Lincoln University Digital Dissertation - Lincoln University Research ...

wide range of cultivars we see today. Growers see the significant contribution
taewa have had as a resource and claim ownership – citing historic
cultivation.
“There is some controversy really whether these spuds belong to Maori.
Some say that because we have had them for so long and we have kept the
varieties going at least we should have the number one position [recognition]
in New Zealand. We know they probably came from overseas and other
countries… it is something that’s traditional, it’s cultural and has been part of
our upbringing… these crops, taewa, probably when the whalers and other
early settlers came, well Maori saw this crop and hung onto it more then any
other settlers of New Zealand. At this point in time I think Maori are the ones
keeping these varieties going.” (Grower 3)
“I always argue that since the whalers and sealers we are talking over 200
years. We have kept these [taewa] breeds going. We kept them going
because we say we had a whakapapa to them, our people had certain areas
where we grew those types of spuds [potatoes] and we kept them going. Why
I call them Maori spuds is because we nurtured them for 200-300 years. We
have still got them today. It is the same spud that was brought out by the
whalers and sealers, but there are some Maori that say they were here before
the Pakeha ever came. Maori were great voyagers, our furthest ring of
Polynesian islands is Easter Island. Now Peru is just across the water…”
(Grower 2)
“I’ve got a farming background, my parents and grandparents were farmers so
we have always, you know, been land-based and in the old days my
grandparents and parents always had their own seed which they kept, so we
were always growing certain varieties of these Maori taewa… different
varieties have always been in the family.” (Grower 3)
There is a real sense that the relationship Maori have with taewa goes beyond
contemporary appreciation and classification of an ‘indigenous’ species, which
is simply based on where a species originated. Many growers find this view
36