Technical Papers - 2000
00/20 Recent Productivity Trends in New Zealand Primary Sectors
R W M Johnson & R N
Forbes - December 2000
This technical paper on the productivity trends in the agriculture sector and the forestry and logging sector is an update and extension of MAF Policy Technical Paper 96/2. In the latter, productivity trends in the agriculture sector were measured from year ended March 1972 to 1992 using two approaches, the Laspeyre and the Tornqvist. The extension of the methodologies to the forestry and logging sector brings together all the land based primary sectors that MAF has policy responsibilities for.
00/19 Telecommunications: Use, Constraints and Potential in Rural Areas
Trevor Atkins - August 2000
This paper reports on a survey in which many respondents reported problems with access to the network due to overloading. There are significant problems with Internet use, including speed and dropped connections. Emergency Services 111 problems appear to be mainly related to a centralised service which cannot direct resources to rural locations, rather than being telecommunication based. Mobile telephone coverage with normal hand held phones is very patchy; the majority of respondents indicated that it has an impact on their ability to conduct their business.
00/18 Regional Economic Impacts of the 1997-1999 Canterbury Drought
Agriculture New Zealand, Butchers Partners Limited - August 2000
There was a severe drought in Canterbury in 1997-1999. This project investigated the regional impacts of the drought-induced changes in farm production and expenditure patterns, and the influence of irrigation on these impacts. It involved interviews of 269 representative arable, livestock and dairy farmers from throughout Canterbury, from a total population of 6424 farmers. Production and financial information was collected for a normal year (1996-97) and the two drought years 1997-98 and 1998-99. Estimates were made for the 1999-2000 season, assuming a return to normal conditions.
00/17 Impediments to Optimising the Economic and Environmental Performance of Agriculture
Tony Rhodes, Brian Willis and Willie Smith - September 2000
This study was designed to explore the sustainability of North Island hill farms. Specific attention was directed at economic viability and evidence of any relationship between economic wellbeing and environmental sustainability. In addition, the study explored the role of the values, attitudes and other characteristics of farmers and farm households in their openness and ability to change, and the role of community values on agricultural sustainability. These objectives were identified as a means to support the development of new or improved mechanisms to better secure the Government's economic and environmental objectives for farm households in the hill country.
00/16 National Survey of New Zealand Agricultural Sector Debt 1998
Roger Wilkinson and Peter Jarvis
This study was commissioned by MAF Policy to determine the level and structure of farm debt in New Zealand in 1998. This study was commissioned to update farm debt information held by MAF. MAF uses this information for its macro-economic forecasting activities, to assist with the understanding of the financial structure, funding and profitability of farming in New Zealand, and to show how this has changed over time.
00/15 Implications of Groundwater Nitrate Standards for Agricultural Management
Eco-Link Ltd
This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) who requested that the Eco-Link Ltd research team "report on the likely management, production and economic implications for New Zealand's agricultural industry, of widespread policy adoption of groundwater standards, at or below those of the European Union and Ministry of Health's drinking water standards." If policy makers are considering introducing regulations that are targeted at reducing current groundwater nitrate levels, the implications for production and trade must be considered. Negative trade implications include, for example, the potential for imposition of non-tariff trade barriers by competing countries that are already operating under stricter environmental regulatory controls than New Zealand. This report gives the best indication possible at this time, of the farm production and economic implications for three different farm enterprises, assuming that tighter regulations on nitrate leaching losses were introduced as a method of reducing groundwater nitrate levels.
00/14 Southland District's Economic Development 1991-2000
Trish Burborough and Dr Parnell Trost - January 2000
During the 1980s Southland district experienced significant population and employment decline. The initiatives launched in response to this decline have stabilised the population and reversed the trend in employment. A multi-organisational approach has been used to achieve this. The district has seen positive growth in employment opportunities, across most industry categories.
00/13 The Influence of Social Factors on the Future Performance of the Primary Production Sectors
Ruth Underwood and Jack Ripley - April 2000
This report compares and contrasts a selection of research commissioned by MAF Policy on sustainability and rural communities to identify key social issues that might impact on primary industry performance in the future. The reports present a gloomy picture of conditions in rural New Zealand as farming families have faced significant challenge within their farming businesses and local communities. In particular the livestock sectors, especially sheep and beef, have suffered reduced profits. Drought conditions compounded the problems for many farmers. These farmers are often in more isolated locations with fewer land use options which add to their problems. The horticultural sector has fared better in recent times, although the reports concentrate mainly on the rural areas most strongly associated with sheep and beef farms.
00/12 The Rate of Return of New Zealand Research and Development Investment [314K PDF]
RWM Johnson - August 2000
There has been considerable debate in recent years about the relative merits of private and public research and development (R&D) investment in New Zealand. There has been a distinct lack of measurement in this area. This paper reports work on formulating a data set on past investment in R&D and results of econometric measurement of the respective rates of return. Results are available for the agriculture, fishing, forestry, processing, manufacturing, energy, building, transport and service sectors as well as the total market sector. The results indicate low rates of return to public investment in R&D and promising rates of return to private R&D in some individual sectors. There are positive responses to off-shore supplies of R&D and the level of educational investment in New Zealand in some sectors.
00/11 Developing an Effective Irrigation Water-Use Meter
Ian McIndoe, Peter Carran, Dominic Townsend - August 1998
This project was initiated to develop a prototype irrigation water use meter that could be easily installed and used with reliable results on all types of pressurised irrigation systems. The development of this meter was required to significantly increase the applicability and value to agriculture of indicators of sustainable irrigation and the adoption of best management practices currently being developed through MAF Operational Research Project contracts.
00/10 Financial Benefits of Making Improvements to an Irrigation System: A Case Study
The primary objective of this project was to demonstrate that improvements to the design of a cropping farm irrigation system were financially beneficial. A 164 ha spray irrigation farm near Darfield on the Canterbury Plains that grows a range of crops was chosen for this study.
00/09 Designing Effective and Efficient Irrigation Systems
The sustainability of irrigated agriculture depends upon consistently achieving high irrigation application efficiency. High efficiency depends upon excellent design, as well as effective management. Much effort has been spent trying to improve irrigation management in NZ. Unfortunately, the design of many irrigation systems inhibits changes to management that would result in higher efficiency. A recent survey of irrigation operators reveals that this is often true of spray irrigators, as well as those using border-strip. Low irrigation efficiency threatens the renewal of water permits and thus the future of irrigated
00/07 Testing of Irrigation Best Management Guidelines1998-1999
Ian McIndoe - August 1999
Within an overall framework of promoting sustainable farming, MAF Policy has designed a research program with the aim of developing procedures to achieve sustainable irrigated agriculture and to have those procedures adopted and used by the New Zealand farming industry.
In previous studies funded through the MAF Operations Research Programme, a set of indicators that farmers could use to measure and report on the sustainability of their irrigation management practices was determined (MAF Technical Paper 00/03), and Best Management Guidelines for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture developed (MAF Technical Paper 00/05). The implementation of the Best Management Guidelines was tested in the 1997-1998 irrigation season (MAF Technical Paper 00/06) to find out if they were workable, sensible, and could be adopted by farmers.
00/06 Testing of Irrigation Best Management Guidelines1997-1998
Ian McIndoe - August 1998
Within an overall framework of promoting sustainable farming, MAF Policy has designed a research program with the aim of developing procedures to achieve sustainable irrigated agriculture and to have those procedures adopted and used by the New Zealand farming industry.
In previous studies funded through its Operations Research Programme, a set of indicators that farmers could use to measure and report on the sustainability of their irrigation management practices was determined (MAF Technical paper 00/3), and Best Management Guidelines for sustainable irrigated agriculture developed (MAF Technical paper 00/5).
00/05 Best Management Guidelines for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture
The principal objective of this project, which is the second in a series of projects related to irrigation is:
To develop best management guidelines which provide practical information and advice that farmers can use to make, document and revise decisions relating to the design and operation of irrigation systems.
00/04 Field Testing Indicators of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture Study
The purpose of this project was to test, under field conditions, a set of indicators developed for sustainable irrigated agriculture. This has been part of an ongoing programme of research into indicators of sustainable agriculture.
The set of indicators developed for MAF by Lincoln Environmental in 1996/97 was used as the basis of the trial. These indicators are given in Table 1.1 along with comments about each indicator, arising from the trial.
00/03 Indicators of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture
Irrigation is a farming activity that has the potential to increase farmers' profit and to enhance the condition of natural resources, while having minimal impact on others. This project develops indicators of irrigation performance that can be used to measure and demonstrate the impacts of irrigation, and through their use, allow farmers to make informed management choices.
00/02 A Survey of Farmers' Approaches to & Perceptions about Irrigation Management
Irrigation efficiency is a key issue in the achievement of sustainable irrigated agriculture because maximising efficiency will significantly contribute to minimising the environmental impacts of water abstraction and drainage. Irrigation efficiency is an outcome of how farmers manage their irrigation systems on a day to day basis. Attempts to improve efficiency must therefore be based on a clear understanding of farmer perceptions of the need for higher efficiency and the practicalities of meeting the need. The purpose of this project was to establish where farmers are at, with respect to irrigation management, where they are coming from, where they perceive they need to be, how they think they will get there, and what they think they need to be able to get there.
00/01 A Summary of Sustainable Irrigation Papers
This is one of a series of 10 technical bulletins, which report the detail of projects commissioned by MAF Policy on sustainable irrigation.
This work arises as part of MAF's contribution towards Government's "Sustainable Land Management Strategy."
The projects in this series broadly divide into two groups, technical irrigation design factors and management factors. A key issue identified by farmers at the onset of this work was that to ensure irrigation could operate in sustainable ways physically and for the environment, it also had to be profitable irrigation.
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