Eight research projects have been approved totalling $3.3 million through MPI’s Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Research Programme (SLMACC).
SLMACC supports the generation of new climate change knowledge in the agriculture and forestry sectors.
Ministry for Primary Industries Director-General, Martyn Dunne says it’s essential to invest in research to better understand our future operating environment and how we need to adapt.
"We set research themes each funding round based on priority areas we want to investigate further for the benefit of all primary industries. We consult internal and external experts to determine those themes."
This year there were 7 priority topic areas under 3 themes:
- impacts of climate change and adaption
- mitigation of agricultural and forestry greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
- cross-cutting issues, including economic analysis, life-cycle analysis, farm catchment systems, analysis, and social impact.
"We received a very high calibre of applications and were impressed with the proposed research projects submitted. Each project will take up to 3 years to complete, and the findings will help researchers, government, and farmers better understand, adapt to, and mitigate climate change effects in New Zealand’s primary sectors.
"At the end of each project, a full report will be made available on the MPI website and the Climate Cloud website. User-friendly summaries will be made more widely available."
