The results of the fourth biennial Survey of Rural Decision Makers, run by scientists at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare
Research, have now been released.
More than 3700 people responded to the survey during spring 2019. Respondents include both lifestyle and commercial
farmers, foresters, and growers from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
A core set of questions remained similar to previous waves of the survey, to allow researchers to identify trends over
time. In addition, new questions were added to reflect emerging issues in the primary sector such as farm-level
biosecurity and climate change.
The 2019 survey shows greater adoption of land management practices since 2017 such as managing effluent storage,
restricting stock from waterways, and managing soil compaction and pugging. Riparian planting also increased slightly
relative to 2015.
More dairy farmers and growers reported intentions to intensify their operations in 2019 than in 2017, with 1 in 7 dairy
farmers and 1 in 5 growers planning to intensify within the next 2 years.
All sectors reported that biosecurity would take on increasing importance over the next 5 years relative to the last 5
years. These intentions rose especially for dairy farmers and fruit/nut growers, consistent with increased awareness of Mycoplasma bovis, brown marmorated stink bug, and other emerging threats.
The majority of survey respondents believe that climate change is already affecting New Zealand. Roughly three-fourths
of these anticipate that the frequency or intensity of drought, heat waves, flooding, and storms will increase in the
future. There was an increase across the board of management practices to mitigate climate change effects such as
changing stock rates, planting native trees, increasing feed reserves, changing stock breeds, investing in
infrastructure to stop flooding, and increasing water storage.
The Survey of Rural Decision Makers is a significant data resource to help policy makers, industry groups, and farm and
forestry businesses better understand both current practice and future plans.
To view the 2019 results, visit www.landcareresearch.co.nz and search for “SRDM”.