Greener Pastures: priorities for a low-footprint, high-value food producing future

Abstract

The key challenges and opportunities facing the pasture1 resource underpinning New Zealand’s pastoral industries outlined in this paper are drawn from the knowledge, analysis and feedback of 240 pan-pastoral industry stakeholders2 who participated in the Resilient Pastures Symposium (RPS) at Karapiro in May 2021. Information on the Symposium is provided in Appendix B.The RPS was convened in response to concerns about the resilience3 of our pasture base to rapidly changing pressures and expectations. The purpose of this paper is to deliver on the objectives of the Symposium, namely to:• synthesise the current state of our pastures as seen through the various perspectives of the delegates, and;• propose priorities for consideration by key stakeholders, including the significant investors already supporting Research, Development & Extension (RD&E), as they address the challenges ahead