View Our Strategy Document 2019 – 2024
August 30, 2024
Symposium 2019
Our Land and Water | Kia Mauri Ora te Whenua
12–13 August 2019
Te Papa, Wellington
How can scientists help land owners diversify farming systems to better suit their land? Can we pick Aotearoa’s next billion-dollar food and fibre industries? What’s next for the New Zealand food story? How can individuals transform deeply rooted systems? How do we harness the power of collaboration to build trust and make better decisions?
The Our Land and Water Symposium 2019 tackled these tough questions with dynamic panel discussions, live Q&As, inspiring speakers, and quick-fire updates on our science and research. Watch video and find presentations from the Symposium below. View photos here. View the full programme here (PDF).
Day 1: Toward a Mosaic of Land Use in Aoteroa
Session 1: Welcome and where we're at
Session 2: Why do we need multifunctional landscapes (and where)?
Session 3: How can technology help transform land use?
Session 4: How can we collaborate to use our land better?
Session 5: What food and fibre systems can scale up by 2024?
Session 6: Who will be changing their land use and why would they?
Day 2: Towards Faster Transformation of Aoteroa's Food and Fibre Industries
Session 1: Future leaders and fresh thinking
Session 2: Why we need to transform (and where)?
Session 3: How can we grow multiple values by telling Aotearoa’s food and fibre stories?
Session 4: What are the business models and opportunities?
Session 5: Who is changing the system (and how)?
Session 6: The heart of the Challenge
Summing Up
Day 1: Toward a Mosaic of Land Use in Aoteroa
Session 1: Welcome and where we're at
Session 2: Why do we need multifunctional landscapes (and where)?
Session 3: How can technology help transform land use?
Session 4: How can we collaborate to use our land better?
Session 5: What food and fibre systems can scale up by 2024?
Session 6: Who will be changing their land use and why would they?
Day 2: Towards Faster Transformation of Aoteroa's Food and Fibre Industries
Session 1: Future leaders and fresh thinking
Session 2: Why we need to transform (and where)?
Session 3: How can we grow multiple values by telling Aotearoa’s food and fibre stories?
Session 4: What are the business models and opportunities?
Session 5: Who is changing the system (and how)?
Session 6: The heart of the Challenge
Summing Up
Day 1: Toward a Mosaic of Land Use in Aoteroa
Session 1: Welcome and where we're at
Our Land and Water welcome and update: Paul Reynolds, chair of Our Land and Water, and Ken Taylor, director
Keynote: David Parker, Minister for Environment, Trade and Export Growth
David Parker has been a lawyer and worked in several biotech export start-ups, before being appointed to Cabinet in 2005. In the current government he serves as Minister for the Environment, Trade and Export Growth, Economic Development and Attorney-General, and Associate Minister of Finance. His focus is on delivering prosperity and fairer outcomes for all New Zealanders.
Session 2: Why do we need multifunctional landscapes (and where)?
Keynote: Bruce Thorrold, dairy farmer
Bruce Thorrold is the ‘end user' theme leader for research in Our Land and Water's Future Landscapes research theme. He has been a strategy and investment leader at DairyNZ since 2001, and before that he worked in soil science and catchment management.
Quickfire: Our Land and Water research updates – ‘right place’ land use
Sources and Flows (Diana Selbie, AgResearch)
Mauri Whenua Ora (Hirini Tane, University of Otago)
Land Use Suitability (Scott Larned, NIWA)
Benign Denitrification (David Horne, Massey University)
Session 3: How can technology help transform land use?
Keynote: David Downs, Agritech Taskforce lead
Author of No.8 Re-Wired, No.8 Re-Charged and Stuff column ‘A Mild Touch of the Cancer', David Downs is a self-described ‘genetically modified organism', having successfully undergone cell therapy. After 20 years' in the tech sector, with time working for Microsoft in Asia, he now works to grow innovative Kiwi businesses internationally at NZTE. He was recently seconded to lead a cross-government taskforce to grow the agritech sector.
Quickfire: Our Land and Water research updates – new technology
Physiographic Environments of New Zealand (Lisa Pearson and Clint Rissmann, Land & Water Science)
National Register of Actions (Roger Young, Cawthron Institute)
Land Use Visualisation (Seth Laurenson, AgResearch and Te Taru White, Te Arawa)
Session 4: How can we collaborate to use our land better?
Keynote: Mandy Bell, deer farmer/Upper Clutha Lakes Trust
Mandy Bell farms Criffel Station in Wanaka, a deer breeding and finishing farm and an agritourism destination. She is a company founder, investor and director, and has been in veterinary practice for 25 years. Her focus is integrating science and technology into farm management practices and creating roadmaps to deliver on visions. She is chair of the Upper Clutha Lakes Trust Freshwater Improvement Fund programme, and chair of Passion to Profit, the deer industry productivity improvement programme.
Quickfire: Our Land and Water research updates – co-innovation
Faecal Source Tracking (Adrian Cookson, AgResearch and Arapera Paewai, Te Kāuru Hapū Collective)
Collaboration Lab (Melissa Robson Williams, Manaaki Whenua)
Model for Collaborative Practice (Graeme Nicholas, ESR)
Session 5: What food and fibre systems can scale up by 2024?
Keynote: Lain Jager, Primary Sector Council
Lain Jager was chief executive of Zespri for nine years, from 2008 to 2017, during which time grower returns doubled and the share price grew from $1 to $8. He is now chair of the Primary Sector Council, providing independent strategic advice and fresh thinking to government, and setting a vision to help navigate the primary sector through unprecedented changes.
Panel discussion: Future farms – what is possible and how do we get there?
Facilitated by Rod Oram
Brent Clothier, Plant & Food Research
Hugh Ritchie, arable, sheep and beef farmer
Con Williams, MyFarm Investments
Susan Goodfellow, Leftfield Innovation
Paul Morgan, Wakatū Incorporation
Session 6: Who will be changing their land use and why would they?
Keynote: Mike Taitoko, Takiwā
Mike Taitoko is an advocate for Māori economic development and the use of digital technologies to drive transformational change. Mike’s tech company has been visualizing land-use and freshwater impacts alongside cultural data to work out how water quality can be improved through land practice and collaboration. His work aims to improve outcomes for Māori in health, education, culture, identity, social and environmental wellbeing. Mike is of Maniapoto descent and is an Edmund Hillary Fellow.
Quickfire: Our Land and Water research updates – complex decision-making considering multiple values
Whenua Life Values (John Reid, University of Canterbury)
Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (Alan Renwick, Lincoln University)
Credence Attributes On Farm (Gina Lucci, AgResearch)
Indicators Working Group (Bill Kaye-Blake, Pricewaterhouse Coopers)
Day 2: Towards Faster Transformation of Aoteroa's Food and Fibre Industries
Session 1: Future leaders and fresh thinking
Pūhoro STEM Academy – whaikōrero, update and impact
Next Generation Influencers – moving beyond the status quo
Session 2: Why we need to transform (and where)?
Keynote: Miriana Stephens, Wakatū Incorporation
Miriana Stephens is a director for Wakatū Incorporation, which is guided by Te Pae Tawhiti, a 500-year intergenerational plan, and has approximately 4000 shareholders who descend from Te Tauihu. Miriana coordinates Wakatū's innovation and research programme, guiding their business to the leading edge in a way that integrates customary knowledge and practices. Miriana is from Motueka and is of Ngāti Rārua, Ngāiterangi and Ngāti Ranginui descent.
Quickfire: Our Land and Water research updates – international and domestic drivers for change
The Drivers (Timothy Driver, Lincoln University)
Integrating Value Chains (Peter Tait, Lincoln University)
Transformation in Our Land and Water (Ronlyn Duncan, Manaaki Whenua)
Session 3: How can we grow multiple values by telling Aotearoa’s food and fibre stories?
Keynote: Rebecca Smith, The New Zealand Story
Rebecca is an experienced marketer leading the New Zealand Story Group, an initiative that defines the distinctly Kiwi attributes that make New Zealand unique and provides a framework to help us better communicate our value to the world. Rebecca has a unique view of how consumers and buyers offshore see New Zealand and can share insights into what we need to do, say and show to shift perceptions and drive success and prosperity. She is on a mission to make New Zealand famous for more good things.
Panel discussion: Where to next for New Zealand’s food and fibre stories?
Facilitated by Rod Oram
Amie Nilsson, Hushaberry Heritage
Angela Clifford, Eat New Zealand
Wayne Mulligan, Nuku ki te Puku
Lee-Ann Marsh, Beef + Lamb NZ
Session 4: What are the business models and opportunities?
Keynote: Melissa Clark Reynolds, futurist
Melissa Clark Reynolds is a serial technology entrepreneur, digital strategist and company director. Melissa was a member of MPI’s Primary Growth Partnership Investment Advisory Panel, is Beef & Lamb NZ's first independent director. She also chairs the LINZ Risk & Audit Committee. Backed by training in foresight methodologies and disruptive innovation, Melissa loves to think creatively about how to find new solutions to old problems.
Quickfire: Our Land and Water research updates – new opportunities and sources of value
Innovative Agricultural Microbiomes (Sergio Morales, University of Otago)
Pā to Plate (Hirini Tane, University of Otago)
Market-Oriented Value Chains (Tiffany McIntyre, Lincoln University)
Next Generation Systems (Robyn Dynes, AgResearch)
Session 5: Who is changing the system (and how)?
Panel discussion (part 1): Insights from people changing conversations and systems in Aotearoa – introductions
Facilitated by Rod Oram
Lyndon Strang, dairy farmer/North Otago Sustainable Land Management
Nathan Heath, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Lisa McLaren, Generation Zero
Julia Jones, NZX
Laura O’Connell Rapira, ActionStation
Panel discussion (part 2): Insights from people changing conversations and systems in Aotearoa – Q&A
Facilitated by Rod Oram
Lyndon Strang, dairy farmer/North Otago Sustainable Land Management
Nathan Heath, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Lisa McLaren, Generation Zero
Julia Jones, NZX
Laura O’Connell Rapira, ActionStation
Session 6: The heart of the Challenge
Panel discussion: What does an authentic science partnership with Māori look like?
Facilitated by Selai Letica
Melanie Mark-Shadbolt, New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge
Naomi Aporo, Wakatū Incorporation
Renata Hakiwai, HTK Group
Manaia Cunningham, Te Rūnanga o Koukourārata
Summing Up
Rod Oram and Ken Taylor
MC of the Our Land and Water Symposium, Rod Oram has 40 years' experience as an international business journalist. He is a regular columnist, broadcaster and public speaker on sustainability, business, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Rod is adjunct professor in the business school at AUT University, and the author of Reinventing Paradise and Three Cities: Seeking Hope in the Anthropocene.
Ken Taylor is director of the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge.