New Zealand needs more production pastoral research

Abstract

Last year I took this opportunity to express my views on the advantages of on-farm research, which generated some interesting discussion. This year I would like to widen the frame and discuss the state of New Zealand pastoral research, and in particular the type of research that comes through our Association, from my perspective as a farmer and user of research. I have taken a particular interest in New Zealand research, because I emigrated to New Zealand. Since I did not grow up here, with the benefits of experience or New Zealand education, I have found reading research papers and attending conferences such as this one, a very useful way of firstly getting up to speed and now advancing our operations at Castlepoint Station. I have been concerned about the focus of New Zealand pastoral research in recent years moving away from production research. An example of this would be the volume of papers that come through our proceedings, which although useful in some contexts, in my view will not be useful in generating economic returns. This year over a third of the papers appeared to cover subjects that would not generate a return on farm, but rather focussed on social science and modelling issues. Some of that work is interesting, but how much of it will really make a difference to the economy or environment?