Federated Farmers: Feds join forces with AgResearch

Dr Lisa Harper

The Federation values partnerships with organisations such as AgResearch a great deal. Without its willingness to work with us and others, it would be significantly harder to get good results for the rural people we represent.

Federated Farmers exists to add value to agriculture, so supporting agricultural research is a priority.

The Federation works alongside Government and researchers to create an effective, efficient regulatory framework that enables research to thrive, as well as advocating for adequate funding for the science and technology sector.

Federated Farmers can also support individual projects, where there is a clear benefit to agriculture, and we can contribute in some way to help scientists achieve their research goals.

To do this effectively, we need partners in the science community and AgResearch is one of these.

AgResearch is a natural ally for Federated Farmers.

A core function of AgResearch is to increase the capacity of rural businesses and communities, and help them adapt to change.

To do this, it needs links to these communities, which Federated Farmers can provide.

Not only does the Federation have access to a huge number of farmers through our provincial networks, we also have a large number of national staff.

This includes specialists from the diverse industry groups that make up agriculture, and others who focus on areas like infrastructure, water management, health and safety and science. We are connected to many other industry and community groups too.

We are using these resources to help AgResearch co-design a couple of research projects.

This process involves AgResearch, the Federation and others putting their heads together to work out how best to achieve the research goals.

One study will help people make and implement better decisions about environmental management.

Another is a five-year research project designed to enhance resilience of local rural communities, reversing their decline and the flow-on effects this could have on the pastoral industry.

The Margot Forde Germplasm Centre, on AgResearch's Grasslands campus, is another example.

The centre houses an internationally important collection of pasture plants. It aims to provide new and better forage crops for New Zealand farmers.

Among other things, scientists there depend on a robust and sensible regulatory environment that enables them to import and field test seed from around the world, while maintaining the highest biosecurity levels. Federated Farmers can help facilitate this important work.

The Federation values partnerships with organisations such as AgResearch a great deal. Without its willingness to work with us and others, it would be significantly harder to get good results for the rural people we represent.

We also work closely with a string of other government departments and industry groups on science-related topics.

By doing this, we anticipate improvements in the science sector that will make a difference for agriculture.

And we hope to see scientists produce even more exciting innovations in the future.