Taking the lead in agrifoods

BY PAUL J MOUGHAN

OPINION: The next 50 years offers New Zealand great opportunities for supplying food, and especially protein, to the world.

Projected world population growth and other trends mean that feeding the world will require greatly enhanced food production, and this will need to occur in an environmentally sustainable manner and in the face of dwindling land and water resources.

There are real challenges here but ones that can and will be met by the application of science and technology.

There is not only an opportunity for New Zealand to supply more food, something which we do very well, but also a whole range of yet-to-be- developed science-inspired speciality food ingredients.

Specialty functional foods development is already an important part of the economic landscape in countries such as Finland and Japan, and nations such as Canada, the Netherlands and Ireland are investing heavily in science in these areas. Economic transformation in New Zealand will depend first upon transforming our long- established area of international competitive advantage - food production - and will be built on focused science investment and an educated workforce.

How well prepared are we, as a nation, to really grasp the opportunities that present? One thing for sure is that we are going to need an increasing supply of university graduates to fuel the innovation cycle, required to escalate us back up the rankings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

There is a looming shortfall of graduates in the agrifood disciplines. How are we placed to meet this projected shortfall?

My view is that we could be doing better.

Although New Zealand still has some world-class science teams in certain areas, we have lost the lead in some other areas of agrifood.

Now is the time to muster our resources and achieve new alignments in agrifood research and tertiary education.

Overseas, there are numerous recent examples of the merging of complementary agrifoods research and training organisations to achieve administrative economies, give strategic focus and, most importantly, to develop a critical mass to allow the organisation to compete on the world stage.

In the case of universities, such realignments are also driven by the educational imperative that the undergraduate educational experience should be broad-based and students should be exposed to diverse disciplines and lines of thinking.

This can best occur in larger multi-faculty organisations. Much of a student's learning occurs outside formal lectures and the whole academic and social milieu of the university is very important. Many of the best modern universities recognise that the education of students is enhanced when teaching and learning is undertaken within a diverse mix of students, staff and disciplines.

Perhaps the time has come that New Zealand should seriously consider bringing together its two tertiary educational institutes focusing on agrifoods, Massey and Lincoln universities.

In many ways the path to such an amalgamation has been set by the recent debate around amalgamating Lincoln University and AgResearch. The proposal, since disbanded, has encouraged much useful discussion and examination of alternative alignments.

Just imagine Crown research institutes also being closely aligned. Combining Massey's and Lincoln's strengths would certainly create a world-class organisation of critical size and would offer undergraduate and postgraduate scholars an unsurpassed broad-based educational experience.

The two institutions are highly complementary, each possessing strengths and areas of specialisation.

For example, Massey's strengths in veterinary science and food science would augment Lincoln's offerings; just as Lincoln's prowess in areas such as environmental science, agri- commerce and bioprotection, would be great assets for Massey.

There is an opportunity to create an organisation devoted to the land-based industries, comprehensive in its offerings and able to support the entire agrifood value chain.

Our industries, our people, our nation deserve the best. Let's provide it. Such a decision is not just of passing interest, but is critical to our future prosperity.

Agrifood is central to New Zealand's economy. The agrifood industry builds off our country's natural advantages.

This is New Zealand's only industry where we have world scale and are truly international leaders. New Zealand's dairy industry, for example, where 95 per cent of production is exported, provides dairy nutrition for 200 million people.

New Zealand feeds a population well in excess of its own. Attributes such as a mild climate, rich soils, abundant water, low disease-status and top farmers come together to give us an outstanding natural advantage for energy efficient agriculture.

We also have an enviable track record in agricultural, food and related sciences, allowing us to retain our position as a low- cost producer of high quality value-added food products.

This combination of high- calibre farming and world-class science is, in a nutshell, New Zealand's formula for success. Not often recognised as such, New Zealand is a high- technology, industrialised biological economy. Year on year, there has been substantial productivity growth in our primary production sector.

Food exports have doubled since 1990 and at least half of our food exports are value- added products.

Recently, however, we may have lost our way somewhat.

We are no longer the world's lowest cost pastoral producers. As a nation we are clearly not fully embracing the huge opportunities to innovate that present around areas such as precision agriculture, traceability, robotics, biosecurity, sustainable production, functional foods and personalised foods. This is disappointing as in many ways this should be "our time".

The world is witnessing the "biological revolution", with amazing discoveries in areas such as genetics, cell-biology, molecular biology, nanotechnology and food science. We need to be part of this; leaders not followers.

It is time to take stock, to look carefully at how we are delivering the science and education that underpins our vital agrifoods industry. It is time for leadership and some bold moves.

In 1927, the Government wished to establish a college devoted to agricultural science and modelled on the great English colleges of that time.

Professor William Riddet, of the then Auckland University College, and Professor Geoffrey Peren, of Victoria University College, decided that setting up two separate colleges in the North Island was counterproductive.

Joining forces, they said, was the sensible option for New Zealand. It is a sentiment still valid today.

* Paul Moughan is Distinguished Professor at Massey University and co-director of the Riddet Institute, which is devoted to advanced science in food and nutrition.

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