16 October 2000 Alliances deliver 'critical mass' for commercial-level organics research

Offering the ‘critical mass’ necessary for commercial scale organic farming research in New Zealand – that's what Kowhai Farm at Lincoln University is all about.

For the first time, after more than 25 years of ‘tinkering’ with organic food production, the country now has a systems-based, single location, commercially orientated ‘model’ organic farm on which research and demonstration activities can be centred.

Historically, organics research in New Zealand was not systems orientated but project based, often discipline-specific, small scale, isolated and with poor linkages and collaboration between researchers. A multi-disciplinary, whole-farm, long-term, commercial, systems-based approach was needed, and this is the essence of the Kowhai Farm operation.

The ‘critical mass’ comes not only from the physical size of the operation – 57 hectares – but the partnerships which are supporting the farm.

The Kowhai Farm land is leased to Heinz Wattie's by Lincoln University with the company taking sole responsibility for operational decisions and covering all costs, risks and income. A Heinz Wattie's agronomist and Lincoln honours graduate, Anthony White, is the Farm Manager and Bio-Gro licensee.

A third commercial support partner, Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative, joined the operation in August. Ravensdown will supply BIO-GRO certified organic fertiliser products for the farm operation, provide technical advice, help with soils research and join the other partners in transferring information to farmers and growers.

The three principal partners are assisted and advised by a Technical Advisory Group which brings in expertise from three of the Crown Research Institutes located at Lincoln – Crop and Food Research, AgResearch and Landcare Research.

"The Kowhai Farm alliance – with six different parties working together on a common project – is typical of the way universities should go about their research and business," says Lincoln University's Professor Steve Wratten. "It gives us 'critical mass' both in terms of research capability and funding spread which one party on its own couldn't provide or sustain."

Such alliances now feature in a lot of the agricultural research at Lincoln University. Work in the dairying area is an example with groups such as Dairying Research Corporation and Livestock Improvement involved in projects.

On the animal nutrition side there's the example of the project developing an index of the nutritional value of pasture grasses in which researcher Racheal Bryant is working with Agriseeds NZ Ltd which is supplying the different varieties of plants and is running on-farm tests.

And from the animal health area there's the example of Lincoln University working with Alliance Meats and a group of Southland Romney breeders on a research project on drench resistance to identify rams with resistance to the production-limiting internal parasite ostertagia. Immunologist Professor Mirek Stankiewicz is leading this project.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand