Greening Waipara

Abstract

The Greening Waipara project stems from initiatives by Lincoln University, local wine growers, the Hurunui District Council, and Landcare Research. Lincoln University is running a public-good research programme funded by FRST called Biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable agriculture; LINX 0303. This programme is calculating the value of nature’s services in the arable, pastoral, and horticultural sectors, and enhancing it by using what is sometimes called “ecological engineering”. The former approach is telling us such things as what a worm is worth – i.e. the value of earthworms in Canterbury arable agriculture, while the engineering approach is increasing the contribution of nature’s services, and their associated dollar value. The Greening Waipara project has always been supported and underpinned by research. Most of the vineyard companies and other operators in the district have now joined the project.