Replacing farms with forests?
A horror story - that’s how Federated Farmers describes new research looking at forestry conversions’ impact on water quality.
The urban-rural divide is a myth.
These are just some of the findings from Farming for Good, a new collection of social science research exploring New Zealanders relationship with farming.
Initiated by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge, the collection is New Zealand's most comprehensive study of the social licence to farm, drawing on findings from five research projects conducted during 2022-2023.
"The Farming for Good research collection is about understandng where trust and connection is strong in our food & farming system, where it might be faltering and how to build it back," says Peter Edwards - senior researcher at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and lead on the 'Connecting Food Producers and Consumers' research project.
The collection also launches alongside a social experiment. The 'Food & Farming People's Panel' brings the research to life. It asks hard questions of eight everyday people from across the food system - like how climate change makes them feel, what the farmer of the future looks like and how we solve New Zealand's food security issues.
Some of the findings across the 26-piece collection include:
https://ourlandandwater.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Farming-for-Good_Factsheet.pdf
A US-based company developing a vaccine to reduce methane emissions in cattle has received another capital injection from New Zealand’s agriculture sector.
Wools of New Zealand has signed a partnership agreement with a leading Chinese manufacturer as the company looks to further grow demand in China and globally.
Opportunities for Māori are there for the taking if they scale up their operations and work more closely together.
OPINION: Farmer shareholders of two of New Zealand's largest co-operatives have an important decision to make this month and what they decide could change the landscape of the dairy and meat sectors in New Zealand.
As the first of a new series of interprofessional rural training hubs opened in South Taranaki late September, Rural Health Network has celebrated the move as a "key pathway to encourage the growth and retention of health professionals in rural areas".
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