Monitoring Sustainability - The Earwaker Farm Project
Dennis Crone, Consultancy Manager; Agriculture New Zealand, Richmond
The Trust Bank Ravensdown monitor farm of Murray and Vanessa Earwaker, Nelson, is being used to identify and answer questions about the sustainability of farming methods on a typical Nelson sheep and beef farm.
The project is backed by MAP Policy's sustainable agriculture programme, Trustbank and Ravensdown. The three cornerstones of the project are:
- farm profitability;
- environmental factors;
- social and cultural aspects.
Not surprisingly, the rural community sees profitability as perhaps the most important contributing factor to farming's long-term survival. Profitable farms and servicing organisations are perceived as providing the means to practice sustainable fanning methods. To determine trends in profitability, Agriculture New Zealand consultants monitor the income and expenses of the Nelson Farm Business Discussion group and have now developed a database of farm economics.
Sustaining the environment is the second cornerstone. Environmental factors are often the concern of community stakeholders not directly dependent on farming. This part of the project deals with the need to preserve and enhance natural resources like land, water, air and ecology. Soil fertility will be monitored through a protocol developed by AgResearch and Ravensdown.
Murray and Vanessa Earwaker and their neighbours are interested in the physical monitoring of grass growth and of animal health and livestock growth rates as this may allow cost savings and comparative assessment of different farm management practices.
Lastly, social and cultural aspects implies a concern to sustain healthy rural communities. The social and community indicators will have to be developed from a wider base than the monitor farm. A community group and a management committee will decide on these.
Field days are planned on the farm each winter, and the community group receives a regular newsletter with monitoring results.
Contact for Enquiries
MAF Information Services
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Fax: +64 4 894 0721
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