Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures projects

‘A Lighter Touch’ brings the horticulture, wine, and arable sectors together to find ways to meet consumer demands for food produced through more sustainable pest management practices. It seeks to shift the focus away from traditional crop protection, and integrate biological and ecological processes into food production in New Zealand.

Flowering plants may hold key to pesticide reduction on citrus orchards – MPI media release

Govt backing horticulture to succeed – Government media release

April to June 2023: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 1.2 MB]

January to March 2023: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 322 KB]

July to September 2021: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 266 KB]

April to June 2021: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 270 KB]

January to March 2021: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 214 KB]

October to December 2020: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 435 KB]

July to September 2020: A Lighter Touch progress report [PDF, 317 KB]

NZ's crop production is changing for the better – A Lighter Touch

BioBrew aimed to demonstrate the efficacy of probiotics for lambing to provide farmers with a means to reduce the use of anthelmintics (antiparasitic drugs), while maintaining production and profitability.

The horticulture industry investigated the potential use of x-ray technology for treating fruit and vegetables as a pest control treatment. The treatment is increasingly used globally and could provide new export opportunities for New Zealand. The report details fruit and vegetables suitable for x-ray treatment and the feasibility of building a facility in New Zealand based on potential use.

The project aims to develop an arable sector strategy which will identify specific opportunities to support the transition from a solely commodity focused industry to one that includes a range of value-add business options that can be leveraged both nationally and internationally.

Working in partnership with CRV-Genomics, Bellevue Enterprises Ltd and AgResearch, Animal Breeding Services Ltd will address the issue of Large Offspring Syndrome in dairy cattle, which is caused by in-vitro embryo production. The project will find a way to measure gene expression during embryo in-vitro culture (IVC) and investigate IVC mediums that improve embryo transfer and calf development.

This is a farmer extension and engagement-focused project led by Atkins Ranch. It will build awareness of the challenges and opportunities surrounding regenerative agriculture verification across the sheep and beef sector. The project will assist in promoting and supporting the regenerative production of lamb meat and by-products, and deliver premiums to farmers by securing high-value contracts in overseas markets.

New project to help farmers gain regenerative agriculture certification – MPI media release

This project will conduct a feasibility study into establishing a shared food and beverage manufacturing facility in Te Tai Tokerau. The facility aims to help food and beverage manufacturers build their capability and grow their businesses to a scale where they can operate in their own dedicated manufacturing premises.

This project will establish optimum cultivation practices for growing New Zealand-sourced strains of medicinal cannabis in a controlled environment. This information will enable licensed growers to consistently produce cannabis flowers with specific medicinal compounds.

Government helps sharpen the competitive edge of New Zealand’s medicinal cannabis industry – Government media release 

This project seeks to commercially validate the technology to produce advanced lignin raw materials. These materials will be derived from the by-product of the wood pulping process (black liquor). They have the potential to replace traditional fossil fuel-based inputs in targeted end-use products such as bitumen replacement, phenolic resins, and paper product additives.

Wood petrochemical substitutes one step closer – Newsroom

Synlait and Danone are partnering with AgResearch to benchmark and optimise soil health across 10 of their supplier farms. Regenerative practices such as hyper diverse pastures and limits on synthetic N fertilisers will be compared with conventional practices to build evidence on the impact of regenerative farming on soil health in New Zealand. The farms wider financial and environmental performance will also be evaluated.

Regenerative agriculture research receives Government boost – Beehive.govt.nz 

This project will increase support for agriculture and horticulture science teachers in secondary schools. It will develop a support network of one full-time adviser and a support person based at St Paul’s Collegiate, and up to 16 part-time regionally based advisers. The network will provide support to teachers, create resources, and provide links to local primary industry partners.

Boost for agricultural and horticultural science in schools – Government media release

Ahikā Kai Wairewa is a Wairewa marae initiative to connect landowners within our takiwā with opportunities to generate income and ensure food security through regenerative agriculture. The project enables whānau to connect with each other and their culture. It is a pathway to health and self-determination. The project utilises a māra as the platform for engagement and capacity building and an incubator for other whenua-based opportunities.

This project aims to support a cluster of Māori landowners in Aotea/Taranaki region to advance work to establish kiwifruit orchards, including consultation with landowners, orchard design plans and developing investment memoranda. The project follows a prior phase 1 MABx project to understand the suitability of the whenua to sustain productive and viable kiwifruit operations.

The project will enable Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporated to apply a Māori lens and a focus on sustainability to inform their apiculture, farming practices and subsequent market supply. The project includes mātauranga Māori farming research, mānuka management research and market analysis.

This project will develop a tool that combines cameras, machine learning and artificial intelligence to automatically measure fish released at sea. This will help to improve catch reporting and support a better understanding of the size composition of fish stocks, as well as improving the overall health of fish stocks.

This project will develop a commercial-scale autonomous robotic asparagus harvester, building on a prototype version developed by Waikato University researchers. The harvester will help address the ongoing labour shortages in the asparagus industry, and support New Zealand asparagus growers to tap into high-value export markets.

Robotic asparagus harvester aimed at addressing industry challenges – Government media release

August 2021 to October 2022: Autonomous robotic asparagus harvester progress report [PDF, 185 KB]

Digital agriculture represents a significant opportunity to enhance the economic, environmental, and social outcomes of New Zealand’s food and fibre sector. This project developed a baseline of digital adoption to better understand the motivations, pressures and barriers farmers and growers face in adopting new tools. It provided actionable insights for businesses, industry groups and public agencies to develop strategies to support farmers and growers.

Agritech baseline of digital adoption in primary industries report - AgriTech New Zealand 

The primary focus of this project is to validate test procedures and recommendations for management of nitrate in key New Zealand process crops. The trials will be run on commercial farms and will test the outcomes for crop production and soil nitrogen under different management practices. This will be used to develop best practice recommendations for the process vegetable industry.

This project is establishing and executing a plantation forest paired catchment study to assess the performance of innovative erosion and sediment controls. It will quantify how much sediment can be prevented from leaving a plantation forest harvesting site, the ecological effects of reducing sediment generation and delivery, and the operating costs of implementing new standards and practices. Findings will be shared widely.

Major forestry study to assess performance of erosion and sediment control practices – MPI media release

The project seeks to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of utilising greenhouse waste and other green waste to create heat and renewable CO₂ for greenhouses as well as producing, using, and burying char. This process will create a circular ecosystem that turns hi-tech greenhouses into carbon negative hubs.