The secret is out – Central Hawkes Bay offers an unbeatable combination of lifestyle, community, and economic opportunity. It’s a compelling reason to set up business and make a home there.
Central Hawkes Bay District covers an area of 333,450 hectares with a population of 12,948. There are two main towns in Central Hawkes Bay - Waipukurau and Waipawa - with a number of smaller townships including Otane, Takapau, Tikokino, Porangahau and Ongaonga.
State Highway 2 runs through the centre of Central Hawkes Bay leading south to Palmerston North and the Wairarapa and north to Hastings and Napier. The nearest north and south cities to Waipukurau are Hastings, 50 kilometres, and Palmerston North, 108 kilometres. It is 70 kilometres to Napier Port and 75 kilometres to Hawkes Bay Airport in Napier. The railway runs through Central Hawkes Bay with one station at Waipukurau. This is the main line running from Wellington, via Palmerston North, to Napier.
The region’s ‘bread and butter’ is sheep and beef farming, pip and stone fruit, vegetable and grain crops, and dairy farming. But today many other kinds of businesses are choosing to set up in the centre of Hawkes Bay.
The limestone hills and ancient riverbeds are ideal grape growing conditions and there are a number of established vineyards throughout the Central Hawkes Bay district. The region shows much promise for the cooler climate white varieties and for Pinot Noir. The altitude is higher, so the cooler climate varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Merlot ripen later than in the more maritime climate of northern Hawkes Bay. The resultant wines therefore have distinctive and attractive aromas and flavours.
Central Hawkes Bay is well serviced, with excellent shopping and many cafes, restaurants and hotels to enjoy, as well as health facilities, an ambulance service, dentists and doctors and retirement homes.
Central Hawkes Bay is a large contributor to the world food chain. Seven of the Mr Apple NZ 14 Hawkes Bay orchards are located here, with the 104 hectared orchard in Tikokino producing over 350,000 cartons every season from six varieties. Annually 1.8 million cartons of the apples are packed for New Zealand markets and for export to European and UK markets.
The district also supports a large rural sector – sheep, beef and venison producers and processors, large dairy units. Bernard Matthew’s New Zealand lamb is processed in Waipukurau, for the UK markets and Silver Fern Farms Limited, New Zealand’s foremost meat-marketing and processing company, has a processing plant in Takapau.
As well as the luscious paeony, Central Hawkes Bay exports honey and bees, squash, asparagus and organic beef, lamb and apples to world markets - and 1000 tonnes of spuds to Auckland – every year.
The area’s also a big part of Hawkes Bay Wine Country with tourism businesses, export-related producers such as in meat processing, and fishing contractors adding to the region’s value year by year.