Āta Regenerative founder Dr Hugh Jellie says the current health of soil is contributing to increasing pressure on farm systems.
Āta Regenerative founder Dr Hugh Jellie says the current health of soil is contributing to increasing pressure on farm systems.
Āta Regenerative is bringing global expertise to the Rangitīkei district to help farmers tackle ongoing water and soil challenges.
Āta Regenerative works with farmers across New Zealand to design more resilient farm systems, supported by practical on-farm advice and ecological monitoring.
The service monitors 245 farms covering 500,000 hectares, includingabout 35 in the Rangitīkei District.
Āta Regenerative is hosting leading practitioners from Australia’s Mulloon Institute, a non-profit organisation recognised for its work in landscape rehydration.
As part of Mulloon’s visit, a public meeting and dinner will be held in Hunterville on May 20, followed by a hands-on field day and workshop, in collaboration with the Rangitīkei Rivers Catchment Collective, on May 21.
Āta Regenerative founder Dr Hugh Jellie said the visit aimed to bring farmers, community members and organisations together to explore practical ways to restore landscape function at farm and catchment scale.
Jellie said the current health of soil was contributing to increasing pressure on farm systems.
“Farmers are dealing with more variability than ever, from dry periods and intense rainfall through to rising costs and market pressure.
“What we’re seeing across the farms we monitor is that many soils are losing their ability to infiltrate and retain water. That has real implications for pasture growth and how resilient those systems are.”
Āta Regenerative monitoring shows worsening water erosion, declining pasture diversity and reduced living ground cover over time.
Between 2021 and 2025, monitored farms recorded a 7.5% increase in bare soil, while living canopy (plant) cover dropped by 12.5%, indicating land health and resilience were declining, Jellie said.
Āta Regenerative founder Dr Hugh Jellie says Rangitīkei follows nationwide trends in declining land health and resilience. Photo / NZME
Overgrazing, reduced plant diversity and a lack of deep-rooted vegetation could make land more vulnerable to erosion and reduce its ability to retain water.
Rangitīkei followed the nationwide trend, he said.
“Functional groups of plants are lacking across the landscape, including some of the farm areas in the Rangitīkei.
“You’ve only got to look out the window to realise that things are not as they should be or as we’d like them to be, so let’s look at ways to reverse that trend.
“If we improve infiltration and reduce runoff, we can hold more water in the system; that supports pasture growth, stabilises soils and helps build resilience over time.”
Mulloon Institution chief executive Carolyn Hall said the challenges seen in New Zealand were consistent with those emerging globally.
“New Zealand’s intensifying flood and drought cycles, declining water quality and growing pressure on farming communities mirror challenges playing out across Australia, Europe and North America.
“They’re symptoms of landscapes that have lost their capacity to hold and move water the way they once did.
“When we restore the natural movement of water through a landscape, soils rehydrate, pastures remain productive deeper into dry periods, and waterways begin to recover. Productivity and the environment go hand in hand when the water cycle is functioning as it should.”
Jellie said it was important that farmers built systems that were less vulnerable in the first place.
“There’s no line you have to cross to become a ‘regenerative farmer’. It’s about designing your system so it regenerates your land, your business and your family. The goal is to progressively build resilience, including financial resilience, into the whole system.
“There are farmers out there who know something needs to change, but they’re not sure what that looks like. This is about giving them more ideas and a place to start.”
