Forty Central farmers attended an afternoon roadshow from the Our Land and Water (OLW) National Science Challenge team on the connection between food, farming and whānau for the future of sustainability of the primary sector on Tuesday July 18.

Six researchers each presented a ‘poster pitch’ for 15 minutes on their area of expertise covering opportunities, threats and challenges, current and future signals in our primary industry markets.

OLW rural engagement advisor Mark Woods said the roadshow was a way to update farmers and rural professionals and share research findings in a thought provoking and accessible way. 

Mark was happy with the turnout and said it was evident from “a lot of really good people in the room… [that] farmers are interested in the science”.

“Science is more than geeky stuff… There are so many factors that influence water quality.

“So many [subjects] on paper look miles away from each other, and it’s surprising to see how intertwined they all are.”

Speakers and discussion areas were: ‘Connecting food producers and consumers’ by Daniel Eb from Dirt Road Communications; ‘Land use opportunities’ by Robyn Dynes, AgResearch; ‘Enhancing farm assurance schemes’ by Pavel Castka, Canterbury University; ‘Matrix of drivers’ by Tim Driver, Lincoln University; ‘Deferred grazing and regenerative farming’ by Katherine Tozer, AgResearch; and ‘Protein future scenarios’ by Jon Manhire, The Agribusiness group. 

Lincoln University research officer Tim Driver talked about the international and domestic drivers of land use change. 

Robyn, the first speaker, urged farmers when considering land use decisions to look at the Data Supermarket, a new free online database created by OLW which includes “the best data you can access” such as a variety of vegetable, fruit, arable, animal, plant and tree crops plus climate and economic data.

Professor Pavel Castka’s work on farm assurance was of interest to the audience, and he urged farmers to get prepared for the possibility of remote or hybrid auditing and to explore how technology and data can be used in assurance practice. Find out more about his work here.

Attendees could access free guidance, handouts and tools to help with freshwater management and discussion and questions were fielded by speakers at the end of each presentation.

Launched in 2016, OLW is one of the largest National Science Challenges, funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for up to $96.9M over eight years.

OLW is in the final 12 months of its tenure and Mark, a former stock agent, said he plans to be back in Central Lakes again for the Wānaka A&P Show in March 2024.

The free event at Alexandra Memorial Hall ran from 1-4pm and included a light lunch. For more information or a copy of the presentations email: [email protected]

PHOTO: The Central App