Sustainable Indicators Conference

Executive Summary

Session One

Jim Sinner described the OCED's current proposals for 20 agri-environmental indicators. As well as assisting New Zealand's efforts in this area, the OECD work could provide an impetus for reduction of producer subsidies in some European countries by showing the adverse effects of subsidies

Peter Cockrane said that MfE proposes a core set of about 60 national-level indicators. The development of indicators will begin in 1995/96 and will initially focus on developing indicators for land, water and air. A discussion paper, proposing an indicators framework and development and selection process will be released for comment by the end of 1995.

Brent Cowie noted that regional council responsibilities stem from s.35 of the RM Act. There are problems in linking physical and financial data; in how to monitor land use and soil health; and in cross-linking with the Biosecurity Act and with Council's land transport functions.

Discussion

> Is the pressure/state/response framework proposed at the international and national levels, also appropriate at the regional level?

Brent Cowie replied that in respect of the Manawatu-Wanganui region, "pressure" is not a meaningful concept. Most "state" indicators are already well-reported, the possible exception being land & soil. "Response" by Council is also pretty good as instanced by the recent decision to close certain landfills.

What really counts at all levels of environmental reporting is perceptions of the environment. Indicators should be carefully selected initially -perceptions of environmental change must capable of objective measurement.

> What is the linkage between the MAF's programme and the Statistics New Zealand environmental accounting programme?

Peter Cochrane noted that the two agencies are cooperating but that the programme is running into the problem of the cost of obtaining sufflcient data.

Session Two

John Greer said that the Selwyn Stewardship Monitoring programme is farmer and community-led. It has been deliberately structured so as to allow key players in the community to take the lead on sustainability issues rather than create a new tier of experts. The focus is on ways to improve profit from the land whilst avoiding any adverse environmental impact.

Greg Lambert advocated a multidisciplinary approach that involves scientists and other professionals in farm discussion groups. Diversity of opinion was to be encouraged. On many sheep and beef properties, significant areas are already no longer farmed. Good farm management practice will often align with good ecological practice. Fanning and social attitudes may be changing faster than we realise.

Liz Wedderburn acknowledged that the RMA was the trigger for the Waikato project. Community perceptions were all-important and farmers feel the need to demonstrate sustainability. Fanner assessment scales are a tool to follow direction of movement of resource status towards a sustainable goal. To achieve this, careful records were needed and an ability to detect and interpret trends.

Discussion

> Given a focus on farm profitability in the Selwyn programme, would the farmers be prepared to pay for this themselves?

John Greer replied that the programme could become self-finding at some time in the future but could not have been initiated without financial assistance from MAF.

> What are the preliminary conclusions that arise from the farm fieldays at "Gwavas" and '^"westview"?

Greg Lambert replied that off-site water quality impacts will become increasingly important and that it is possible that farmers will ultimately need to fence animals out of water courses. Bovine Tb is a real concern and even these well-established large properties, may be constrained in their production options. Other factors that give cause to question the long term sustainability of pastoral use include the frequency of droughts and high rates of soil erosion, particularly on the soft rock East Coast hill country.

> Why was off-site water quality not identified as an issue in the Waikato project? Likewise, why is there no consideration of soil parameters?

Liz Wedderburn replied that this project relies on farmer self-assessment. Farmers tend to be concerned with water quality only in respect of their own use. The lack of focus on soils is because farmers tend to more aware changes in stock condition that they can see, rather than changes in soil condition that they can't see or don't know what to look for.

Session Three

Richard Green noted that North Otago has 500 farmers on 180,000 ha, 550mm rain, droughts 1 year in 4. The North Otago landcare group was initially formed at the instigation of the Otago Regional Council. A series of 5 workshops have led to a set of guidelines for the management of soils of the North Otago downlands.

Stuart Ford introduced the idea of "land literacy". Three sustainability groups were contrasted - a dairy farmer group in Temuka and 2 groups in Fairlie.

Lessons were there must be some obvious benefit to the farmers if a group is to continue and that for the successful groups, attempts at capture are likely from new comers with different agendas.

Bruce Beckingsale's Oteramika catchment group was primarily concerned about water quality. Land owners were surveyed and information loaded into a computer model. The initial results are that water quality is better than of Dunedin city, and that in respect of groundwater, abstractions are only 10-20% of the recharge.

Dennis Crone said that full-time pastoral farming is not a large part of the economic activity in the Tasman district. There are only 100 full-tiine farmers as against 1200 life stylers, many of whom are keen environmentalists. A monitor farm - the Earwaker property - has been selected and a baseline study of vegetation, soils and animal health has been completed.

Discussion

> What should be the composition of these farm-level groups and what should be the relationship with the wider rural community?

Ag New Zealand consultants agreed that non-farmers need to be involved and that gender balance was an issue. Some land care groups are very issue-oriented and some are not comfortable with involving the wider community, at least in the early stages. Any fieldays tend to attract a wider cross section of people.

> What are the roles for Ag NZ Ltd, the CRI's and MAF Policy?

Ag New Zealand speakers noted the importance of facilitation skills once the groups were up and running. As consultants, they were well-placed to provide these. It was noted that peer pressure is a real motivator. Uneven allocation of CR' resources by district and region is an issue a lack of science input is perceived as a real constraint by some groups. MAE Policy's role was perceived to be the "honest broker" of information and to possibly pick up the funding of any public good element.

> Can these groups generate information capable of being aggregated to the national level?

A need was seen for consistent baselines for some indicators eg animal health to enable comparison within the group and between groups. However the main purpose of these groups is educational - they should not be expected to provide information for policy-making purposes.

Session Four

Keith Cameron defined soil quality as the capacity of a soil to sustain biological production, maintain environmental quality and promote plant and animal health. Indicators should be rigorous, reliable and credible. There has been a much lower level of international investment in this work area compared to indicators of water and air quality. A risk assessment should be adopted in order that those processes that are the most important to the sustainability of agriculture are given the greatest priority.

A two day symposium is scheduled for Feb 1996 that will lead to a research framework to test for the best indicators of soil quality in the NZ context [approx 40 were listed]

Discussion

> Is the pressure state response model useful to prioritise soil quality indicators?

Keith Cameron replied that all of the listed indicators are "state" indicators. "Pressure" is taken account of in the screening process to select the indicators.

Ian Boddy considered that work in the area of pastoral soil sustainability and nutrient budgets should utilise the vast amount of data that AgResearch already has in the form of soil test results. Historical data should establish trends. It is hoped to develop software that enables predictive calculation at the farm level i.e are soil nutrient levels being mined or developing an excess. The development of a set of best management practices would be likely to be supported by industry.

Discussion

> How will the output side of the nutrient budget be established? Are adequate production data available?

> Is there scope to extend the model to apply to forest soils?

Ian Boddy replied that AGRESEARCH would give consideration to these matters as the research developed.

Harvey Rodda defined a decision suppon system as the progressive development of computer models that were formerly used solely for research purposes mto management tools. The present project will link a water quality model [BNZ] with an agricultural economics model [OUTLOOK] with an existing user interiace[ARC/INFO GIS]. It will incorporate information about land use, hydrograph'temperature, sediment loads, nutrient loads, nitrogen loss, and will run for any catchment in NZ.

Discussion

> How confident can we be that these decision support models will be useful at the farm level?

Harvey Rodda replied that data from the NZLRI is being used to get the system up and running. Although this inventory is likely to be out of date in respect of land use & vegetation, early runs look good as a predictor of sediment loads within a catchment.

Ockie Bosch said that the Semi Arid Lands Programme also develops decision support systems. The model can be extended to provide linkages between research activities, farm management and community dialogue. The SAL work uses quantitative techniques to first identify indicator species and then develop a descriptive model. Species abundance, site management history, soil characteristics, terrain, water courses, slope and altitude are all taken into account. Thresholds are identified from a farming perspective.

Farmers are involved right from the outset in both the development of the DSS and the monitoring tools. This involvement ensures research uptake and therefore the use of the models.

Discussion

> Is the model transferable to other regions and to other degradation processes?

Ockie Bosch thought that it would be possible, but that new data sets and observations would be required.

> There seems to be a focus on the Bio-physical aspects. Is it possible to incorporate social aspects?

This is difficult. The level of research may not be there to support it. Progress in the indicators area is best achieved by inter-disciplinary teams. However the CRI's drift naturally to single-discipline study.

Conclusion

As chairman, Stuart Morriss thanked all of the speakers for their contributions. The seminar had established a network that could have an on-going life if people find it to be useful. Seminar proceedings were then closed.