Complementary pathways to sustainability

Abstract

The ARGOS programme is a study of New Zealand sheep/beef and dairy farms and kiwifruit orchards that examines the sustainability and resilience of New Zealand’s farming - economically, socially and environmentally. In completing ARGOS1, additional and more intractable sustainability concerns (e.g. climate change and carbon emissions, RMA, animal welfare) have been identified by both the preliminary research and through discussion with industry partners, as key emerging pressures on management practices. In such cases, the pathways to enhanced performance are not exclusively organised around market assurance schemes, but are often structured around regulatory responses, eliciting a separate and substantial set of economic, social and environmental impacts in the primary production sector to that studied in ARGOS1. In addition, cross-cultural comparisons among ARGOS participants has demonstrated the often-essential role of differing philosophical approaches to agricultural practice, which affect the mix of concerns (environmental, social and economic) that influence management actions. To account for the broader spectrum of pathways that influence management, ARGOS 2 will examine the characteristics and outcomes of various pathways to sustainability. This will include an in-depth analysis of intensification of production as an example of a type of response to complementary pathways and the impact on sustainability. The results will be reviewed to clarify the relative effectiveness of the various pathways and tools on farmer behaviour, environmental outcomes and meeting stakeholder’s expectations.