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2021 Newsletters

  1. Progress in soil health – a new framework for policy development

    Further progress has been made to understand soil health by using a wider focus on values and well-being, along with an in-depth understanding of Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) concepts of soil health.

  2. S-map Online: next-gen updates to national soil data

    S-map Online provides the best available soil resource data for New Zealand and, in doing so, underpins the government’s roadmap for the food and fibres sector, Fit for a Better World.

  3. Monitoring paddock-scale changes in land-use – from space

    For over a decade, scientists at Manaaki Whenua have been developing and improving methods to map agricultural land-use and crop type using satellite imagery. This work is vital to the setting and assessment of environmental plans, as it enables land-use changes and their likely consequences to be m...

  4. Pathways across Antarctica: 200 years of human impact

    Antarctica is usually viewed as a large, pristine wilderness area, untouched by humans, with little settlement and no agriculture or industry. Yet since its formal discovery 200 years ago, the continent has seen accelerating and potentially impactful human activity.

  5. A new soil pH map for New Zealand

    Soil pH indicates the relative acidity or alkalinity of a soil, and significantly influences various soil functions, soil quality and fertility. Considered a ‘master variable’ in soil science, pH affects soil in almost every way – its physical structure, patterns of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus ...

  6. Soil biota in productive landscapes: improving our understanding

    The more closely we study soil systems, the more dynamic and complex they appear.

  7. Behaviour change: are we willing or not?

    Achieving meaningful behaviour change – that is getting people to think and act differently – is one of the most complex and unpredictable aspects of any policy decision. Without effective stakeholder engagement and participation, policies and reports often remain shelved, recommendations forgotten,...

  8. How one thing leads to another – building long and deep relationships in effective land management

    Manaaki Taiao is a rōpū (group) made up of Manaaki Whenua Kairangahau Māori (Māori researchers) working on Māori-led research projects within a range of science portfolios.

  9. Predator modelling applied to study of Covid health equity

    Researchers Rachelle Binny and Audrey Lustig applied their predator-modelling skills to Covid-19 virus epidemiology, working with mathematicians and modellers to assess likely patterns of disease spread into the country.

  10. Regenerative Agriculture in New Zealand: pathways to building the scientific evidence and progressing national narratives

    Regenerative agriculture (RA) is proposed as a solution to reverse climate change, biodiversity loss, declining water quality and health of freshwater ecosystems, well-being crises in rural and farming communities, and food system disfunctions. In New Zealand, RA may also open and increase access to...