New Zealand’s primary sector underpins the economy and its export markets. These markets have ambitious environmental goals aimed at reducing risks related to consumer expectations, financial institution requirements, and loss of access to key ingredients from climatic change.
While many farmers are willing to make the changes needed to protect the environment and sustain their businesses, others are overwhelmed by information overload and the complexity of the multiple systems and pressures they face.
Providing more information, tools or technologies will not bring about the scale of change required. To empower real change, our research addresses the often-ignored human dimension of the systems affecting farmers and growers (e.g. financial, market, policy, societal/community) to identify places in these systems to intervene (or leverage points) that will reduce pressures coming from these interacting systems.
Key research areas
The programme spans five key areas:
- Systems and agency. Describes the complex mix of systems that influence farmer/grower decision making and investigates the source of conflicting pressures.
- Policy interventions. Tests effective, low-cost voluntary interventions to influence environmental decision making.
- Investment practices. Explores potential alternative financial lending models, and maps how to better facilitate successful transitions for Māori agribusiness from establishment to commercial sustainability.
- Agents of change. Examines approaches used by ‘non-traditional’ change agents to improve their efficacy.
- Narratives. Understands social/community narratives so as to positively reframe them to encourage greater environmental action.
Research team
The research is a collaboration between research institutes (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (MWLR), the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences [GNS], CSIRO (Australia), universities (Otago, Waikato, Lincoln, Canterbury, Maine (USA), Göttingen (Germany)), consultancies (Matatihi, Earth Quotient, LHL Consulting, Deliberate, Cunningham Consultants, Urban Intelligence), regional councils (Southland, Waikato) and industry (Beef+Lamb NZ).
Key contacts
