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Annual reports

As the Crown Research Institute for our land environment and biodiversity we are dedicated to helping the people of Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ) understand and live well with our land.

Cover: Annual Report 2023/24

The Manaaki Whenua Annual Report for the 2023/24 year is the second to reflect “Te Āpōpōtanga”, our organisational strategy for the coming years.

We present the report in two parts. Part 1 provides an overview of Manaaki Whenua, including highlights of our science and how we are building on our commitment, signed in June 2021, to uphold the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in our work.

In Part 2 we present our directors' report and financial statements.

Download our 2024 reports

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Accompanying Innovation Stories 2024

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Marlborough District Council environmental science technician Zeke Hoskins (right) and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research technician Kishor Kumar (left) standing next to the mobile soil-sensing platform.

Scouting out soil data

Although the stony soils of the upper Wairau Valley, Marlborough, have underpinned the success of winemakers, they have made soil mapping...

Balin Robertson collecting soil samples by auger in Mokoreta, Southland.

S-map expands further

Manaaki Whenua has completed an extra 500,000 hectares of new soil mapping coverage across some of AoNZ’s best food-producing land.

Aerial imagery of the Hawke’s Bay region that shows layers of objects classified into at least 5 vegetation classes: forests, standalone trees, shelter belt and riparian wetland down to the smallest detail.

How data science can shape tree modelling for sustainable land management

A four-year data science programme involving a joint Aotearoa New Zealand-Singapore research team working to accelerate the development o...

A forest clearance in Tairua on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Closing the window of vulnerability

Most commercial forests in Aotearoa New Zealand are clear-fell harvested. Trees of harvest age are cut down in areas called coupes or com...

St John's wort beetles on plant stem

The gospel of St John’s wort: a phenomenal weed biocontrol success story

Like so many plants brought by Europeans to augment botanical and kitchen gardens in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in the 19th centu...

Field technician Emily Lawrence checks a wallaby bait feeder in Otaio Gorge, Hunters Hill in South Canterbury Photo: Graham Hickling

Hop to it: managing New Zealand’s marsupial menace

Wallabies arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th century, courtesy of Sir George Grey (Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 185...

th Nine proposed eco-evolutionary regions for ecosourcing. A, Ecosourcing regions overlaid onto New Zealand topographic map. B, Ecosourcing regions overlaid onto Regional Council regions.

New guidelines suggested for ecosourcing seed

When it comes to ecological restoration in Aotearoa New Zealand, obtaining plant seeds with a known local wild origin has been widely adv...

Mt Taranaki and Hangatahua / Stony River.

Tracking vertebrate pests using landscape genomics

The challenge in keeping an environment free of predators is to make sure any remaining populations of animals in other areas don’t reinv...

Zach Dewhurst and Hamish Maule carbon sampling near Ashburton.

Changing our SOCs – a progress report

Soil organic carbon is critical to soil health. It’s the basis of the soil food web and it plays an important role in maintaining soil st...

Cattle grazing under trees

How trees could turn down the heat

Like people keeping cool under beach umbrellas, cattle seek shade as the temperature rises. And for cows, even air temperatures in the lo...

Sheep on a station in Canterbury

New partnership targets deadly livestock disease

The fungus associated with facial eczema is common worldwide, but the toxicity of the Aotearoa New Zealand strain causes much more severe...

Cows graze a paddock on a Canterbury farm.

Carbon stocks – can ryegrass be beaten?

Around the world, soils under managed grasslands hold a lot of carbon: up to 22% of all land-based carbon stocks. How the land is manage...

Rural regulation th

Good farmers go SLO

In New Zealand, farmers and the largely urban general public are held to have differing views on what is meant by being a “good farmer”. ...

Rat | Kiore

Creating “cultural licence to operate” in pest control

Key to making research programmes successful is ensuring we have the social and cultural licence to operate says Kairangahau Māori Mahuru...

Data supermarket: land suitability for apples

Data supermarket on land use open for hungry minds

An online data ‘supermarket’ is open to anyone hungry for information about the food and fibre we can grow in Aotearoa New Zealand – now ...