Acknowledging that there are farmers in the Upper Clutha district who have been undertaking successful diversification activities for some time, Knowledge into Action for Te Taiao investigated land use and value chain opportunities for the catchment which could lead to positive outcomes for the environment as well as financially sustainable outcomes for farm businesses. The project included consideration of pathways for farm business succession, encouragement for farmers to better understand the natural resources they work with and creation of connections between likeminded farmers in an effort to build relationships which could lead to future collaboration options within the catchment.
Workshops were held with 12 landowners to move through a process of selecting a long list of possible enterprises that included a wide range of fruit and protein options as well as some options adjacent to more traditional farm enterprises. Each was tested through a multi criteria decision making model to objectively determine the most promising ones. From there, deep dives were completed on the top scoring enterprises, bringing in industry experts to support landowners and the WAI Wānaka team to better understand the opportunities and challenges that each may bring.
Through this series of workshops, sufficient interest was uncovered for landowners to continue to engage on these possible enterprises, with landowner groups being formed to continue to deepen the assessment of each opportunity. WAI Wānaka will continue to support this work as part of our rural programme.