Small Crops Forum
Wellington, July 2007
Forum Summary
Background
SFF supports “communities of interest” to:
• Capitalise on new opportunities from:
− Technologies
− Management practices
− Emerging markets
• Resolve common challenges
• Share best practice
SFF has funds of $9.5M pa, funding projects <$20K to $200K/pa, for 1 - 3 years.
SFF investment into small and emerging crops varies from 10-22% pa (average 15% pa).
SFF has seen an increase in the demand for funding and in the quality of applications.
SFF faces the annual challenge of determining the balance between investing:
• Beef vs Berries
• Kiwifruit vs Kumara
• Wine vs Walnuts
Forum’s Purpose
To provide an opportunity to:
• Develop a shared understanding of each others issues and challenges.
• Work together to identify common R & D areas
• Explore the scope to:
− Leverage all party’s resources for greater benefit
− Better align policies
− Adopt new approaches
Attendees included representatives from Industry Sector Groups (Foundation for Arable Research, Horticulture NZ, berryfruit industries, passionfruit, olives, nuts, summerfruit, citrus, beekeepers, nursery and garden), government funders and agencies, research and training providers.
Case Studies — Examples of Collaborative Approaches
Pastoral 21
Pastoral 21 is a collaborative approach between AgResearch, Meat & Wool, Dairy Insight, Fonterra, DCanz, Livestock Improvement, Westland Milk Products and Dexel. Its purpose is to secure and align government funding to support industry’s research priorities.
The Pastoral 21 initiative was driven through the realisation that the dairy industry needed to address some big environmental issues in an appropriate time frame. The industry realised that their approach was fragmented and that success could only be gained by pooling resources and acquiring some extra dedicated funding from the government. The idea took 2½ years to develop, cumulating in a proposal to government for $60M, funded over a 3 year period.
After a lengthy negotiation process, Pastoral 21 has successfully established itself. Government funding for its research programme has been secured, albeit at a lower level than was first pitched for. Its success was attributable to the following factors:
• Demonstrating that robust industry strategies were in place, particularly around sustainability, productivity, animal welfare and biosecurity.
• Providing significant new industry investment and showing a commitment to growing that investment.
• Building a sound business case to demonstrate the value of the industry to the economy.
• Regular discussion between the CEOs from each industry group.
• Engaging with cabinet ministers.
• Perseverance.
Ongoing management of Pastoral 21 involves the CEOs of the 8 groups meeting regularly to discuss industry strategies. The group has accountability to the farmers through the contribution of their levies to industry funding.
“Pastoral 21 is an example of big industries putting a coherent case together for success. They were able to make the government aware of the value of the primary industry’s ability to work together. For years there have been industry’ strategies in place, Pastoral 21 have taken the next step with a plan to deliver”
Nitrogen Managers for Environmental Management
An example of an SFF project with cross-sectoral collaboration.
The horticultural and arable industries recognised the focus that regional councils were putting on the negative environmental impacts of fertiliser use, particularly nitrogen and decided to take a proactive approach on behalf of their growers. A proposal was put to SFF to develop a tool to enable farmers and growers to accurately determine any nitrogen leaching losses with a view to encouraging optimisation fertiliser for both environmental and economic gains. The proposal was ambitious in that it involved a number of regional councils, the key horticultural sectors and FAR, and 3 crown research institutes (CRI).
SFF recognised that its success would depend on strong collaborative work between the stakeholders and efficiencies in using information and tools developed in previous projects. An additional project milestone; milestone zero, was added. The purpose of this milestone was to undertake a scoping exercise to explore what work and tools already existed and what the gaps were. It gave the stakeholders an opportunity to discuss their individual expectations in more depth. A contract for the full project was dependent on the successful delivery of this milestone.
The project is now underway and a wider group of regional councils and sector groups have become engaged.
What worked:
• Open communication and consultation between the regional councils and the industry groups.
• Project, finance and science managers with time dedicated to the role.
• The stakeholder group has links to other groups and ongoing initiatives, e.g. climate change.
“Without milestone 0, the project would have fallen over. Recognition must be given to the ground work needed to get a large project successfully off the ground”
Other examples of SFF collaborative approaches
• A cross sector project on pollination, involving the pipfruit, kiwifruit and summerfruit sectors.
• Work that the berry industry is doing on Botrytis management.
Common Challenges and Ideas from the Sectors
A summary of the common themes from the sector presentations and group discussions:
What are the key, cross-cutting opportunities for collaboration?
Right to Farm Fertiliser management |
Water - quantity & quality Irrigation Biodiversity |
Climate Change |
Food miles; carbon footprints; GHG footprints |
Energy efficiency |
New technologies and improved management |
Export Issues |
Residues and labelling |
Pests and Diseases |
Thrips |
Soil management |
Maintaining soil health and fertility |
Bees |
Pollination - alternative pollinators |
Birds |
Controlling Crop Damage |
Biosecurity |
New pests and diseases |
Weather Data |
Better quality and better use |
Quarantine |
Access new plant material |
Labour |
Shortages and cost |
Extension |
Tech transfer<>Knowledge transfer<>Knowledge sharing |
Land use changes |
Social impacts |
Waste Management |
Opportunities - mulching, biofuels |
Gaps, Inefficiencies & Uncertainties in Capability & Funding Systems
Funders |
Information about who funds what, who can apply and when to apply |
Tech NZ/Tax credits |
Eligibility for incorporated societies? |
No or little capability in |
Plant physiology |
Pesticide registration |
Too costly for small industries |
Quarantine |
No public quarantine facility |
Opportunities
Scholarships |
TIF, Bright Futures, AgMardt |
Greater Cooperation/Training |
Make better use of the tertiary institutions. |
Scaling for CLA efficiency |
Scope to save on admin overheads by clubbing together. |
Sharing market Intelligence |
Share market information and templates for developing market entry. Have an information database, containing public information relating to projects, markets, funding opportunities |
Improving funding success |
Guidance on writing clear business plans & applications |
Agenda
9:15am |
Welcome & Introductions • Challenges • Opportunities — case studies of collaborative successes • Scoping the day – questions, answers and ideas. |
10:15am |
Coffee & Tea |
10:30am |
Perspectives: Key R&D challenges, issues & opportunities (5 min / speaker) • Sector representatives; • Other funders (MAF-SFF, FRST, Agmardt, FertResearch); • Providers (CRIs and Universities) |
12:30pm |
Lunch |
1:00pm |
Workshop I (3–4 groups) What are the key cross-cutting R&D needs moving forward? • Wide platforms — covering ~5 (+) sectors (e.g., soil management, disease models, pollination strategies, etc) • Special interest groups — issues common to 2–5 (e.g., pathogen management, spraying technologies, etc) What research capability is required to meet these needs? • Are there key gaps? What can be done to fill these gaps? |
2:30pm |
Report Back - incl. Q&As |
3:00pm |
Coffee & Tea |
3:15pm |
Workshop II (3-4 groups) • What can industry do to move these areas forward? • What can research providers do to move these areas forward? What can research funders do to move these areas forward? |
4:00pm |
Report Back - incl. Q&As (30min) |
4:30pm |
Summary - Where to from here? (30min) |
5:00pm |
Close |
Contact for Enquiries
Fund Administrator
Sustainable Farming Fund
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
Tel: 0800 100 087
Fax: 04 894 0741
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