ISAG, PGG, SFFF, MPI, IPM, PRM, BCA – is this making sense, or have we lost you already?
As with any sector or organisation, there’s no shortage of acronyms and abbreviations used when A Lighter Touch work is being discussed. But when you’re not directly involved on a day-to-day basis, it can be hard to get a handle on all the moving pieces and exactly how it works. Here’s a shorthand guide, ALT101 if you like.
The A Lighter Touch programme is a Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF) project. This Government fund was set up to support problem-solving and innovation in New Zealand’s food and fibre sector by co-investing in initiatives that make a positive and lasting difference.
In the case of ALT, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) contributes 40 percent of the programme’s $27 million in funding (financed from the SFFF fund), and industry provides the other 60 percent.
MPI contracts HortNZ to deliver the ALT programme, and HortNZ has a contract with each of the 17 ALT partners, 15 of which are plant product groups from the horticulture, arable and viticulture sectors. The other two partners are crop protection companies Corteva and Syngenta.
The programme has two important groups overseeing it. One is the Industry Stakeholder Advisory Group, commonly referred to as ISAG. Each of the plant product groups who are partners in ALT has a representative on this group. ISAG is the group that advises the industry priorities for A Lighter Touch – what projects are going to have the most impact in terms of moving the needle from agrichemical pest management to agroecological crop protection.
The second set of eyes overseeing ALT is the Programme Governance Group, or PGG for short. It has two MPI representatives, two industry representatives drawn from the product groups who are partners in ALT, an independent chair, and HortNZ representative who is an observer. PGG’s job is to ensure ALT’s funds are being spent in accordance with the industry priorities that ISAG has set out.
The ALT team is a group of six staff, and their job is to work with the programme partners to scope, plan and support delivery of projects approved by ISAG and PGG. Some projects are led by the industry partner, such as Boysenberry NZ’s trials focusing on botrytis control. Others are led by the ALT team, such as a project looking at management of insect pests by enhancing biodiversity to encourage beneficial insects to thrive.
We’re focusing on all the tools available to shift to A Lighter Touch in our plant food production. From integrated pest management (IPM), including use of beneficials and biological control agents (BCAs), through to Pesticide Resistance Management (PRM) – updating strategies for resistance that had not been reviewed for five years.
There’s a huge amount going on at this halfway point in the seven-year lifespan of A Lighter Touch. If you have a question about a project or a project idea, feed it into your product group in the first instance. And if you want to be kept updated on what’s new in the ALT programme, make sure you sign up to our newsletter here.
