Agriculture and biodiversity

Description of regulatory management approaches

Some of our most rare and threatened ecosystems and species are now found only on private land; their long term survival will depend largely on the actions of landowners who will need support from all levels of government, as well as the wider public. The importance of private landowners protecting biodiversity was highlighted in the five-year review of the Biodiversity Strategy. This identified the on-going loss of rare and threatened biodiversity from private lands as a significant challenge that still needs to be addressed.

With increasing awareness and understanding of the importance of biodiversity as an essential contributor of ecosystem services, there has been a subsequent interest in the role that native habitats and species play within productive land environments. Focus now needs to be placed on managing invasive pests, incorporating native species into land management practices where possible, and enhancing functional agricultural biodiversity.

Management of biodiversity on productive land is carried out at both a regional and local level within the framework established by the RMA, including potentially the proposed National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity. There are a number of statutory mechanisms under the RMA that support the protection of biodiversity on productive land, including tools to protect significant habitats.

Landowners can also be required to manage weeds and pests under the Biosecurity Act 1993. The review of the Biodiversity Strategy found that prescriptive rules are an important part of protecting biodiversity on private land. Recent studies have also shown that landowner buy-in and engagement, education and empowerment are also making a big difference. 

Regional and district planning

Regional councils play an important role in biodiversity protection, as regional policy statements provide an important tool for managing the effects of land use on biodiversity. Regional policy statements do not contain rules, but they can provide strong policy direction on how biodiversity issues on private land are to be managed, including through including rules in district plans.

Under section 31(1)(b)(iii) of the RMA, territorial authorities are responsible for controlling the effects of land use to maintain indigenous biological diversity. They can achieve this through including relevant provisions in their district plan (including rules) and through imposing conditions on land use consents as may be required for the operation of productive land.

Territorial authorities can help to protect biodiversity on productive private land through rules in district plans, including subdivision provisions, such as the requirement for conservation lots. Conservation lot provisions typically allow a landowner to subdivide a lot, which is additional to that provided for by the rules of the district plan, in return for permanent protection of areas of indigenous vegetation.

Pest management strategies

Under the Biosecurity Act, regional pest management strategies are plans which describe why and how various animal and plant pests will be controlled within a particular region. These strategies generally seek outcomes that benefit biodiversity in a local area by managing pests on productive land. 

Description of non-regulatory management approaches 

Land covenants

There are a range of different covenants that can be applied to productive land to protect biodiversity. These are explained in more detail here. Voluntary land covenants are a contract between a landowner and a third party that prescribes the way the land will be managed. It is not simply about fencing off areas: in some areas, such as tussock lands, grazing can be carefully managed to provide good outcomes for biodiversity protection on productive land.

Some councils do not charge rates on land that has been covenanted which reduces the costs of protection for landowners. Where councils do charge rates for protected land, zero rating can be used to reduce the financial burden on farm owners who are protecting biodiversity for the benefit of the wider community. 4920

Financial incentives 

In September 2007 central government committed $170 million to help deliver a plan of action in regard to climate change and sustainable land management, see the programme website here. This, along with the other nationally-funded programmes, has assisted in delivering improved pest management on productive land and supporting increased voluntary protection of areas with important indigenous biodiversity values.

Since 1995 the Ministry for Primary Industries (formerly the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) has run a sustainable agriculture facilitation programme focused on encouraging sustainable resource management practices within the agricultural and horticultural sectors. Many regional councils have contestable funds available for landowners to protect biodiversity on productive land. In 2007 these funds amounted to over $4 million per year. 4921

Landcare groups

Local voluntary partnerships can make a substantial contribution to protecting and enhancing biodiversity locally. 

Local action for sustainable land management is a positive aspect of how New Zealand approaches management of productive land.

The Landcare Trust provides a portal for valuable information about biodiversity management on productive land. The Trust has recently produced a useful booklet called ‘Benefits of Biodiversity for Farmers’, which offers successful examples of farmers incorporating biodiversity into their land management practices.

Among the other resources produced by the Trust is a guide for sustainably managing land and enhancing biodiversity for landowners in the Kaimai Mamaku catchments. This guide focuses on some of the best management practices that can be easily incorporated into productive land management, as well as guiding farm owners in planning for longer term investments, and identifying where they can get assistance to realise these.

Incorporating biodiversity into land management practises 

Biodiversity has many direct and indirect commercial production benefits. Research into the value that native species provide, through supporting essential ecosystem services to productive land, has been undertaken over a number of years. For example, recent research has demonstrated that the total economic value of the biological control of pests, soil formation and mineralistaion of plant nutrients is significantly higher in land farmed organically than land farmed non-organically. 4922

Work currently being undertaken at Lincoln University is investigating options to re-design a number of productive landscape features, including integrating stock shelter, bioenergy sources, and livestock parasite resistance. It is believed that these innovations will deliver an increase in farm income of at least eight per cent by 2020. One area of particular focus is the ecosystem services and biodiversity value offered by shelterbelts, which have traditionally been planted in non-native species. By planting shelterbelts in appropriate native species it is believed that a number of benefits can be realised, including:

  • Improved fire resistance;
  • Reduction in management costs;
  • Reduction in potential for weed invasions;
  • Improved provision of ecosystem services;
  • Improved pasture growth;
  • Improved rates of carbon sequestration;
  • Reduced wind exposure;
  • Increased pollination;
  • Additional habitat for other native species; and
  • Creation of vital wildlife corridors. 

A trial that has been underway at Kowhai Farm, Canterbury, for over a decade, has been introducing a number of measures to increase ecosystem services and improve the biodiversity of productive land. 

Case Study - Kowhai Farm, Canterbury Region

In September 2000, a farm trial was developed at Kowhai Farm, a research farm at Lincoln, Canterbury. Kowhai Farm is a mixed cropping farm, where a number of measures have been introduced in efforts to increase the ecosystem services and improve biodiversity. Information signs were added to explain to visitors the importance of biodiversity to the production system.

The range of trees and shrubs planted on the farm were selected based on their role in providing ecosystem services, including suppression of weeds, shelter for stock, pollen and nectar for beneficial insects and reducing soil erosion. The first 18 months generally resulted in good progress in growth of the plantings, but a severe drought in the 2000/2001 summer season led to some losses which were carefully monitored. Because of these losses, nursery shelter species were planted to aid in the establishment of more permanent species. 4923

The paddock margin plantings proved to be an effective way to prevent perennial weeds from invading crops at the fence lines. A three metre-wide grass strip around the entire paddock was planted and managed using mechanical, hand-held weed-eaters rather than herbicides. Grasses were added in efforts to outcompete perennial weeds and linseed straw mulch was used to promote plant growth. These margins proved to be valuable refuges for beneficial insects.

A ‘beetle-bank’ was particularly effective at providing an over-wintering habitat and refuge for spiders and other beneficial insects, such as ground beetles. The ‘beetlebank’ showed beetle densities of over 500 per squaremetre as opposed to fewer than 20 per square metre on non-banked areas. 4924 From the ‘beetle-bank’ these insects are able to enter the adjacent paddock and feed on the pests.

Since the work to improve biodiversity at Kowhai Farm has been commenced, the farm has passed the threshold of full BIO-GRO status, New Zealand’s leading organic certifier with European Commission certification. This case study provides a positive example of how enhancing ecosystem services through biodiversity can add value to productive land.

 

  1. http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/n3011,90.html

  2. Ministry for the Environment and Department of Conservation, 2007, ‘Protecting our places, Introducing the national priorities for protecting rare and threatened native biodiversity on private land’, Ministry for the Environment, Wellington

  3. Sandhu H S, S D Wratten and R Cullen, 2010, ‘The role of supporting ecosystem services in conventional and organic arable farmland’, Ecological Complexity, 7, 302-310, available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1476945X10000255 Sandhu H S, S D Wratten and R Cullen, 2010, ‘Organic agriculture and ecosystem services’, Environmental Science and Policy, 13, 1-7

  4. Ministry for the Environment, n.d., ‘Biodiversity on farmland: Good management practices’, A report on three years’ research on the enhancement of biodiversity on farmland, Ministry for the Environment (partnering with Agriculture New Zealand, Selwyn Sustainable Agriculture Society, Heinz-Wattie and Lincoln University), Wellington pg 11

  5. Ministry for the Environment, n.d., ‘Biodiversity on farmland: Good management practices’, A report on three years’ research on the enhancement of biodiversity on farmland, Ministry for the Environment (partnering with Agriculture New Zealand, Selwyn Sustainable Agriculture Society, Heinz-Wattie and Lincoln University), Wellington pg 19

  6. http://bioprotection.org.nz/greening-waipara

Last updated at 2:33PM on February 19, 2018