The Department of Agriculture originated in 1892 from the Stock and Agriculture branches of Crown Lands. Fisheries joined it in 1972 and transferred to a separate ministry on 1 July 1995; Agriculture retained the MAF acronym and logo. The source then records a merger with Forestry on 1 March 1998, but calls the resulting body the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries. A July 1996 newspaper report transferred Tangaora and Kaharoa to the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research.
Keep the explicit scope label independent; no alias or company identity is inferred.