• Research Capabilities
  • Sustainable land and water use
    • Soil and water management
    • Controlling pests and diseases
    • On-farm productivity
    • Biosecurity and bioprotection
    • Research programmes
  • High performance plants
  • Personalised foods
  • High value marine products
  • New biomaterials and biomolecules

Sustainable land and water use

We undertake a range of collaborative research programmes in this area. Some examples are highlighted below.

Understanding land use change
This 5 year, $15 million programme will develop the integrated knowledge and tools required by land users and policy makers to assess the environmental impacts associated with changes in land use.

As part of the Integrated Research for Aquifer Protection (IRAP) partnership, the programme aims to improve the rural economy through increasing agricultural land-use without compromising the quality of soil or the water in underlying aquifers.
(www.irap.org.nz)

Science for community change
This programme aims to support agricultural industries and Māori communities to develop and implement technological innovations in crop production, to make these innovations more resilient, profitable and environmentally friendly.

Learning networks that provide scientific, educational and extension services will enable community groups to develop and implement best-practice standards for organic vegetable farming.

The role of native pollinators
An improved understanding of the environmental impacts of genetic modification will be gained by identifying New Zealand-specific pathways for pollen dispersal, especially by indigenous pollinators, within and between productive and natural environments.

This will lead to the development of computer models for predicting the risk of gene movement via pollen and of protocols for minimising pollen dispersal.

Understanding the human dimension in pesticide risk reduction
Reducing the risks of intensive pesticide use in the horticulture sector is a important sustainable development challenge for New Zealand. This research aims to increase the sustainability of horticultural production and reduce risks to people and the environment by better understanding the social context of pesticide use and exposure.

As a result, tools will be developed that incorporate measures of social, environmental, and economic risks to allow policy-makers to implement standardised methods for minimising the risks of pesticide use in horticulture.

Saving our soils with SLURI
The multi-CRI Sustainable Land Use Research Initiative (SLURI) is creating a virtual centre for national soil science and land-use research. The centre will lead to a strategic 'future focused' investment in sustainable land use, protecting the versatility of soils by developing a set of national priorities and recommendations for sustainable land use that will guide future research.

The effects of land-use changes on soil quality will be identified along with preferred land management strategies that maintain soil quality. Procedures will be developed to scale-up soil behaviour and function across multiple-use landscapes in order to define areas at risk of soil quality decline and to assist in managing that risk. (www.sluri.org.nz)

Better Border Biosecurity
Better Border Biosecurity (B3) is a $6 million dollar per year, 12-year project that will concentrate on developing and implementing new, effective biosecurity measures to protect New Zealand's plant-based resources. New knowledge will improve risk predictions and more accurate diagnostics and a range of safe eradication methods will improve the containment of new pests.

The B3 project is a partnership between several research organisations and is managed by Crop & Food Research. (www.b3nz.org)

top of page