New Zealand future agriculture
Regional Decision Support Tool (DST)
Know more about our work:
From left to right: view of Hanmer plains from Mount Isobel, the Kaikoura peninsula, irrigated pastures along Rakaia river (1/2), sheep farming in Upper Rakaia, sheep farming in Hororata plains, irrigated pastures along Rakaia river (2/2), irrigated pastures along Waiau river.
Context
Understanding how and to what extend mitigation and adaptation strategies of land use change could lead to co-benefits for emission reductions, profitability, biodiversity, water quality, or trade-offs that are to be socially managed, is central paradigm of this work.
Research gap exists in implementation of land use adaptation strategies and the degree of co-benefits for various major global crisis or disruptors, e.g., climate change, biodiversity, socio-economic, trends, technology. Trade-offs and co-benefits from different land use adaptation strategies may vary with socio-ecological and landscape context and this can be assessed to provide knowledge impact for land policy and planning.
This scientific work plays a key role to provide explicit knowledge to land planners by developing an assessment tool to help for impactful policy formulation at the catchment, regional and national scales. With this webtool, we aim to give practical tool and knowledge to decision makers to help them define the right policy at the right place.
To achieve this aim, we have developed science-based tools and knowledge of agrosystems for spatial adaptation pathways design and policy formulation by:
- Using the most up-to-date knowledge and data of agricultural land use suitability;
- Designing and testing targeted scenarios with stakeholders;
- Quantifying sustainability, resilience and profitability indicators of the scenario tested;
- Building online tools to help with decision making.
Data and model
Running the DST at the national scale
A video tutorial of the DST is available here .
When first open, the model is set-up with 2020-2021 data. You can change the inputs and technological values and the model computes output indicators based on the changes.
Submodels, focusing on the arable sector and the livestock sectors are also available (yellow and green buttons at the bottom of the main page). They are interacting with the main model. They can also be used as standalone modules.
Ultimately, the model aims to be used for building scenarios and explore pathways to reach one or several objectives at once.
Running the DST at the regional scale
- Download regional dataset available below (scroll down to the available region list) or create your own using the file as a template.
- Use the "import data" button to upload the regional dataset file.
- Run the model. Output shown is based on the data file updated for the chosen region.
- "Go Live" and tweak the input data to run simulated changes. Outputs update in real-time.
- If you press reset, the model goes back to national scale default dataset. You can re-do the process as many times as you like.
Regional dataset can be downloaded by clicking on the region name:
Coming soon:
- Northland
- Auckland
- Waikato
- Bay of Plenty
- Gisborne
- Hawke's Bay
- Taranaki
- Manawatū-Whanganui
- Wellington
- Tasman
- Nelson
- Marlborough
- West Coast
- Otago
- Southland
Regional scenarios
Four national scale scenarios have been developed, tested and published in a journal article . The Canterbury Regional council, ECAN, has expressed its interest in downscaling those scenarios to the regional scale. The narratives and results are presented in the following interface.
References
Data sources:
Contact
University of Canterbury, Civil & Natural Resources Engineering
tom.cochrane@canterbury.ac.nz
Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research
Vannierc@landcareresearch.co.nz
