Growers asking, “what’s the value to me?” may soon be able to find out the commercial implications of investing in biodiversity, thanks to a new cross-sector A Lighter Touch (ALT) project.
The Biodiversity economics project aims to mainstream the practice of on-farm biodiversity as an integral component of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by quantifying the value proposition for growers, for example reduction in spray applications and pest damage and impact on yield.
It will bring together a range of related work and research from both within the ALT programme and outside it to develop a tool giving growers a better understanding of the economic benefit of incorporating on-farm biodiversity.
Running for eight months, the project takes a cost-benefit analysis approach to the practice of on-farm biodiversity, with the goal of creating a model that has the potential to be adapted for use across crops, production systems and regions. This will allow any grower investigating the economic impact of a biodiversity investment to get answers based on their specific situation.
A collaborative project, ALT will work with Lincoln University and Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI). A specific data gap has already been identified, and the project is focused on the generation of robust data quantifying how native plantings support biological control of pests in that scenario.
Growers, advisors and others in the industry attend a field day at kumara grower Luke Posthuma’s Northland farm, learning about the use of flower strips to support pest management. Credit: Daniel Sutton.
The project has five components;
- Farm level modelling to be constructed based on a Te Puke kiwifruit orchard, and four crop rotation farms in Canterbury and a North Island site
- Development of the cost-benefit analysis framework
- A literature review of international research into potential values of beneficial biodiversity, relevant to IPM and on-farm biodiversity enhancement
- Data generation to quantify how biodiverse plantings support biological control of pests
- Extension workshops to share learnings and tools with growers, advisors and others in the industry
Updates on this work will be shared on the project page and the ALT newsletter.
