Kōanga Institute

The Kōanga Institute is a renowned charitable trust and education centre located near Wairoa in northern Hawke’s Bay. Widely regarded as guardians of Aotearoa’s food heritage, Kōanga holds New Zealand’s largest national collection of organic heritage seeds and food plants — with 800+ heritage vegetable cultivars and 400+ fruit and berry varieties — alongside the stories, whakapapa, and community relationships that have carried these taonga forward.

Most of Kōanga’s collection is made up of New Zealand heritage lines that have been grown here for multiple generations, selected for flavour, nutrition, resilience, and suitability to local soils and climate. Their approach is “beyond organic”: a biological, soil-first growing system designed to build mineral-rich, microbially active soils and support truly nutrient-dense plants.

Kōanga primarily grows for seed production, plant collection stewardship, and research rather than fresh-produce sales. Their gardens and production systems include rare and endangered heritage vegetables, grains, fruit trees, berries, perennials, and traditional greens. They also operate as a major regenerative education hub, offering workshops, guided tours (by booking), online learning, and publications on seed saving, permaculture, forest gardening, regenerative living, and related practical skills.

Their wider mission is community resilience and self-reliance. Through initiatives such as the Kōanga Kai kaupapa, they support whānau and communities to establish home and communal gardens, helping strengthen local food security while keeping heritage genetics alive in living systems.