The future of farming: moving beyond policy and into action

Photograph provided by local photographer, Camilla Rutherford, from her Heal The Earth series.

As biodiversity declines and freshwater sources continue to show high levels of pollution globally, the world is starting to look at different models for food production. Nearly half of our greenhouse gas emissions as a nation are attributed to agriculture and our farmers are at the coal face of a changing climate with food production being impacted by drought, intense storms and flooding events.

On a global scale, agriculture is responsible for over 50 percent of the planet's deforestation and 40 percent of biodiversity loss. The industry contributes to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 70 percent of freshwater use. The data provides a sobering wake-up call, and a shift in the narrative towards how we can produce food, enhance the environment to sustain the generations to come. 

The food and fibre sector in New Zealand is rising to this challenge and starting to take action on how to buck the trend. In July 2020 a new vision for the primary sector was set out. Developed by industry, government, iwi and stakeholders, Te Taiao sets out a vision that ‘Taia ora, tangata ora: Our natural world and our people are healthy’ with a framework and pathways to get there.  

While the farming sector has gone through many pivots over the years, the current rate of change is unprecedented and catchment groups and other organisations such as Wai Wanaka are supporting landowners, providing expertise to accelerate towards adapting to this change.

And this change is happening, right here in our backyard. We need to work together, understanding how we all contribute to our vision for the future. To see what our local producers are doing on-farm to move ‘beyond policy’ grab a ticket to the Wānaka and Queenstown Sustainable Communities Tour and other events at the Wao 2022 Summit.