Friday, March 29, 2024

Future in value, not volume

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The primary sector’s future lies in more value rather than more volume, Environment, Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker says.
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Many farmers are already responding to market signals and meeting consumer and public demand for more sustainable, high-value products, Parker told the Our Land and Water Symposium in Wellington.

New Zealand’s agricultural industry is in the process of working out how to capitalise on its farming systems’ points of difference with other countries to build its brand values.

However, NZ’s future farms will be different from today’s single-purpose enterprises and farmers are being challenged to choose the best use for each part of their properties.

Managing the environmental impact of agriculture and horticulture requires different actions depending on the operation, including the location and type of land, the stock and crops being grown and other local circumstances.

This year’s Budget included $35 million to improve advisory and extension services providing on-the-ground support to adapt farming operations and building on services and approaches already known to work.

The aim is to spread the word about the latest science and best farm practices known to make a difference.

Getting every farmer and grower operating at best practice, which customers can see and value, will be a significant step forward, Parker said.

Help for farmers will go hand-in-hand with new rules that will have to be met and that will be enforced.

Economic growth needs to occur within environmental limits and a healthy economy depends on a healthy environment.

The key to achieving the Government’s environmental goals is making the right choice around land use, he said.

Changing the way land is used can help improve the environment and economy. 

It not only benefits waterway health but can also contribute to climate change goals and increase productivity.

The Budget’s $229m Sustainable Land Use Package will invest in projects to protect and restore at-risk waterways and wetlands and provide support for farmers and growers to use their land more sustainably.

Some of the money will improve the tools and advice needed to turn research and development into best practice and action, including Overseer, is one of the key tools for making on-farm decisions, Parker said.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton said it is an imperfect tool for modelling outputs but is still one of the most important available, an opinion Parker agrees with, though he said it needs to be improved to maximise its usefulness for farmers and regulators.

The Government is investing $59.6m over four years to strengthen support tools and environmental data and monitoring in the primary sector.

The money will be used to examine whether other support tools are needed. It will also support a research fund for freshwater and greenhouse gas mitigation trials to be set up in 2020-21.

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