. Today we have offices in Europe, Israel, and the US West Coast and are looking to expand further including back home into New Zealand.<\/p>\n

What are your links to Israel currently?<\/h3>\n

Israel is one of the leading centers of excellence in Agtech and has been for many years. As Finistere was raising our latest fund, we decided we needed to have presence on the ground. We were fortunate to build on our partnership with Yarden Group founders, Gil Meron and Eyal Rosenthal, who represent us in Israel. Around four years ago we started developing our active pipeline there which resulted in investments in CropX and Taranis which are two of our start up companies.<\/p>\n