Vector Group Charitable Trust publishes this account so regional funders, councils, community groups, and whānau can see what we have built in Te Puke and the Western Bay since 2011 — and why we are asking for genuine consultation on kai resilience planning.

We support collaboration. We have shared resources, opened projects to visitors, gifted plants, hosted youth in alternative education, and backed other organisations when whānau need food. What we question is a pattern where our work is used as context while the trust is excluded from planning, not named on regional materials, not invited to hui, and not consulted on manuals — then treated as outsiders in our own community.

What we have built (documented delivery)

Since 2011, Vector Group has invested in Te Puke and the wider Bay:

• Among the first community fridges and pātaka kai models in Te Puke
• Kiwifruit bin distribution and practical food access before “kai resilience” became sector language
• An established tropical urban food forest at Troppo — years of growing, documentation, and education at local scale
• 50,000+ food-forest and vegetable plants gifted to community growers (cumulative, 2011–present — around 5,000 a year)
• 5,000+ food-forest and vegetable plants gifted directly to the community in a typical year (giveaways, events, schools, and kai projects — 2026 on that pace)
• Kai Resilience Education through alternative education pathways in Te Puke
• January 2017 youth survey on belonging — structured local research before later sector collaboratives formalised
• Lineage from Pāpāmoa community gardens and regional growing mentors — see Troppo articles
• COVID-era food response using networks built over years — not a late entry when funding appeared
• Digital infrastructure: KaiResilience.food, Nursery Map, Grow Te Puke, Crop Swap Te Puke, Food Forest Tours, and more — programme overview

Our pioneer record is documented for trustees and funders. We are not a new group seeking a seat at someone else’s table. We helped build the table.

Growing methods we practice, trial, and teach

Regional plans often use one label — “food forest” or “syntropic” — for everything. On the ground, Vector Group and Troppo work across a full stack of systems. We teach the difference between methods, not blur them for marketing.

Food forests and regenerative ground systems

• Layered food forests — canopy, sub-canopy, shrubs, herbs, ground cover, roots, and climbers
• Tropical and subtropical urban food forests — Bay of Plenty–adapted species (Troppo as demonstration site)
• Syntropic agroforestry — succession-based planting, biomass cycles, stratification, pruning, and disturbance management
• Permaculture and regenerative design — polycultures, soil building, water-wise layout, biodiversity
• In-ground planting, raised beds, vege pods, urban edible landscapes, vertical food forests

Protected, tunnel, and controlled environments

• Polytunnel and tunnel-house growing; greenhouse propagation; grow-tent cultivation; automated grow environments for research and demonstration

Hydroponics and soilless systems

• Full hydroponic systems; DWC and RDWC; hydroponic towers; Autopot systems; air-pruning beds and containers

Propagation, nursery, and exchange

• Seed saving, cuttings, marcotting, grafting; nursery propagation; Crop Swap Te Puke; Nurserymap.nz

Soil health, education, and access

• Hot and cold composting; vermiculture; mulching and chop-and-drop; Food Forest Tours; workshops and alternative-education horticulture; community fridges and pātaka kai; RegenOS (in development)

When Western Bay networks run hui on food forests and syntropic agroforestry, these are methods we already operate — including tunnels, hydro, automation, and composting — often years before they appeared in regional documents. Excluding us from planning does not make that work disappear.

Mana Kai Mana Ora and the Regional Kai Resilience Network

Mana Kai Mana Ora (MKMO) describes a Western Bay food sovereignty and security direction — values we share: manaakitanga, rangatiratanga, ūkaipotanga, kotahitanga, kaitiakitanga.

The wider network meets quarterly at the Regional Kai Resilience Network Hui. Public conversation also runs through the Regional Kai Resilience Network Facebook group.

The MKMO brand domain manakaimanaora.nz was registered on 1 June 2023 (.nz WHOIS: Active; expires 1 June 2027) — no consultation with Vector Group, already delivering kai in Te Puke since 2011. That domain later hosts the plan PDF.

Yet Vector Group — with operational food forests, pantries, propagation at scale, education, tunnels, hydro systems, and digital platforms — was not consulted when the regional plan was produced. The MKMO plan (June 2024) is published without evidence of engagement with us. Our reading: omission without consultation:

Mana Kai Mana Ora plan (PDF)

We have searched MKMO materials, network pages, and related sites. We do not see Vector Group named alongside work we have delivered for more than fifteen years. That omission shapes who funders, councils, and the public believe “leads” kai resilience in Te Puke.

We have also publicly challenged factual errors in MKMO’s October 2024 article conflating syntropic agroforestry with food forests — see accuracy in regional education materials.

The Kawenata covenant: who is “in,” who is not

MKMO’s Kawenata Covenant — “Thriving Together” lists endorsing organisations in the plan PDF: councils, government agencies, funders, community organisations (including The Hub and Colab), and named iwi entities.

Vector Group Charitable Trust is not listed.

Founder record: none of those named endorsers consulted with Vector Group about the MKMO plan or kai strategy, or engaged us one-on-one about our Te Puke kai delivery (since 2011). The full name list is in the PDF; we do not repeat every name here.

We are not asking for ceremonial credit. We are asking why a Te Puke charity that pioneered community food access, food forests, propagation at scale, hydro and tunnel trials, and kai education is absent from a covenant about the same outcomes — while Colab is listed and named endorsers did not consult or engage us.

Colab: collaboration offered, visits not made

Vector Group contributed to what became Colab (Te Puke Social Sector Collaborative) in 2017–2018:

• Venue for early Colab meetings
• Initial Colab logo concept (distributed to 61+ stakeholders)
• Advocacy for Te Tiriti o Waitangi alignment and genuine inclusion
• Youth survey data — first structured youth research in that forum
• Working-group participation (vision, mission, values, and youth engagement)

We were later excluded from Colab’s kai resilience and food-security formation despite having started that work locally. Documented on our side:

• August 2018 — formal concerns raised in writing on Treaty obligations and inclusion; withdrawal from Colab working groups
• May 2025 — not notified of a Colab food security group meeting; prior minutes not supplied; earlier tour offer unacknowledged
• Colab initiatives staff contacted us to visit our food forest and kai resilience setup — the visit never happened
• Colab trustees, connected hub and café organisations, and other network members did not visit despite expressed interest
• September 2025 — re-engagement only after seeing our work online; positioning Colab as “head” initiative for Te Puke kai resilience — declined until relational issues are addressed

Colab appears on the MKMO Kawenata. Vector Group does not — despite full collaboration on our part when we were still included.

Regional network contacts and the visit that did not happen

Our records show regional kai resilience planning contacts across the Bay of Plenty Kai Resilience Network, Mana Kai Mana Ora, Western Bay kai resilience planning, Poutiri Trust, and Colab.

Approximately 18 months ago (about January 2025 relative to mid-2026), Amy Board of Mana Kai Mana Ora — part of the COLAB / Te Puke–Maketū kai resilience strategy — contacted the trust to arrange a visit to see our kai resilience work — Troppo, growing systems, tunnels, hydro, and community infrastructure. Stephen replied agreeing. That visit has not occurred. As of the week of 13 July 2026, that is roughly 18 months with no visit. Exact email date to be filed from the partnership archive. That visit ask came after VGCT had already been left out of the June 2024 MKMO plan.

Separately, Clint Reha (COLAB Initiatives) asked to visit on 13 March 2025; Stephen agreed the same day. As of the week of 13 July 2026 that lapse is 16 months (487 days) — also no visit.

Meanwhile, regional planning and network activity has continued — including documents covering Te Puke — without substantive consultation with Vector Group, despite operational sites, public documentation, pioneer delivery predating the current network structure, and KaiResilience.food digital infrastructure.

Public COLAB materials (including Mall Planet “Kai Resilience | COLAB”) present Te Puke / Maketū Kai Resilience as a COLAB-supported collective guided by Mana Kai Mana Ora. On the evidence that framing is incomplete: it omits Vector Group’s longstanding delivery, MKMO non-consultation, Kawenata asymmetry (COLAB listed; VGCT not), the unfinished visits MKMO and COLAB Initiatives themselves initiated, and Western Bay District Council’s role — named on the Kawenata and partnered with COLAB — without one-on-one engagement, consultation, or substantive reply from council representatives connected with that kai strategy when VGCT raised the gaps (Matt Leighton reply 26 June 2026 deferred COLAB non-consultation facts into process language and routed the food-forest proposal to the Kai Resilience Network; Stephen’s 9 July 2026 follow-up awaiting substantive second reply as of mid-July 2026).

We have backed Poutiri services in public posts when whānau need pantries and support. Reciprocity is a two-way street. Sharing pantry details does not replace being consulted on regional strategy that defines who counts in Western Bay food security.

Correspondence: investment made, clear replies not received

Exclusion is not only visible on websites and covenant PDFs. It shows up in our inbox.

Over recent years Vector Group has sent numerous emails and formal letters (archived in partnership records) to:

• Western Bay of Plenty District Council — community planning, Long Term Plan submissions, community food forest proposal, matching-fund context
• Regional and local funders — applications, process concerns, requests for fair engagement
• Colab / Colab Trust
• The Hub, The Daily, Search Party Charitable Trust, and other Colab-network organisations

Those messages asked direct questions:

• Why is Vector Group excluded from kai resilience and food-security formation when we pioneered this work in Te Puke?
• Why no consultation on regional plans (including Mana Kai Mana Ora) that cover our rohe?
• Why no site visit after repeated offers to show Troppo, propagation, tunnels, hydro, automation, and community systems?
• Why no invitation to Regional Kai Resilience Network hui?
• Why no substantive response explaining the silence?

Clear, written explanations of exclusion have not been received. Visits promised did not happen. Planning continued. Public materials continued without Vector Group.

We invested in the same charity sector

This is not Vector Group standing apart from the community. We invested heavily in the same ecosystem:

• Colab formation — venue, logo, Treaty advocacy, youth data, working groups
• The Daily — substantial in-kind pre-launch contribution; sponsorship declined
• Community events — sound gear, photography, and film for community openings — often without donation or reciprocity
• Database and infrastructure — Te Puke Directory and volunteering systems built before similar sector plans; uptake requests to four non-profits declined
• Public backing of whānau-facing food services while omitted from regional strategy and covenant endorser lists

We are registered charities working beside registered charities. We ask again: why investment and collaboration on our side, but exclusion when credit, planning, hui, and funding are allocated?

Correspondence on this pattern is archived for trustees and regulators. We will share that record with any funder or council officer who needs an accurate picture of Te Puke’s kai resilience history.

What we are asking

1. Why was Vector Group not consulted on the MKMO plan or subsequent network decisions affecting Te Puke?
2. Why are we absent from the Mana Kai Mana Ora public story and from the Kawenata endorser list while Colab is included?
3. Why no invitation to Regional Kai Resilience Network hui when our food forests, growing methods, education, and platforms match what those hui describe?
4. Why commit to a site visit and not follow through — while planning proceeds as if we do not exist?
5. Why have emails and letters to council, funders, Colab Trust, The Hub, and The Daily asking for consultation and inclusion not received a clear, written explanation?
6. Given documented in-kind investment in the same charity network, what is the ethical basis for planning Western Bay food security without Vector Group at the table?
7. How should funders interpret a regional plan that omits the organisation that operationalised kai resilience in Te Puke first?

What we offer now

• Visit Troppo — food forests, tunnels, hydro, grow tents, automation, propagation, and composting in one operational site
• Read our about and kai resilience pages
• Correct the public record on MKMO, covenant, and network materials if omission was oversight
• Invite Vector Group to the next Regional Kai Resilience Network Hui as practitioners, not afterthoughts
• Meet with council and funders using our archived correspondence if a factual review is required

Western Bay food security will not be credible if planning honours institutions more than operators — or if “collaboration” means we give, while others name, fund, and convene without us.

We have carried direction and magnitude in Te Puke for fifteen years. The community deserves an honest map of who built what — and a regional process that finally acts like it.

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