01 October 2025 The Future of Land Use and How to Fund It

Professor Alan Renwick from Lincoln University's Centre for Transformative Agribusiness, will present findings from the Centre’s recent report "The Future Use of Land and How to Fund it." This comprehensive study demonstrates that optimising land use could add tens of billions to New Zealand's economy, with a potential 10 percent productivity lift adding $10 billion to GDP within five to seven years. The research, funded by ASB and involving 25 industry stakeholders from farmers to investment managers, has achieved extensive media coverage for its clear, evidence-backed case for land-use optimisation and practical roadmap for delivering meaningful change at scale.

The webinar will explore the report's seven identified pathways for land optimisation, examine the financing challenges and opportunities involved, and explain why the current binary approach of choosing between economic growth and environmental protection is not sustainable for New Zealand's future. This session will be particularly valuable for economists working on primary sector policy, regional development, climate change, or infrastructure investment.

Alan Renwick is Professor of Agricultural Economics and current co-chair of the Centre of Excellence in Transformative Agribusiness at Lincoln University. He has 30 years of experience in agricultural economics across institutions in New Zealand, England, Scotland and Ireland, having worked at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Land Economy before heading the Scottish Agricultural College's Land Economy and Environmental Research team. He joined Lincoln University in November 2015 from University College Dublin, where he was Professor of Agricultural and Food Economics. His research focuses on the economics of existing and novel land uses and the processes involved in land-use transformation and adaptation to climate change and he has undertaken research on a wide range of issues facing the agrifood sector for both government bodies and industry. Alan’s work includes quantifying the impact of innovation on the performance of agrifood systems and sectors, the operation of value chains in developed and developing countries and the links with food security, and providing data as an evidential basis for developing policy settings. Professor Renwick has been widely cited in academic literature and regularly provides commentary on agricultural economics and land use policy issues affecting New Zealand and internationally.