Our Land and Water
Our Land and Water National Science Challenge | |
 | |
| Established | 20165 |
|---|---|
| Type | Research programme |
| Location |
|
Director | Jenny Webster-Brown |
Budget | $96.9 m NZD |
| Funding | MBIE |
| Website | ourlandandwater |
Our Land and Water (Māori: Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai) was one of New Zealand's eleven collaborative research programmes known as National Science Challenges. Running from 2016 to 2024, the focus of Our Land and Water (OLW) research was enhancing the productivity of New Zealand farms while improving the quality of land and water.
Establishment and governance
[edit]The New Zealand Government agreed in August 2012 to fund National Science Challenges: large multi-year collaborative research programmes that would address critical issues in New Zealand's future. The funding criteria were set out in January 2014, with proposals assessed by a Science Board within the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE).[1]
After a planning phase in 2014, MBIE approved the Crown Research Institute AgResearch as the host institution. OLW was formally launched on 26 January 2016 by the Minister for Science and Innovation Steven Joyce; its inaugural director was Ken Taylor, and Chief Scientist was Richard McDowell.[2] The Māori name of Our Land and Water, Toitū te Whenua (let the land's permanence remain intact) Toiora te Wai (let water abound), was an adaptation of the whakataukī (proverb) "Toitū te whenua, whatungarongaro te tangata" (land is permanent, while people come and go).[3]
OLW was hosted by AgResearch, with twelve other New Zealand research partners including the six other Crown Research Institutes (GNS Science, Scion, ESR, Landcare Research, NIWA, and Plant & Food Research), Lincoln Agritech, and four universities: the University of Auckland, Massey University, Lincoln University, and the University of Waikato.[2] It was the largest of the Science Challenges at launch, with an initial budget of $96.9 million over 8 years, though it was second in funding to the Science for Technological Innovation Challenge with its $106 million budget.[4][5]
In December 2015, after feedback from MBIE's Science Board, the OLW Directorate sought advice from Ray Collins at the University of Queensland on incorporating value chain management into the proposed research programme.[6] At the time of receiving its second tranche of funding in November 2018, the Challenge had 31 research projects completed or in progress, and had produced 43 journal articles.[5] By mid-2019, OLW was partnered with 16 research organisations, and was coordinating the work of around 160 scientists and 100 collaborating organisations.[7]
In March 2020, Ken Taylor retired and Jenny Webster-Brown was appointed director of OLW.[8] The OLW Challenge formally ended in June 2024.
Research
[edit]
OLW's research focus was on three connected areas: Future Landscapes, encouraging a diverse 'mosaic' of land use that is both more resilient and has better soil and water quality; Incentives for Change, making higher-value exports that reward sustainable practices; and Pathways to Transition, speeding up the ability of farmers and growers to adopt new research and technology.[3]
A project led by Richard McDowell examined whether fencing livestock out of large (high-order) streams would reduce contamination by nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment, and E. coli. Under New Zealand regulations, cattle, pigs, and farmed deer must be excluded from waterways over 1 m wide, with a fence set back at least 3 m.[9] However they discovered that smaller streams, exempt from fencing regulations, contributed 77% of the national water contamination load—so fencing large streams alone would not be sufficient to improve water quality.[10] This study won the Journal of Environmental Quality Paper of the Year award for 2019.[11]
OLW research showed that on farms with variable soil types using variable-rate irrigation could cut the leaching of nitrogen and phosphate by 70–80%.[7] This underlined the potential environmental benefits of precision irrigation.[5]
Storying Kaitiakitanga was a research project that worked with Māori agribusinesses who were producing food using traditional practices of kaitiakitanga (guardianship or responsibility). Similar to an ecosystem approach in Western science, this treats farming and the environment as parts of the same system.[7]
Another project, Stories and Flows, was one of the largest undertaken by OLW, with a budget of $3.2 million. Its goal was to fine tune land use on a farm to match the impact of different activities.[5]
Several tools were developed as part of the Challenge, including $2.8 million research project using national environmental datasets to develop a land classification system that can inform both central and local government policy decisions.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Criteria for Proposals for National Science Challenges funding - 2014-go548". New Zealand Gazette. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
- ^ a b AgResearch (26 January 2016). "Our Land and Water National Science Challenge launched". AgResearch News. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ a b "About Us". Our Land & Water - Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ MBIE. "Our Land and Water | Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai". Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment | National Science Challenges. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Rennie, Richard (22 November 2018). "More money for ag science work". Farmers Weekly. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ Our Land and Water (8 July 2016). Addendum to Our Land and Water Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai National Science Challenge: The Challenge Strategy. Lincoln, NZ: Our Land and Water National Science Challenge.
- ^ a b c "5 minutes with Ken Taylor". The Farmlander: 6–7. June 2019.
- ^ Anderson, David (30 March 2020). "New director at Our Land and Water". Rural News. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ Our Land and Water (September 2023). "Excluding stock from smaller streams". Our Land & Water - Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ McDowell, Rich; Cox, N.; Snelder, T. H. (1 September 2017). "Assessing the Yield and Load of Contaminants with Stream Order: Would Policy Requiring Livestock to Be Fenced Out of High-Order Streams Decrease Catchment Contaminant Loads?". Journal of Environmental Quality. 46 (5): 1038–1047. doi:10.2134/JEQ2017.05.0212. PMID 28991968.
- ^ "Highlights: Papers of the Year". Journal of Environmental Quality. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
External links
[edit]
- Our Land and Water website