SFF Project Summary

Project Title: Learning from leaders in sustainable farming
Grant No.: 04/037
   

Contact Details
Name of Applicant Group: NZ Farm Environment Award (NZFEA) Trust and Project Partners
Contact Person: Annie Perkins
Address: Groundwork Associates
PO Box 7067
Hamilton
3247
Telephone 1: 07 855 7163
Telephone 2:
Facsimile: 07 855 7164
Email: annie@groundworkassociates.co.nz

Project Details
Status: finished
SFF Funding: 348,025.00
Total Project Funding: 895,650.00
Proposed Start Date: 2004/07
Proposed Finish Date: 2006/06
Region: National
Sector: Cross sector
Sub-sector: Dairy
Sheep
Beef
Topic: Information transfer
Skills & training


Updated: 03 July 2009
Related links: www.nzfeatrust.org.nz
  www.groundworkassociates.co.nz

 

NZ FEAT

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LfL Project wrap-up event participants, Rotorua, June 2006

LfL Project wrap-up event participants, Rotorua,
June 2006

Overview - Learning from Leaders (LfL) Project

Encouraged by the success of the New Zealand Farm Environment Awards (NZFEA) Trust's sustainable farming publications, several organisations teamed up with NZFEA Trust to support learning from sustainable farming leaders across New Zealand . The project was supported by MAF's Sustainable Farming Fund and project partners included the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA), Federated Farmers of New Zealand, New Zealand Contractors' Federation, Queen Elizabeth II National Trust and the Rural & Associated Contractors Federation of New Zealand. The LfL Project provided opportunities to learn about practical and applied sustainable farm business management options, primarily from farmers who are developing and using them. A feature of the project was the participatory learning approach, designed and facilitated by consultants at Groundwork Associates.

LfL learning events

The Learning from Leaders (LfL) Project offered two types of learning events between February 2005 and June 2006. Both types of event focused on learning from farming leaders:

  • Whole farm sustainability events: These were useful for farmers and rural professionals interested in practical application of whole farm sustainability concepts and their cost/benefit aspects. They were designed for farmers and rural professionals (people from the partner organisations, regional council staff, farmer leaders and other rural service providers) who may have known about some aspects of whole farm sustainability in detail but were interested in learning a systems approach to addressing a wider range of topics.
  • Topic events: Sessions specific to Tracks & Races, Waterways & Natural Features, Nutrients & Healthy Soils were developed. They were provided both as direct-to-farmer events or as sessions for people who help farmers make decisions about farm activities (e.g. contractors in the case of tracks and races).


NZFEA Trust sustainable farming publications

During a previous SFF funded project, the New Zealand Farm Environment Awards Trust (NZFEA) produced publications on five key components of sustainable farm management. Each publication is a guide to achieving sustainable farm management in a specific topic area: managing nutrients; pasture; natural features; waterways, and creating and maintaining low impact farm tracks and races. These publications are available to download free as PDFs in the table below).

Building on the publications, four working groups composed of farmers and others with skills in the topic area developed approaches to help promote and deliver learning events that are very practical, enjoyable and celebrate local success stories. A further publication on Whole Farm Sustainability was also developed to support the whole farm sustainability events and complete the set of six publications listed in the table below.

These publications use real life stories of BFEA achievers to show how a sustainable farm management approach can deliver financial as well as environmental benefits.

Field Day Follow Up Reports were produced for some of the larger events and these included information about the host farm and recommendations from farmers and rural professionals contributing to the events. You can download a free copy of each of these Field Day Follow Up reports in PDF format below. The combined recommended practices, gathered from over 29 learning events and group workshops and also the previous five topic publications, are available in the Key Practices for Sustainability sheets, also available in PDF format below.

A two-day national workshop in Rotorua brought together over 30 people, including top environmentally-performing farmers from across the country, key scientists, leaders from Federated Farmers and the Dairy Environment Leadership Group, NZFEA Trust members and Ballance Farm Environment Awards judges. This 'wrap up' event for the project produced five farm system topics Tips from Top Farmers sheets and one about leadership in the agriculture industry - available to download in PDF format below. Their recommendations reflect farmers' practical experience combined with the latest scientific understanding.

Finding information on key sustainable farming topics

The table below is designed to help find information in the publications (mentioned in the previous section) that is related to specific topics. These publications are available to download free in PDF format by clicking on their corresponding links in the table. See PDF tips.

Topic Tips from Top Farmers Key Practices for Sustainability Tools for Farmers Field Day Follow Up reports
Whole Farm Sustainability Leading Change [ 96KPDF]
Also see the other tip sheets listed below		 See any or all of the documents listed below in this column Whole Farm Sustainability [1.2M PDF] All reports 1-9
Nutrient Management Managing Nutrients [101K PDF] Nutrient Management, Soils and Pastures [ 64K PDF] Getting Smart With Nutrients - a guide to nutrient management [687K PDF] and worksheet [362K PDF] 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Soils and Pasture Managing Soil Health [133K PDF] Crops, Pasture Species and Rotation [ 60K PDF] Growing Greener Grass - a guide to sustainable pasture management [639K PDF] and worksheet [157K PDF] 5, 7 ,9
Natural Features, Shade & Shelter Natural Features [ 98K PDF] Natural Features and Plantings [ 62K PDF] Managing Natural Features on Farms [454K PDF] and worksheet [656K PDF] 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Waterways and Water Quality Managing Waterways [123K PDF] Waterways [ 61K PDF] Winning Margins - Managing Waterways on Farms [1.3M PDF] and worksheet [503K PDF] 1, 6, 8
Water Efficiency and Irrigation Managing Water Use [ 94K PDF] Irrigation/water efficiency [ 61K PDF]   2, 5, 7, 9
Tracks and Races   Tracks and Races [ 60K PDF] Low Impact Tracks and Races [456K PDF] and worksheet [373K PDF] 1, 6, 8
Planning and Financial Management   Financial and Planning [ 64K PDF]   1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9
People on Farms   People (including succession and ownership) [ 66K PDF]   1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9
Miscellaneous   Energy, Chemical use, Waste Management, Stock Management and Health [ 64K PDF]   1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

LfL Field Day Follow Up reports

After each learning event we produced a newsletter style report, summarising the group's findings. Called Field Day Follow Ups, they are a useful record of the day for attendees and help share the resulting good ideas on sustainable farming with others. These reports are available to download free in PDF format below. See PDF tips.

  1. Waikato Dairy Farm (peat soil) BFEA Field Day, 20 March 2006 [257K PDF]
  2. Canterbury dairy farm (DFNZ/SIDDC event) February 2006 [126K PDF]
  3. Otago sheep farm December 2005 [138K PDF]
  4. Planning tips from Waikato Biodiversity Forum November 2005 [ 43K PDF]
  5. Canterbury mixed dairy/drystock/cropping (Sustainability Showcase) July 2005 [392K PDF]
  6. Bay of Plenty drystock July 2005 [177K PDF]
  7. Canterbury grains June 2005 [147K PDF]
  8. Waikato dairy March 2005 [179K PDF]
  9. Canterbury meat and fibre March 2005 [248K PDF]

Facilitating adult participatory learning and decision making

Learning from Leaders events were designed and facilitated by Project Manager, Annie Perkins and co-facilitator Helen Ritchie. If you're thinking of hosting an interactive learning event, see the documents below on running events for farmers and rural professionals and the whole farm sustainability field day process. For more information about the LfL Project's achievements, see our NZIPIM Conference paper June 2006. These documents are available available to download free in PDF format below. See PDF tips.

Learning from Leaders found that the best way to run learning events was to link in with other organisations and run workshops at, before or after one of their existing events. This works well for the partner organisation, who can give its members the benefits of a professionally facilitated, hands-on, farmer-led learning approach on a cost-share basis. It also appeals to attendees, who have limited time to spare for events and want to get the most out of their time away.

There is a wealth of information behind the summarised publications and reports featured on this page. This information and the resources associated with it can be adapted to support agriculture and environmental research, extension programmes, or for promoting whole farm sustainability through a variety of media.

All of the reports and publications mentioned above and the events that gathered their content were delivered by the team at Groundwork Associates. If you would like more information about facilitating sustainable agriculture learning or the participatory approach to project management, contact the Project Manager:

Annie Perkins
Managing Director
Groundwork Associates Limited
PO Box 7067 Hamilton
Email: annie@groundworkassociates.co.nz
Phone/fax: 07 855 7163		   Annie Perkins

Tips on downloading PDF Documents

You can view or print PDF (Portable Document Format) files using Adobe Acrobat Reader (which you can download or update for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html). To save a PDF file to your computer, place your mouse over link, click right mouse button, and select 'save target as'.

Back to:

LandLine

LandLine is the NZFEA Trust's e-mail newsletter designed to update those with an interest in sustainable farming activities. You can read recent issues here, or you can subscribe for free future editions by emailing info@nzfeatrust.org.nz.

Acknowledgements and thanks

LfL Project Partners

LfL Project Partners

Thank you to those organisations which provided additional support for specific events

  • Environment Canterbury (Canterbury Regional Council)
  • Environment Bay of Plenty (Bay of Plenty Regional Council)
  • Environment Waikato (Waikato Regional Council)
  • Otago Regional Council
  • South Island Dairy Development Centre (SIDDC)
  • Dexcel
  • Landcare Research
  • AgResearch
  • NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited)
  • PPCS (meat exporting company)

Thank you to the Learning from Leaders management team

All are Trustees of the NZFEA Trust:

  • Bill Garland
  • Gwyn Verkerk
  • Martin Wallace
  • Bruce Fraser
  • Grant McFadden

Thank you to the farmers

There were a huge number of farmers, leaders in sustainable practices who contributed their time to help develop the approaches to extension and shared their ideas about sustainable farming. It was a privilege to learn from you.