Full-length interview from the film Hua Parakore: Living Indigenous Food Sovereignty

Hua Parakore provides a framework using Indigenous values – Māori principles – for producing natural food without chemical inputs or GMO. It also encapsulates the Māori worldview in its approach to how food growers are verified as Hua Parakore, with principles that require practitioners to deeply consider such things as their connection with the land, its energy, the many species living on it, and their community.

Question timecodes

0:55: What was this land like when you arrived here?

3:28: Could you speak about the origin of the farm’s name, Papawhakaritorito?

4:48: What is Hua Parakore?

9:35: What are the core principles of Hua Parakore?

11:28: Could you elaborate on the core principle of ‘Whakapapa’?

15:25: Could you elaborate on the core principle of ‘Te Ao Tūroa’?

16:54: Could you elaborate on the core principle of ‘Mauri’?

19:52: Could you elaborate on the core principle of ‘Māramatanga’?

24:29: Could you elaborate on the core principle of ‘Mana’?

26:26: Could you elaborate on the core principle of ‘Wairua’?

27:45: What is the worldview behind the Hua Parakore framework?

31:05: How does Hua Parakore differ from organic certification schemes?

33:16: How does the process of becoming Hua Parakore verified differ to organic certification?

36:04: Could you speak to how biodynamics is incorporated into your Hua Parakore practice at Papawhakaritorito?39:51: Could you explore the connections between healthy soil and healthy people?

42:16: What does the phrase food sovereignty mean?

48:42: What advice would you give to someone wanting to engage with Hua Parakore?

49:36: What place is there in Hua Parakore for Pākehā [non-Māori New Zealanders]?

51:07: How can Pākehā support Māori food sovereignty more generally?

53:41: How relevant is Hua Parakore beyond Aotearoa New Zealand?

56:13: How important is seed saving in the Hua Parakore framework?