Photo: 123rf
- 10 percent rise in productivity possible through diversifying farming and technology
- Lincoln University report tests trade offs between environmental and economic priorities
- Farmer mindset changes needed to bring change
A new report suggests the country needs to change its thinking about it uses agricultural land to get better productivity and economic returns from farmers.
The Lincoln University report, The Future Use of Land and How to Fund It, examines a range of scenarios driven by the need to control greehouse gas emissions or increase export returns.
Alan Renwick of Lincoln University said the report looked at optimising the use of land, with a challenge of how to meet economic, environmental and social goals simultaneously.
"This requires practical, future-focused solutions - like integrating horticulture into traditional pastoral systems, developing on-farm processing to capture more value locally, or growing Māori agribusinesses around high-value niche products like manuka honey or native botanicals."
He said there were examples of how this was being done already but it needed to happen at scale for real returns to the economy.
Every hectare matters
ASB Bank backed the report and said it was offering a new programme to support the ideas and their implementation.
General manager of rural banking Aiden Gent said the report offered insights and tools to help farmers make informed decisions.
He said farmers were commited to their land but needed to show changes in mindset to do more within the same farming footprint, rather than stick to one farming system such as dairying or sheep and beef.
The Every Hectare Matters programme would bbring together bank agri-specialists, outside experts, a land transition plan and a way to finance it.
"A key component of the programme is connecting farmers to farm-specific guidance on options and trade-offs for different land optimisation choices because we know no two farms are the same," Gent said.
