Land for Life: supporting farmers and addressing environmental challenges in Hawke’s Bay
Hawke’s Bay is a key agricultural hub, but tough environmental challenges threaten the way of life for farmers and nature.
Land for Life: A Collaborative Approach
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is partnering with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) and the Ministry for Primary Industries on Land for Life: a collaboration with farmers and the farming communities to reduce the region’s erosion challenges, address climate change, improve freshwater quality and protect biodiversity.
Hawke’s Bay is an important agricultural hub producing a variety of horticultural and pastoral products. However, it experiences accelerated rates of soil erosion, much of which is due to farming activities. Erosion of steep hillsides is leading to sedimentation of freshwater and coastal waters, soil loss and habitat degradation, as well as negative impacts on communities and landowners. About 250,000 hectares of Hawke’s Bay hill country is at high risk of erosion, and about 6.8 million tonnes of sediment eventually enters the region’s waterways every year, negatively affecting water quality and aquatic life.
Land for Life supports farmers to plant appropriate tree species in the right places to slow erosion, improve freshwater quality and build resilient farms. Paired with other regenerative agricultural practices, the partnership will support improvements in farm systems that will help rural communities and the environment thrive.
Land for Life’s local team of forestry, farming and financing specialists offer support to participating farmers to:
- Prepare and implement farm plans and visions
- Maintain and enhance pastoral farming systems
- Diversify and potentially increase revenue streams
- Improve returns from marginal land
- Support succession planning and debt reduction through improved incomes
- Build climate-resilient farms with significant environmental benefits
Latest Progress
Since 2021, the Land for Life pilot has worked with landowners on 12 farms to develop a farm plan that articulates their vision for their land. The first trees were planted in August 2022. The pilot also included extensive engagement and development of the programme with agriculture groups in the region.
The results of this pilot have enabled us to assess the potential to scale this approach across the balance of Hawke's Bay hill country which is at high risk of erosion, as well as to other parts of New Zealand.
Next Steps
In December 2024, the programme received a grant from the Government’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund, which will allow us to expand our initial trial of 12 farms up to 100 farms.
We hope to roll out the programme to 300 farms in total and offer high-level farm plans to another 300 farms.
The programme will be able to offer financial and technical support to those farmers who want to make their farms more climate resilient and better manage their erosion.
Potential Benefits
The benefits of implementing LfL Farm Plans across 300 farms by 2030 would include:
- Carbon emissions reduced by 61,000 tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e)
- 12,600 kilometres of rivers and 1,200 hectares of wetlands with improved management
- 5-10% increase in indigenous tree cover
- 16,385 hectares of land with improved management or protection (existing forest remnants)
- 43,055 hectares of land with improved management
- Sediment erosion reduced by 1-5%
For more information, please visit www.hbrc.govt.nz and search #rtrp.
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A flyer created to explain the partnership to farmers and the benefits of the program.
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