Waikato – Farm science central
Settlement Support Coordinator
Lucia Reijgersberg
Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust
PO Box 4340 Hamilton 3247
Claudelands Park
Boundary Road, Hamilton 3214
Phone:
07 853 2192, 07 959 1982
Visit the SSNZ Hamilton website
Compare with another region
The Waikato region takes its name from New Zealand’s longest river, the Waikato, which flows from Lake Taupo in the Central Plateau for some 425 kilometres to the Tasman sea.
Along this fertile land, centred on the City of Hamilton - the first city south of Auckland - a range of farms and associated industries have prospered.
The two most notable are now a world famous thoroughbred industry, and the heart and soul of New Zealand’s dairy industry. Fonterra, one of the country’s largest companies and the largest individual dairy products supplier in the world, has its base and was born in the Waikato. A range of land-based industries have also developed around these activities.
Hamilton also benefits from an excellent central location that has made it the logical place to put the region’s key university, teacher’s college, technical institute, hospital and nurse training.
Hamilton once hosted the government’s largest agricultural research facility, and research and development are key contributors to the economy. There is a proud history of agricultural innovation, including the electric fence, aerial top dressing, and high end biotechnology. It’s also home to the National Agricultural Fieldays, the largest agricultural tradeshow in the Southern Hemisphere.
Being a little further south than Auckland, and with few coastal areas (other than the world famous surf break of Raglan), temperatures range from a warmer recorded high of 34°C to a frostier low of -9°C, but the average is about the same.
Rainfall and wind are both about 20% less than Auckland. Population breaks are average for the country – a little over 12% of the region’s residents are over 65, a little under 23% are under 15.
