About
Our goal is to significantly enhance sustainability assessment and reporting in NZ's agricultural sector in response to increasing market, business improvement/resource use and regulatory drivers and requirements.
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Funding
This is a 6 year research programme which commenced in October 2012 that is funded by the NZ Government (The Ministry for Businesses, Innovation and Employment - MBIE) and industry partners. 
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Research team Involves 10 organisations, bringing together skills in economics, social science, ecology, Maori cultural science, engineering and agribusiness. It builds on a core of existing capability and knowledge in the Agriculture Research Group On Sustainability (ARGOS), supplemented by additional specialist researchers and their international networks to build strong collaborations. More. |
Industry partners Industry partners include New Zealand Winegrowers, Zespri International and other Kiwifruit partners, Forestry organisations, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and BioGro New Zealand. More. |
Objectives
Help industries develop user-friendly tools to facilitate sustainability assessment and reporting to:
- facilitate uploading of regular monitoring results and instantly summarise and report back trends to the producers, to industry representatives, and to agriculture regulators and policy makers at regional and national government levels.
- provide information to enhance management decision making for businesses and assist in enhancing their overall sustainability performance and to provide regular feedback to producers for learning.
- enhance information flows and assist producers optimise their overall farm performance including productivity/profitability while protecting environmental and social values.
- reduce monitoring and regulatory costs, build consumer trust, secure market access and garner support from wider New Zealand society by verification and regular reporting of standardised sustainability criteria.