Farming for good

Farming for Good is a research collection that explores our sense of connection with farming in Aotearoa New Zealand. Farming for Good is about better understanding the many ways that everyday people connect to food and farming. It's an issue that doesn't stand still. People's sense of connection to the whenua (land) and trust in their food & farming system is an ongoing negotiation. As practices, perceptions, trends, tools and crises change, so does this special relationship.

Through surveys, interviews, case studies and action pathways, the Farming for Good collection explores five perspectives on building trust and connection in food and farming.

Drawing from research conducted during 2022 and 2023 exploring the social licence of farming, the collection is published at a time of heightened interest in where our food & fibre starts. We're seeing increasing public scrutiny of the environmental impacts of production, new government regulations, food accessibility issues, extreme weather events and more. The research tells us how people feel about these and other changes in their food & farming system. It shows us where trust and connection is strong, where it might be faltering and how to build it back.

Explore the Farming for Good collection -

• Where we reconnect: the places people engage with farming
• How we reconnect: rebuilding the relationship between people, land and food
• Taking action: facts and first steps for food and farming connection
• Navigating flashpoints: pathways through tension and crisis
• The way we see it: urban and rural perceptions of food and farming

Research or case-studies included in the Farming for Good collection are listed below:

Where we reconnect

• Housing and Food Production: Resident and Grower Perceptions of Peri-Urban Food-Production Landscapes
• Peri-Urban Potential webinar
• Negotiating social licence to farm at agricultural and pastoral shows in Canterbury, New Zealand
• Negotiating social licence to farm: what, where, and how
• Negotiating a place for Agricultural and Pastoral Shows in Canterbury, New Zealand
• Rethinking the Whenua Around our Cities Could Help Turn the Table on our Food Crisis
• Negotiating social licence to farm at Canterbury agricultural and pastoral shows
• Growing NZ cities eat up fertile land – but housing and food production can co-exist

How we reconnect

• Consumers want NZ farmers to comply with regulations – better monitoring and transparency would help to build trust
• Partnering for Change work group process guide
• Mangaroa Farms: Farming for Good
• Partnering for Change: Pilot and replicable model
• Enhancing Farm Assurance – A White Paper
• What do we mean by ‘good farming’ with Peter Edwards and Daniel Eb
• A Waka-Taurua social licence to operate framework
• Partnering for Change: A shared-responsibility approach to environmental change

Taking action

• New Zealand’s farmers are trusted, but there’s still work to do

Navigating flashpoints

• Has the social license negotiated within peri-urban environments been impacted following Cyclone Gabrielle?
• Slash and Social Licence: An examination of the role of institutional assemblages in (re)negotiating social licence to forest in NZ
• How farmers’ social licence to operate is being negotiated in statutory planning processes in the Waikato Region

The way we see it

• The Food & Farming People’s Panel in Aotearoa New Zealand
• Perceptions of the ‘good farmer’ and social licence to operate in Aotearoa New Zealand
• Building social licence to operate: A framework for gaining and maintaining meaningful, trustworthy relationships
• Diverse Experiences of Farming – summary
• Rural and Urban Divide a Myth
• Social Licence to Farm and ‘Good Farming’: Farmer and Public Expectations
• Social licence: final report on the nexus between producers and the public
• Diverse Experiences of Farming – video
• Diverse Experiences of Farming – infographic
• Social Licence to Farm, and ‘Good Farming’: Public Views