Regenerative farming in New Zealand - what do we know and where to next?

A recently published white paper proposes a framework to better understand the potential of regenerative farming for New Zealand. What are the key priority research areas and how do we undertake research that encourages system change?

Regenerative farming has gained a lot of attraction and attention in recent years. Proponents argue that this particular way of farming would help solve many problems the agricultural sector faces, from regenerating our rivers and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to improving individual and community wellbeing. However, the benefits and effects of regenerative farming have not been extensively studied and some of the claims and success stories from oversees cannot be directly transferred to New Zealand’s unique context. A new report summarises what we know so far about regenerative agriculture in New Zealand and proposes a framework to collect scientific-based evidence for future research endeavours in this field.

The white paper emerged from an extensive collaborative process between more than 70 organisations and 200 people including farmers and growers, researchers, agricultural consultants, industry bodies, banks, retailers and not-for-profit organisations. Sarah O’Connell from the AgriBusiness Group facilitated the sector working groups and Dave Lucock was involved in one of the sector group discussions as a research participant.

This think piece project (as part of the National Science Challenge Our Land and Water) aimed to develop a better understanding what regenerative agriculture means for New Zealand and how research should advance in the next few years.

What is regenerative agriculture?

Although the white paper refrains from clearly defining regenerative agriculture in Aotearoa, (partly because any such definition needs to be grounded in Te ao Māori which is being discussed at the moment), it identifies a set of 11 regenerative farming principles that comprise specific instructional farm practices as well as over-all attitudes of a regenerative mindset currently being applied in New Zealand by leading practitioners (see table below).

11 regenerative principles being applied in New Zealand (Source: Grelet el al. (2021) Regenerative Agriculture in Aotearoa New Zealand - research pathways to build science-based evidence and national narratives, p.15. link)

Unlike other farm management systems, regenerative agriculture is understood as a principle-led system that does not dictate or prohibit certain measures. Instead it is an adaptive and context-specific approach that encourages learning and experimenting with new tools and strategies, and allows for perspective shifts.

Aren’t New Zealand farm practices already regenerative?

Those who argue that New Zealand farming practices already resemble those of regenerative farming will find the analysis in chapter 1e particularly interesting. A list on page 21 examines how compatible mainstream farm management practices are with these 11 regenerative agriculture principles. It shows a range of practices, for instance perennial pastures and diverse crop rotations, are very much aligned with some of the principles of regenerative farming; others, particularly the high rates of synthetic fertilisers and monocultures, fly in the face of what regenerative agriculture is trying to achieve. In short, while New Zealand pastoral and arable farming systems may be world-leading in many regards, considerable farm management practices are at odds with regenerative farming principles, and if more New Zealand farmers were to adopt these principles they would see significant changes to their strategies and outcomes.

The main purpose of the white paper was to identify key knowledge gaps and propose research pathways to fill these gaps in a way that is most useful for farmers to support system change. The different stakeholders involved in the project came up with a list of 17 research topics, covering everything from freshwater quality to access to premium markets. The draft version (that we have access to) includes an appendix of well illustrated and succinct fact sheets for the 13 most relevant research topics. As per website, these in-depth topic reports will be released shortly. Keep an eye out as these will be well worth a read, not alone for their many highly fascinating (and complicated!) figures.

All in all, understanding the effects and benefits of regenerative agriculture in Aotearoa will involve an extensive amount of research with many different stakeholders over a long period of time. Regenerative agriculture has the potential to tackle some of the biggest environmental and social issues of our time, so this investment will be well worth it. As Dr Gwen Grelet, one of the main authors, puts it: “It’s time to stop bickering and focus on identifying any true benefits regenerative agriculture might have for New Zealand” (Reference).