Farming within limits: using an agricultural innovation systems approach to identify barriers and opportunities for change

Farm plans have been identified, particularly by regional councils and industry organisations, as one of the tools for enabling individual farmers to respond to water quality regulations through identifying and implementing on-farm management changes. The Horizons Regional Council has begun the process of implementing fresh water limits under the One Plan, and along with Canterbury, is more advanced in the use of farm plans than other regions. In order to achieve economic and environmental benefits for farmers, and for the region, targeted support for the development, delivery and implementation of farm plans is needed. Achieving these benefits is not without its challenges as there are many stakeholders involved with differing motivations and objectives. A joint project between the Ministry for Primary Industries, Horizons Regional Council and AgResearch aimed to identify barriers and opportunities for better adoption of farm plans and resulting practice change, over and above the current regulatory requirements. This case study used an innovation systems approach, which is particularly suitable for complex problems, such as the effective implementation of farm plans to achieve environmental and economic benefits. An inclusive process of identifying stakeholders and their roles in the development, delivery and implementation of farm plans supported the stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of the problem and assisted with on-going engagement in the process. A causal analysis helped with the identification of the barriers to, and opportunities for, achieving environmental and economic benefits, including the improved relationships between Horizons Regional Council, industry-good organisations, farm consultants and farmers/growers; a lack of farm consultants to develop and implement farm plans; and not enough community group involvement. The broad range of solutions and actions that were identified by stakeholders revealed the complexity of the issue and showed that to achieve the desired environmental and economic benefits, a wider range of issues need to be dealt with simultaneously. Solutions were clustered under the following themes: i) enhance the involvement of community groups, ii) increase the number of farm consultants, iii) increase confidence in Overseer, iv) reduce costs of farm plans, v) build farmers’ confidence and understanding of options, and vi) improve communication.