Resource synergies for on-farm water management: a study of New Zealand agribusinesses

ABSTRACT

What are the key resources that farmers use to improve the impact of their operations on water resources? In what combinations are these resources applied to farms? This research adopted the natural resource-based view to interview nationally awarded New Zealand livestock farmers, and observe the operations on their farms, with the aim of finding out which key resources they use to achieve their sustainable water management objectives. While the extant literature suggests that human resources are key, our findings reveal that the farmers in this study do not apply human resources in isolation: they operationalise these resources in combination with other resources. Financial and intellectual resources seem to enhance the effectiveness of on-farm human and physical resources. We infer that the best description of these resource interactions is as a ‘synergy’ of resources, rather than simply a ‘combination’ or ‘bundle’. This is because the combined effect of these synergies on the farmers’ understanding and development of natural resource management capabilities (specifically, networking, consensus building and technology capabilities) appears to be greater than if applied on their own or in smaller combinations.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural resource-based view
• NRBV
• agribusiness
• water management
• resource combination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In line with the Resource Management Act (RMA) and increasing emphasis on reducing the impact of dairying in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater, national programs such as the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord and Sustainable Dairying Program have been developed to guide the operations of dairy farmers.

2. In the absence of guidance from the central government on the operationalisation of the objectives of the RMA, the focus of regional and district councils vary. As a result, so do their regulatory approaches. This has led to different interpretations of RMA regulations, which is reflected in varying discharge limits across the country and sometimes voluntary discharge limit programs. This ambiguity has arguably led to worsening impacts on water resources.

3. The Ballance Farm Environment Award recognises and celebrates New Zealand farmers who implement exemplary practices specifically to promote sustainable land and water management in all 10 regions of New Zealand.

4. The focus on these four regions is based on work done by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand which show that these regions are experiencing higher pressure on water resources due to relatively higher rates of farm conversions to livestock operation which are water intensive. Parliamentary Commission for the Environment (2015). Source: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/changes-to-land-use-bad-for-water-quality---commissioner-2015061910#axzz3dvUejHW3. Accessed 19 June 2015.

5. Beef and Lamb New Zealand (2014). Compendium of New Zealand Farm Facts 2014. 38th Edition. April 2014. ISSN 1176-824X. Publication No. P14007.

6. DairyNZ is a New Zealand organisation which is set up to secure and enhance the competitiveness of the New Zealand dairy farming industry. http://www.dairynz.co.nz/about-us/.

7. AgResearch is a crown research institute in New Zealand which is also state owned and leads research into various aspects of livestock agriculture. http://www.agresearch.co.nz/. Accessed 10 June 2016.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Callaghan Innovation [grant number Abab1202].