Hunters Fighting Hunger: We Hunt Food Charitable Trust

An initiative is turning an agricultural headache - overabundant deer populations damaging crops - into a solution that addresses food insecurity in Southland. In an example of community problem-solving, We Hunt Food Charitable Trust is helping deer hunters turn their successful days in the bush into protein-rich venison for foodbanks.

Roy Sloan, General Manager of the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, talked to us about how this initiative is transforming nuisance deer into nutritious meals for those in need. We Hunt Food follows a simple process. Hunters go out and shoot deer on farms in Southland, then donate the meat to We Hunt Food. The organisation then raises money to pay for the venison processing at a local butcher, ensuring it meets MPI standards and provides foodbanks with high-quality, healthy protein. Through a partnership with KiwiHarvest, the processed venison is distributed to foodbanks around Southland at an incredibly low cost - around $4.00 per kilo for mince and $6.00 per kilo for sausages. “A kilo of mince can feed a family of four for two evenings, and there’s all that good protein going into families,” Roy added. This initiative not only helps feed families struggling with food insecurity, but also assists farmers by reducing deer populations and supporting conservation efforts.

What started with a project that gave tons of venison to foodbanks during Covid has snowballed into We Hunt Food, which - since its offi cial launch in March - has seen over 700 kilograms of protein-rich meat landing in the hands of those who need it. Roy said We Hunt Food aims to help address the problem of food insecurity in New Zealand – a problem that often hits closer to home than we expect.

“People don’t realise that the pressure on food banks has increased hugely since Covid. We hear stories from overseas about food insecurity issues, but we’ve realised that people don’t know what’s going on in their own backyards. People are struggling to feed their families. It’s not just who you think it is, it could be families with big mortgages who are just trying to hang on to their house. The problem is kind of spreading,” Roy explained. “That’s why this is so necessary.”

The pandemic disrupted the venison export market, leading to deer numbers booming and encroaching on farmland in the area. From a conservation, food security, and community perspective, the We Hunt Food Charitable Trust addresses several key issues. For this reason, Roy shared that the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation aims to broaden its hunting and distribution zones beyond Southland and into other areas of New Zealand, enabling hunters from various regions across the country to contribute donated meat as well. “If there was a body in, say, Canterbury that wanted to use our Trust as a vehicle to start this up in that region, we would definitely allow that,” Roy said.

While We Hunt Food has put over 700kg of venison into foodbanks since March, the majority of its processing has been self-funded by the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation. With the Trust looking to expand to cover hunting areas across wider New Zealand, raising enough money to cover the processing of meat in each district is a focus for We Hunt Food. Roy said the issue in Southland so far is not the amount of meat being donated, but instead having the financial capacity to process it all. “What’s controlling the venison coming in is the money we have to pay to get it done. We have to keep the number of hunters down to about a dozen, but the problem is some people can shoot ten deer a day or night, so there’s an abundance out there. We’re inundated; there’s no shortage of meat. There’s just that shortage of financial support.”

The quality of the donated meat is a priority for the Trust.

“Number one for us is making sure our food quality is very high. People talk about venison being a low-quality product, when in fact, venison is probably the number one healthiest red meat on the planet,” Roy said. “The problem for foodbanks is sourcing good, healthy protein. We want to make sure we’re sending a good-quality product out.”

The We Hunt Food Charitable Trust is looking for financial sponsors to help make the most of the large amount of venison hunters are willing to donate. The Trust currently partners with KiwiHarvest for distribution and a local butcher, The Grocer, who processes the meat. Roy told us that a $15,000 sponsorship or donation would put five tons of quality venison into foodbanks, and open up the opportunity for more hunters to hunt for good. “There’s a great opportunity there for a sponsor to come on board.”

People can donate to We Hunt Food through the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation’s website (FWF.net.nz) where they can find the We Hunt Food page and a link to donate. For hunters wanting to supply deer, there are contact details on the same page with instructions on participating. Roy emphasised that every $4 donated can provide a kilo of mince to families and individuals in need. Potential donors can visit the website or contact the organisation directly to contribute to this community-focused initiative.

The Fiordland Wapiti Foundation has been managing conservation and venison in Southland for a long time, and saw We Hunt Food as an opportunity to give back to the community. “A long-term goal for us is seeing other places in New Zealand do this in their own regions. Our goal is, if we can get everyone stepping up and helping out a little bit here and there, we’ll see some successful, big outcomes,” Roy said.

“No one looks for a pat on the back. It’s just about feeding our communities.”