The Provincial Growth Fund has provided $400,000 to support the launch of a rural innovation lab, aimed to accelerate the development and commercialisation of new ideas specifically for the farming sector.
Manawatu farmer and Nuffield Scholar Mat Hocken said while described as a lab, the initiative is not committed to work in bricks and mortar but uses the resources already available through the Manawatu rural community.
The lack of investment into premises also underscores a key philosophy of the initiative, namely to pull down the walls and silos that often surround research programmes and leave farmers out of the equation until much of the work is done.
“Our aim is to be light and nimble, meeting up with farmers at events including the Central Districts Field Days and discussing ideas with them about what they want to see in terms of innovation that helps address some of farming’s big problems today.”
The Central Districts Field Days will be one of six events used to inspire farmers’ input.
The concept has slowly been developing and was accelerated following Hocken’s Nuffield work, which he presented last year. He examined how farmers in Europe and the United States have responded to the need for more solutions through innovation.
He found the traditional No 8 wire approach to developing new solutions is as unsuitable now as the isolated, long-term research and development typical of research institutions.
The speed of change, technological advancement and consumer expectations all mean such models are harder to maintain, with farmers ultimately being left out of the equation.
He found there was a great need to collide ideas across disciplines rather than being left to ferment in a single silo.
While NZ agriculture is starting to develop a clearer vision for its direction, for sustainable, grass-fed, high-value food production, the missing piece is a platform to innovate.
A key finding Hocken made in Holland was a university group using a process known as reflexive interactive design. It recognises sustainable farm systems require not only technical innovation but also social buy-in from all groups engaged in farming.
Farmers are put firmly at the front of the process and asked to submit even their most absurd ideas for problem-solving.
They also have to be prepared to be subjected to a Dragons Den style grilling on why their concept will work.
One example was taking farmers to a zoo to see how it deals with challenges of effluent, animal welfare and public perception.
Hocken hopes to have one of the researchers heading up this approach visit Manawatu to help lead the rural lab’s innovation work.
Farmers in Manawatu have already seen a prototype approach to the innovation process.
Two years ago Hocken worked on an agritech Hackathon that brought innovators and farmers together to solve farming problems through tech. A third one is being held this month.
He emphasises that while the focus is on putting farmers and growers at the centre of the innovation process, it is not putting them on a pedestal.
“It is really just the perspective we are wanting to change, about where the focus is being placed.”
His Nuffield work looked at innovation to help solve some of agriculture’s wicked problems, around the likes of water use, effluent management and animal welfare.
While keen to leave it to farmers in the innovation process to determine what their wicked problems are, he acknowledges some are bound to be the same as his own.
It will also require farmers to be prepared to step up and be open to trials, scrutiny and inevitable data collection.
“But if we can have a group open to this the commercial opportunities for companies wanting to trial innovations is significant. Having a group there, prepared to be part of the process will significantly reduce trial time and time to market.”
Hocken is also heartened by support from Microsoft’s international agri-tech division, which has put an undisclosed sum into the project.
“There is a sense among all the big tech firms that they need to be engaged in farming and food production as the world’s population grows.
“They are not completely sure how it will play out but know it is an area with potential for major disruption.”
